Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je stopped to cry several times in his 228 Memorial Day address at the Eluanbi Lighthouse on Sunday after finishing his 520-kilometer biking trip from Taiwan’s northernmost tip to the southernmost tip in 28.5 hours.

Ko reached the destination– the Eluanbi Lighthouse—at 10:05 AM on Feb. 28, 28.5 hours after he started biking from the Fuguei Cape Lighthouse at 5:26 AM on Feb. 27. Upon completing the grueling trip, Ko made a 9-miniute address on the 228 incident in which his grandfather was one of a great many Taiwanese people persecuted by the ruling Kuomintang government.

Ko’s grandfather, who was an elementary school teacher at that time, was implicated in the 228 incident, causing the family to panic, according to Ko’s speech on last year’s 228 Memorial Day. His grandfather was shortly jailed and physically abused during his confinement; he subsequently suffered from mental and physical illnesses after his release from jail and died three years later, according to Ko’s statement last year.     [FULL  STORY]