Matt Bevan

When World War II finally ended, the Japanese colony of Taiwan was handed over to the Generalissimo.

At first, Taiwanese people celebrated the end of Japanese colonial rule.

But the reality of living in Chiang's free China was not as rosy as the Taiwanese expected.

Chiang and his nationalist government were suspicious of the Taiwanese, accusing them of having helped Japan during the war.

He ruled over them with an iron fist, appointing one of his own men as governor and implementing a policy of widespread oppression of the Taiwanese people.

And then in 1947, just two years after China had taken control of Taiwan, something happened that would shape the Taiwanese perspective of the mainland forever.

On the evening of the 27th of February, a cigarette seller was beaten up by a police officer for selling without a proper permit.

People gathered to protest and were shot by police, which led to more protests and a brutal crackdown.

The evidence shows the troops shot everyone, man or woman, old or young.

More than 10,000 people were killed, with some estimates saying it was more like 30,000.

It's difficult to say, because information about the massacre was suppressed for decades.

Even now, there's only a handful of grainy pictures of what happened.

Back on the mainland, things weren't much better.

The truce between Mao and Chiang had ended when the Japanese left, and the civil war was back in full swing.

By 1949, Chiang had lost.

Well, almost the whole country.

Chiang, his wife, his army, and his followers retreated to Taiwan.

Chiang arrived in Taiwan with about 2 million troops, politicians, and assorted refugees.

When most people lose a civil war, they flee to a friendly country and retire in exile.

Chiang Kai-shek and his wife could have just gone to America and lived there as Time magazine's man and wife of the century or whatever.