Chen Cheng-po

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Chen Cheng-po (Chinese: 陳澄波, February 2, 1895 – March 25, 1947), was a well-known Taiwanese painter. In 1926, his oil painting Street of Chiayi was featured in the seventh Empire Art Exhibition in Japan, which was the first time that a painting of a Taiwanese artist could be displayed in the exhibition. He donated himself to education and creation. Because of abundance experiences of education, he concerned about the culture and humanism. He not only concerned about the improvement of his own paintings but also the promotion of aesthetic education of Taiwanese people. He was killed as a result of the 228 Incident, a 1947 civilian uprising in Taiwan.

Contents 1 Death 2 Legacy 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Death

In 1946, Chen was elected as a member of the city council in Chiayi, where he was born.[1] Due to the 228 Incident, severe conflict occurred in 1947 between the Chiayi citizens and the Chinese Nationalist Party, also known as Kuomintang, whose military was trapped inside the city's airport. The city produced a "228 Incident Committee", composed of Chen and five others who would approach the military as representatives of peace. The military, however, captured four of them, including Chen, and released the remaining two. On the morning of March 25, 1947, after being tied up with wires, the four were forced to march from the city's police station to the train station, where Chen and the other three were shot dead in public. Since the Kuomingtang forbade the families from collecting the corpses immediately, Chen's remains were left to decompose on the street for several days.

[edit] Legacy

Chen's work Chiayi Park was sold for $5,794,100 HKD at a Hong Kong auction on April 28, 2002.[2]

[edit] See also

• 228 Incident

[edit] External links

• Chiayi as depicted in Chen's paintings, versus today
• Photograph of Chen's body after he was killed