American author recounts life of anti-martial law activist

San Francisco, Jan. 31 (CNA) American author Anna Beth Keim said the life of anti-martial law activist Huang Chin-tao (黃金島) showed that Taiwan's history is "complex."

Keim, a freelance writer who lives in Boston, was speaking Sunday at the annual meeting of the Taiwanese American Federation of Northern California (TAFNC) in San Francisco, where she shared her work with members of the Taiwanese community in the United States.

She was discussing her book, "Heaven Does Not Block All Roads: A History of Taiwan Through the Life of Huang Chin-tao," which was published last year.

Keim said she became interested in Huang, who died in 2019, after reading a blog post about him.

"I could not believe that a single person had lived through so much, had survived so much," she said, adding that she was determined to meet Huang.

She recalled that before their first meeting in 2016 she already sensed his character when told he was late because he wanted to ride his motorcycle over, even though he was around 90 years old.

Huang was born in Taichung in 1926 during the Japanese colonial period and lived "a kind of double life," she said, with a traditional Taiwanese upbringing alongside constant pressure from the Japanese authorities.

Keim said Huang described the Japanese colonial policy of forced assimilation and recalled refusing to worship a Japanese shrine placed in his home, saying his family continued Taiwanese ancestral worship in secret.

She said Huang later joined the Japanese navy during World War II. Many Taiwanese enlisted due to coercion, food shortages and social status, she said.

After the war, Huang returned to Taiwan and joined armed resistance against the authoritarian Kuomintang (KMT) government following the February 1947 anti-government uprising known as the "228 Incident."

Huang was arrested in 1952, sentenced to life in prison and spent about 24 years incarcerated, including on Green Island, Keim said.

Huang was released in 1975 and later joined Taiwan's democratic movement, becoming a founding member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taichung in 1986.

Although he didn't see himself as a hero, it "doesn't mean there's no strength or inspiration to be found in stories" like Huang's, Keim said.

"History in a person's life doesn't really fit into a neat box," she said.