The National Human Rights Museum introduced Yan Shihong in the 2022 “Illuminati Who Healed People and Cured the World – Special Exhibition of Portraits of Physicians During the White Terror”, which can still be visited in the online tour. (Photo taken from the official website of the Human Rights Museum)
[Reporter Ling Meixue/Taipei Report]Yan Shihong, a medical victim during the White Terror, passed away on the 27th at the age of 98. The National Human Rights Museum confirmed the incident and said it had contacted the family to express its condolences.
Yan Shihong (1927-2024) was born in Kaohsiung and grew up in Tainan. When he grew up, he was admitted to Taipei University Medical School (now National Taiwan University School of Medicine). When he was in the fourth grade of university, he joined the underground party in 1950 at the invitation of fellow student Ye Shengji. In June, he was arrested in the National Taiwan University dormitory and charged with “participating in a rebellious organization”. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and deprived of public rights for 10 years. When Ludao completed his sentence, he was transferred to Xiaoliuqiu for “training” because he was unwilling to bribe an officer. ” After 1 year and 7 months, he was released and returned to Taiwan in 1964. It was not until October 2018 that the transfer was announced to revoke the judgment and punishment.
After Yan Shihong was released from prison, he was unable to return to the National Taiwan University Medical School to study, so he transferred to Taipei Medical College to continue his studies. He graduated in 1968 and obtained the doctor’s qualification, and returned to Tainan to practice medicine. He began writing autobiographical novels in 1988 and completed “Equinox”, “Frost Descent”, “Xiao Man”, etc. In 2012, at the age of 80, he rewrote “Frost Descent” into “No. 3, Qingdao East Road: My Centenary Memories and Taiwan’s Absurd Era”, detailing his life experiences.
Yan Shihong mentioned in the preface to the book: “Someone once said: ‘The death of one person is history, and the death of millions of people is just a number.’ In the summer of 1987, my friend Dai Zhenhe returned to Taiwan from Hong Kong and agreed that he would write “The Story of Fire Island” is a diary that I kept in mind for 13 years and 7 months. However, he suddenly passed away in Hong Kong on January 8, 1988. I knew that his writing style, knowledge, and logic were far inferior. He, I had no choice but to write down the prejudices I encountered after World War II in my busy days, and named the manuscript “Frost Descent”, and this book was adapted from “Frost Descent”.
In 1950, No. 3, Qingdao East Road, approximately where the Taipei Sheraton Hotel is now, was the Military Justice Department Detention Center, where many Taiwanese elite intellectuals awaited sentencing. “Time is an ‘expectation’ for young people, but it is a ‘deadline’ for the elderly.” At the age of 80, Yan Shihong started writing the book “No. 3, Qingdao East Road” to fulfill his wish to write a biography for his family and inmates. It also lets people know that there once was such a Taiwan.
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Source: China