"Late Will" Shared in Taichung: Huang Chun-lan Recounts Father's Will, Hidden for 55 Years

A sharing session in Taichung brought to light a "late will" left by Huang Wen-kung 55 years ago, with his daughter, Huang Chun-lan, recounting the painful history. Huang Chun-lan, author of "Huang Chun-lan's Counterattack Life: The Late Will," spoke about her father's execution during Taiwan's White Terror period.

Her father was implicated in the "Taiwan Provincial Work Committee Yanchao Branch Case" in 1952 and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, then-President Chiang Kai-shek commuted the sentence to death. Four hours before his execution, Huang Wen-kung wrote five letters to his infant daughter, who was only five months old at the time. These letters were subsequently confiscated by the government.

Huang Chun-lan stated she never called her father "Dad" in her life. The strict surveillance by state machinery became a decades-long nightmare for the family. Her mother, consumed by fear, would become extremely anxious if she couldn't find her identification card while out, terrified of being taken away by the police at any moment.

The letters were unexpectedly discovered in a government archive file by Huang Chun-lan's daughter, Chang Yi-jung, in 2008. Following years of protests and a "will return movement" by family members and civil groups, the government finally returned the original documents in 2011. The event highlighted the long-term trauma inflicted on Taiwanese families by the authoritarian regime and continues to spark discussions on human rights issues among Taichung readers.