VIDEO - The 1976 Double Ten-Day Bombings – S6 [Bonus]

From The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files John Ross and Eryk Michael Smith

CORRECTION: This episode originally said Wang Sing-nan was currently serving as a legislator. This was an error. Wang retired in 2012. We regret the mistake and we appreciate Steven Crook for pointing it out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In October 1976, three innocent-looking dictionaries were mailed to senior officials in Taiwan. Hidden inside each was a homemade bomb. Two exploded, and one of the targets, Taiwan Provincial Governor Hsieh Tung-min, was badly injured.

Hsieh (1908–2001) was a Taichung native who had left Japanese-ruled Taiwan as a teenager to study in China. He joined the KMT in 1930 and was one of the Taiwanese returnees who became important intermediaries in Taiwan's postwar years.

The bomber was Wang Sing-nan, born in Tainan in 1941. After moving to the United States for business, he became involved in radical pro-independence politics. Convinced that peaceful opposition to the KMT regime was futile, he hatched a drastic plan for action.

What happened to both men after the bombings is surprising, so make sure to follow this episode to the very end.