Editing February 28 incident (section)

==Background==
{{See also|Chinese Civil War|Taiwan under Japanese rule}}
[[Image:Taiwan Literature Magazine.jpg|150px|left|thumb|Cover of the first issue of ''[[Taiwan Literature and Art]]'' magazine ({{lang-zh|t=臺灣文藝|p=Táiwān wényì|labels=no}}) printed in 1934, during Japanese rule]]
[[Image:Washington Daily Taiwan 1946.jpg|150px|left|thumb|"Chinese Exploit Formosa Worse Than Japs Did", a news article from ''[[The Washington Daily News]]'' on March 21, 1946]]
During the 50 years of Japanese rule in Taiwan (1895–1945), Taiwan experienced economic development and an increased standard of living, serving as a supply base for the Japanese main islands.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-china/taiwan-president-says-should-remember-good-things-japan-did-idUSKCN0SJ03Y20151025|title=Taiwan president says should remember good things Japan did|last=Wu|first=J.R.|work=[[Reuters]]|date=October 25, 2015|access-date=March 11, 2020|quote=Unlike in China or Korea, many Taiwanese have a broadly more positive view of Japan than people in China or Korea, saying that Japan's rule brought progress to an undeveloped, largely agricultural island.|archive-date=March 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304152750/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-china/taiwan-president-says-should-remember-good-things-japan-did-idUSKCN0SJ03Y20151025|url-status=live}}</ref> After World War II, Taiwan was placed under the administrative control of the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]] to provide stability until a permanent arrangement could be made. [[Chen Yi (Kuomintang)|Chen Yi]], the governor-general of Taiwan, arrived on October 24, 1945, and received the last Japanese governor, [[Ando Rikichi]], who signed the document of surrender on the next day. Chen Yi then proclaimed the day as [[Retrocession Day]] to make Taiwan part of the Republic of China.

[[Image:Taiwan-1M-Yuan.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Severe inflation led the Bank of Taiwan to issue bearer's checks in denominations of 1 million Taiwan Dollars (TW$1,000,000) in 1949.]]

Taiwanese perceptions of Japanese rule were more positive than perceptions in other parts of [[East Asia|East]] and [[Southeast Asia]] that came under [[Japanese imperialism|Japanese]] imperialism.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Abramson |first=Gunnar |year=2004 |title=Comparative Colonialisms: Variations in Japanese Colonial Policy in Taiwan and Korea, 1895 - 1945 |journal=PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=11–37 |doi=10.15760/mcnair.2005.11 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Despite this, the [[Kuomintang]] troops from [[Mainland China]] were initially welcomed by the Taiwanese. Their harsh conduct and the corrupt KMT administration quickly led to Taiwanese discontent during the immediate postwar period. As governor-general, Chen Yi took over and sustained the Japanese system of [[State monopoly|state monopolies]] in [[tobacco]], [[sugar]], [[camphor]], [[tea]], [[paper]], [[chemical]]s, [[petroleum refining]], [[mining]], and [[cement]], the same way the Nationalists treated people in other former Japanese-controlled areas (earning Chen Yi the nickname "robber" ({{Lang-zh|t=劫收|labels=no}})).<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Cui Meiming |date=March 1, 1998 |title=大「劫收」与上海民营工业 |trans-title="Dajieshou yu Shanghai minying gongye," ["The catastrophic "taking-over" and Shanghai's private-owned industries" |url=http://www.ixueshu.com/document/9418c49ad68ded70.html |journal=Dang 'an Yu Shixue |publisher=檔案與史學 |issue=3 |pages=43–55 |access-date=June 10, 2017 |archive-date=July 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730015253/http://www.ixueshu.com/document/9418c49ad68ded70.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He [[Eminent domain|confiscated]] some 500 Japanese-owned factories and mines, as well as the homes of former Japanese residents.

Economic mismanagement led to a large [[black market]], runaway [[inflation]], and [[Famine|food shortages]]. Many commodities were compulsorily bought cheaply by the KMT administration and shipped to mainland China to meet the [[Chinese Civil War|Civil War]] shortages, where they were sold at a very high profit, furthering the general shortage of goods in Taiwan. The price of [[rice]] rose to 100 times its original value between the time the Nationalists took over and the spring of 1946, increasing to nearly four times the price in Shanghai. It inflated further to 400 times the original price by January 1947.<ref>{{cite web |year=2003 |title=Formosa After the War |url=http://www.2003hr.net/English/cul_xb0101.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060306231303/http://www.2003hr.net/English/cul_xb0101.php |archive-date=March 6, 2006 |access-date=March 6, 2006 |work=Reflection on the 228 Event—The first gunshot}}</ref> [[Carpetbagger]]s from mainland China dominated nearly all industry, as well as political and judicial offices, displacing the Taiwanese who were formerly employed. Many of the ROC garrison troops were highly undisciplined, looting, stealing, and contributing to the overall breakdown of infrastructure and public services.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 10, 1946 |title=Foreign News: This Is the Shame |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,792979,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=February 8, 2022 |archive-date=November 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211129112137/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,792979,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Because the Taiwanese elites had met with some success with self-government under Japanese rule, they had expected the same system from the incoming ruling Chinese Nationalist Government. However, the Chinese Nationalists opted for a different route, aiming for the centralization of government powers and a reduction in local authority. The KMT's nation-building efforts followed this ideology because of unpleasant experiences with the diverging forces during the [[Warlord Era]] in 1916–1928 that had torn the government in China. Mainland Communists were even preparing to bring down the government like the [[Ili Rebellion]].<ref>{{Cite thesis |url=http://tkuir.lib.tku.edu.tw:8080/dspace/handle/987654321/34228 |title=The Taiwan province working committee organization of the CCP (1946~1950) in Taipei city |publisher=National Tamkang University |date=January 11, 2010 |last1=Cai |first1=Xi-bin |access-date=June 10, 2017 |archive-date=September 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200913135658/http://tkuir.lib.tku.edu.tw:8080/dspace/handle/987654321/34228 |url-status=live }}</ref> The different goals of the Nationalists and the Taiwanese, coupled with cultural and language misunderstandings, served to further inflame tensions on both sides.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}}