Ep 156 | Remembering Su Beng Taiwanese Revolutionary with Jiho Chang

Talking Taiwan

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

November 9th would be the 103rd the birthday of the late revolutionary, Taiwan independence activist, and historian Su Beng (史明), who passed away on September 20, 2019. I’ve been working on his English-language biography and I wanted to remember him on this day.

In this episode of Talking Taiwan, I spoke with Jiho Chang one of the co-authors of The Oral History of Su Beng (史明口述史), a three-volume book that he and others collaborated on while attending the National Taiwan University. In addition to talking about Su Beng’s legacy, Jiho shared some personal stories about Su Beng, and talked about Su Beng’s role in the Sunflower Movement.

At the end of the episode, I share some of my fondest memories of Su Beng.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• The public funeral/memorial that was organized for Su Beng on October
• Su Beng’s lifelong commitment to the cause of Taiwan’s independence
• The noodle shop that Su Beng opened in 1950s in Ikebukuro, Japan
• The underground and afterhours activities that happened at the noodle shop
• The third and fourth floors of the noodle shop is being converted into a museum
• How Su Beng’s residence in New Taipei has been converted into a museum
• Su Beng’s connection to Taiwan’s current president Tsai Ing-wen
• How Jiho first heard of and met Su Beng
• The 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis
• The English language version of Su Beng’s book, Taiwan’s 400 Year History The Chinese language version of Su Beng’s book, 台彎人四百年史(The Taiwanese People’s 400 Years of History)
• China’s Anti-secession Law
• Su Beng’s sit-in to protest China’s Anti-secession Law in 2005
• How Jiho joined Su Beng’s protest of China’s Anti-secession Law and got to know Su Beng
• The parallels and comparison between Su Beng and Che Guevara
• How Jiho, Lán Shì-bó / Nâ Sū-phok (藍士博) and others National Taiwan University students started interviewing Su Beng and wrote a three-volume book, The Oral History of Su Beng(史明口述史)
• Su Beng’s hospitalization for kidney failure in Japan in 2009
• Su Beng’s life in Japan as a student at Waseda University
• Su Beng’s family background
• Su Beng’s Japanese girlfriend/partner who he met while in China
• Su Beng’s love of Kentucky Fried Chicken
• Su Beng’s special relationship with his maternal grandmother
• Su Beng’s role in the 2014 Sunflower movement

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