Taipei Times
Date: Jan 28, 2018
By: Lin Hsin-han and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
A memorial park commemorating the approximately 1,500 people who died in 1949
Chang Chao-hsiung, grandson of one of the victims of the sinking of the Taiping steamer in 1949, speaks yesterday at the inauguration of a park in Keelung commemorating the victims of the incident. Photo: Lin Hsin-han, Taipei Times
when the steamer Taiping sank while crossing the Taiwan Strait from China opened yesterday, becoming the first public memorial for the incident.
The park, established by the Keelung City Government and the Ministry of National Defense, is the first memorial to the deceased passengers outside of ministry property, officials said.
A memorial was in 1951 erected on the beach next to Keelung Harbor, but after the waters nearby were filled in, the memorial fell within military property. Taiwanese were required to apply for permission to visit and Chinese were prohibited from entering.
Families of the deceased 10 years ago began calling on the government to move the memorial outside of military property. [FULL STORY]