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Su Beng | |||||||||||||||||||
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史明 | |||||||||||||||||||
.jpg) Su in 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior Advisor to thePresident | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office November 9, 2016 – September 20, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||
| President | Tsai Ing-wen | ||||||||||||||||||
| Vice President | Chen Chien-jen | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Lim Tiau-hui (1918-11-09)November 9, 1918 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Died | September 20, 2019(2019-09-20) (aged 100) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |
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| Party | Chinese Communist Party (1943–1949) Taiwan Independence Revolutionary Armed Force (1950) Independent (1949–2019) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Waseda University (BA,BEc) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Ozisan (おじさん) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 史明 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Su Beng (Chinese:史明;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Sú-bêng;pinyin:Shǐ Míng; 9 November 1918 – 20 September 2019),[a] was a Taiwanese revolutionary, historian, and political activist. Widely regarded as a founder of theTaiwan independence movement, Su was an advocate of Taiwaneseleft-wing nationalism in thesocialist sense and was a member of theTaiwan independence Left who opposedJapanese andChinese imperialism.[1]
Su was born on November 9, 1918, in Shirin Town, Taihoku Chō,Japanese Taiwan (modern-dayShilin District ofTaipei). His birth name was Lîm Tiâu-hui (林朝暉;Lín Cháohuī;Lin² Ch'ao²-hui¹;Lîm Tiâu-hui). When he was eleven years old, he began using his maternal surname, Shih (施;Shī;Si).[2] He was raised in a middle-class family. His mother, Si A-siu, taught himConfucianism. His father, Lim Tse-tshuan, was anagronomist.[3]
In 1937, Su departed Taiwan to attend college in Japan. After graduating fromWaseda University inTokyo with a degree in political science and economics in 1942, Su left forChina where he worked undercover with theChinese Communist Party (1942–1949). For years, he averted the Chinese Communists’ bids for him to join the party. Finally he escaped fromQingdao to Taiwan, just as the Chinese NationalistKuomintang soldiers were retreating to Taiwan.[2] Having returned to Taiwan for about a year, he established theTaiwan Independence Revolutionary Armed Force in 1950 which plotted for the assassination of GeneralissimoChiang Kai-shek. When the Taiwan Independence Revolutionary Armed Force stash of weapons were discovered hidden on land owned by Su Beng's grandmother in 1951, Su Beng was forced to go into hiding.[citation needed]
After several months on the run, he finally fled to Japan in May 1952 by stowing away in a boat exporting bananas. He served four months of detention for attempting to illegally enter the country, but when the Kuomintang reported him missing and wanted for his involvement in the plot to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese government granted himpolitical asylum. Later on in 1954, Su Beng opened up a noodle shop restaurant (新珍味;Sin-tin-bī; 'New Gourmet') inIkebukuro, Japan. Su Beng used the restaurant/residence as a base to continue his work with the undergroundTaiwan independence movement. It was also here that he trained burgeoning independence activists and began writingTaiwan’s 400 Year History. The Japanese version of this book was first published in 1962, the Chinese-language version was published in 1980 and an abridged English version was published in 1986.[4][5]
In 1993, Su Beng returned to reside in Taipei, Taiwan. The following year, April 1994, he began the Taiwan Independence Action motorcade, which he conceived as a way to raise the Taiwanese people’s consciousness. The motorcade makes its rounds from Taipei county to Taipei city, every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, delivering messages calling for Taiwan’s independence and the normalization of Taiwan as a country.[citation needed]
Labeled a radical, violent militant and communist, he was dubbed the "Che Guevara of Taiwan".[6] Several tall tales existed about Su Beng’s controversial life decisions, one of which included electing to have avasectomy when he was in his twenties while working undercover for the CCP in China.[citation needed]
Su died of pneumonia and multiple organ failure atTaipei Medical University Hospital on 20 September 2019, aged 100.[2][7][8][3]
He first used Su Beng (史明, literally "to clearly understand the history") as his pen name forTaiwanese’s 400 Year History in 1962. In choosing his pen name, he wanted to express his motivation for writing the book. Su Beng believed that once the Taiwanese people understand their unique history, they will be able to know who they are, what they want for themselves and their nation. The two characters which make up his name mean "history" and "clear", respectively. Taken together, they may be interpreted as “history clearly”, as in “to know history clearly.”[9]
Taiwanese political activist Su Beng (史明) who has been dubbed the "Che Guevara of Taiwan."
