Su Beng

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Sú Bêng

| native_name = {{nobold|史明}}

| native_name_lang = zh-tw

| image = 學運 IMG 0369 (14611688660).jpg

| birth_name = 林朝暉 Lîm Tiâu-hui

| order = Senior Advisor to the President

| term_start = November 9, 2016

| term_end = September 20, 2019

| president = Tsai Ing-wen

| vicepresident = Chen Chien-jen

| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|11|9}}

| birth_place = Shirin Town, Taihoku Prefecture, Japanese Taiwan

| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|9|20|1918|11|9}}

| death_place = Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

| death_cause =

| nationality = {{Plainlist|

Empire of Japan (1918–1945)
Republic of China (Taiwan) (1945–2019)}}

| alma_mater = Waseda University

| party = Independent (1949–2019)

| otherparty = Chinese Communist Party (1943–1949)
Taiwan Independence Revolutionary Armed Force (1950)

| nickname = Ozisan (おじさん)

| website = https://www.facebook.com/su.beng.3

| module = {{Infobox Chinese|child = yes

|t = {{linktext|史|明}}

|bpmf = ㄕˇㄇㄧㄥˊ

|w = Shih³ Ming²

|tp = Shǐh Míng

|p = Shǐ Míng

|poj = Sú Bêng

|tl = Sú Bîng

}}

Su Beng (9 November 1918 – 20 September 2019; {{zh|t=史明|p=Shǐ Míng|w=Shih³ Ming²|poj=Sú-bêng|first=c, poj}}), born Lîm Tiâu-hui ({{zh|t=林朝暉|w=Lin² Ch'ao²-Hui¹|p=Lín Cháohuī|poj=Lîm Tiâu-hui|labels=no|first=c, poj}}) and later known as Si Tiâu-hui ({{zh|t=施朝暉|w=Shih¹ Ch'ao²-Hui¹|p=Shī Cháohuī|poj=Si Tiâu-hui|labels=no}}), was a Taiwanese revolutionary, historian and political activist of Taiwan independence movement. Su Beng was a representative Taiwanese left-wing nationalist in the socialist sense and is considered the 'Taiwan independence Left'; he opposed Japanese and Chinese imperialism.{{cite web |title=Su Beng’s legacy lives on in Taiwan museum’s spring roll event |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/5090190 |website=Taiwan News |access-date=24 June 2024 |date=3 February 2024}}

Early years and exile

File:1937年入讀日本早稻田大學時的臺灣歷史學者和獨立運動先驅史明 Taiwanese Historian and Advocator for TAIWAN Independence Movement Su Beng as Student at Waseda University of Japan.jpg]]

Su Beng was born on 9 November 1918 in Shirin Town, Taihoku Chō, Japanese Taiwan (modern-day Shilin District of Taipei). His birth name was Lîm Tiâu-hui ({{zh|t=林朝暉|w=Lin² Ch'ao²-hui¹|p=Lín Cháohuī|poj=Lîm Tiâu-hui|labels=no}}). Aged 11, he began using his maternal surname Shih ({{zh|t=施|p=Shī|poj=Si|labels=no}}).

After graduating from Waseda University in Tokyo with a degree in political science and economics in 1942, he left for China where he worked undercover with the Chinese Communist Party (1942–1949). For years, he averted the Chinese Communists’ bids for him to join the party. Finally he escaped from Qingdao to Taiwan, just as the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang soldiers were retreating to Taiwan. Having returned to Taiwan for about a year, he established the Taiwan Independence Revolutionary Armed Force in 1950 which plotted for the assassination of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. When the Taiwan Independence Revolutionary Armed Force stash of weapons were discovered hidden on land owned by Su Beng's grandmother in 1951, Su Beng was forced to go into hiding.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

After several months on the run, he finally fled to Japan in May 1952 by stowing away in a boat exporting bananas. He served four months of detention for attempting to illegally enter the country, but when the Kuomintang reported him missing and wanted for his involvement in the plot to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese government granted him political asylum. Later on in 1954, Su Beng opened up a noodle shop restaurant ({{zh|c=新珍味|poj=Sin-tin-bī|l=New Gourmet|labels=no}}) in Ikebukuro, Japan. Su Beng used the restaurant/residence as a base to continue his work with the underground Taiwan independence movement. It was also here that he trained burgeoning independence activists and began writing Taiwan’s 400 Year History. The Japanese version of this book was first published in 1962, the Chinese-language version was published in 1980 and an abridged English version was published in 1986.{{cite news |author1=Han Cheung |title=Taiwan in Time: Revolutionary in exile |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2017/11/05/2003681681 |access-date=22 September 2019 |work=Taipei Times |date=5 November 2017}}{{cite news |last1=Shih |first1=Hsiu-chuan |title=FEATURE: Su Beng: Staying true to the fight for independence |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/12/01/2003459876 |access-date=22 September 2019 |work=Taipei Times |date=1 December 2009}}

Return from exile

In 1993, Su Beng returned to reside in Taipei, Taiwan. The following year, April 1994, he began the Taiwan Independence Action motorcade, which he conceived as a way to raise the Taiwanese people’s consciousness. The motorcade makes its rounds from Taipei county to Taipei city, every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, delivering messages calling for Taiwan’s independence and the normalization of Taiwan as a country.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

Labeled a radical, violent militant and communist, he was dubbed the "Che Guevara of Taiwan".{{cite web |title=Brewing more than coffee |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2014/11/20/2003604850 |quote=Taiwanese political activist Su Beng (史明) who has been dubbed the “Che Guevara of Taiwan.” |website=Taipei Times |access-date=20 November 2014 |date=1 October 2024}} Several tall tales existed about Su Beng’s controversial life decisions, one of which included electing to have a vasectomy when he was in his twenties while working undercover for the CCP in China.{{cn|date=December 2023}}

Su died of pneumonia and multiple organ failure at Taipei Medical University Hospital on 20 September 2019, aged 100.{{cite news |last1=Chi |first1=Jo-yao |title=Legendary independence activist Su Beng dies at 100 |url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201909210012.aspx |access-date=21 September 2019 |agency=Central News Agency |date=21 September 2019}}{{cite news |last1=DeAeth |first1=Duncan |title=Taiwan mourns passing of independence activist and scholar Su Beng |url=https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3781336 |access-date=22 September 2019 |work=Taiwan News |date=21 September 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Wu |first1=Liang-yi |last2=Chung |first2=Jake |title=Independence veteran Su Beng mourned |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2019/09/22/2003722701 |access-date=22 September 2019 |work=Taipei Times |date=22 September 2019}}{{cite news|last=Horton|first=Chris|title=Su Beng, a Father of Taiwan Independence, Dies at 100|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/world/asia/su-beng-dead.html|date= 20 September 2019|agency=The New York Times}}

Pen name

He first used Su Beng (史明, literally "to clearly understand the history") as his pen name for Taiwanese’s 400 Year History in 1962. In choosing his pen name, he wanted to express his motivation for writing the book. Su Beng believed that once the Taiwanese people understand their unique history, they will be able to know who they are, what they want for themselves and their nation. The two characters which make up his name mean "history" and "clear", respectively. Taken together, they may be interpreted as “history clearly”, as in “to know history clearly.”{{cite news |title=Legendary revolutionist Su Beng places hope on younger generation |url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aftr/201711050016.aspx |access-date=10 October 2018 |agency=Central News Agency |date=5 November 2017}}

References

{{cite book

| title = Taiwan's 400 Year History: The Origins and Continuing Development of the Taiwanese Society and People

| last = Su | first = Bing

| publisher = Taiwanese Cultural Grassroots Association | year = 1986

| isbn = 9780939367009 }}

External links

[http://aboutsubeng.com/ Website About Su Beng maintained and written by his English Biographer Felicia Lin]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060805134510/http://www.tw400.org.tw/ Su Beng's personal (Chinese language) website]

Category:1918 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:20th-century Taiwanese historians

Category:Anti-imperialism in Asia

Category:Communism in Taiwan

Category:Deaths from multiple organ failure

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Taiwan

Category:Far-left politics in Taiwan

Category:Left-wing nationalism

Category:Senior advisors to President Tsai Ing-wen

Category:Taiwan independence activists

Category:Taiwanese men centenarians