On this day, 76 years ago, January 27, 1949 (December 29, 1948 in the lunar calendar), the mystery of the sinking of the Taiping Ferry. On January 27, 1949, the China United Company's luxury cargo ship "Taiping" sailing from Shanghai to Taiwan collided outside the Zhoushan waters and subsequently sank. Of the more than a thousand people on board, only a few dozen survived. John Woo's film "Taiping Wheel" is based on this history. So, why did the Taiping Ship sink? Regarding the Taiping wreck, Ta Kung Pao raised three questions in its editorial "Another Tragedy at Sea" on February 2, 1949:"1. Driving ability;2. The Taiping is over age and has incomplete life-saving equipment;3. The ship is overweight." On February 4, Ta Kung Pao once again questioned the Taiping wreck. However, in the private sector, there are other reasons for the collision of the two ships. For example, the "Taiwan New Life Daily" published on February 7, 1949 summarized three reasons for the private sector. First, the Taiping Ferry took a small path and took the wrong route, then the Taiping Ferry was loaded with 600 tons of steel and was seriously overloaded. Finally, the crew was drinking when the two ships collided. Some survivors of the Taiping shipwreck took a group photo on January 27, 1949, New Year's Eve. This was the last ship before the end of the New Year. The Taiping Ferry sold 508 tickets, and the actual number of people on board exceeded 1000. In addition to people, the ship was filled with groceries from north and south bound for Taipei, documents from various government agencies, 600 tons of steel, 18 boxes of Central Bank files, a complete set of printing equipment and white newspapers, reference materials for Southeast Daily, Kuomintang party history materials, and even books of merchants in both places. The Pacific Ferry was originally scheduled to set sail on the morning of January 27, but it did not set sail until 4:30 pm due to the ship's continuous purchase of goods. In order to leave Wusong Pass before martial law, the Taiping lifted anchor and accelerated forward. For fear of interception by the military, the Taiping steamer did not light up or whistle all the way, and finally changed its route. As the New Year approaches, passengers who are finally lucky enough to leave Shanghai are eating, drinking, and playing cards on board, and are already immersed in the joy of the New Year. At 11:45 p.m., New Year's Eve will be in a few minutes. That night, there was no wind, no rain, and no fog. You can also see fishing fires on a distant island. The one who hit head-on was the Jianyuan ship from Keelung, belonging to the Yixiang Shipping Company, filled with wood and coal. The Jianyuan ship sails for Shanghai. The Taiping and Jianyuan collided in a T shape. The smaller Jianyuan ship sank immediately, and the Taiping ship seemed safe and sound in the first few minutes. The Taiping Ship even rescued many crew members of the Jianyuan Ship. Not long after, the hull began to enter the water. The Taiping vessel initially wanted to dock on a nearby island, but before it reached the shore, it began to sink. At about 12:30, the safety steamer was lifted. The crash site is approximately the triangular area between Baijie Mountain, Baiyang Mountain and Sanxing Mountain. According to officials, 36 survivors were rescued at that time, including 28 passengers, 6 crew members, and 2 people on the Jianyuan. These survivors were finally rescued by the Australia warship USS Walmongo. In addition, several survivors were rescued by fishermen who spontaneously came to salvage the fish. The total number of survivors was more than 40. The Jianyuan Ship that collided with the Taiping Ship was a cargo ship built in Norway in 1919. On the night after the Taiping Ship was killed, more than 300 torches surrounded the home of Zhou Caoyi, who is the general manager of China United Company. The angry family members smashed all the furniture and furnishings in Zhou Caoyi's home and the company office. Other shareholders also ran away. After that, the Zhou family used all their belongings to settle claims. In 1950, the Zhou family moved to Hong Kong and then settled in Taiwan. In his article "My Titanic", Cai Kangyong wrote about the connection between his family and the Taiping liner that sank in 1949."My father owned a ship owned by a shipping company in Shanghai. Among all the ships of this company, the most famous one is called the Taiping Ferry." Taiping, China's Titanic... In times of war, the God of Destiny seems to be carrying a hostility that he cannot control. Halfway through the Taiping steamer, an accident and sank. 36 people on the ship were rescued and survived. The scattered jewelry and Buddha statues on the boat surprised many nearby fishermen and mixed emotions." A few days after the sinking of the Taiping vessel, Beijing was liberated on January 31. On February 5, the National Government moved to Guangzhou. On April 6, the Shanghai court opened the trial of the Taiping Ship case. But at that time, the Kuomintang's rule in Shanghai was already in jeopardy and people were in panic. On April 23, the People's Liberation Army entered Nanjing. On May 20, Taiwan imposed martial law. Shanghai was liberated on May 27. The trial of the Taiping Ferry tragedy ended in vain. Most of the testimony and documents remained in Shanghai. Many of them are currently kept in the Shanghai Archives. Taiwan maintains Taiwanese litigation documents and compensation records. Regarding the Taiping wreck, Ta Kung Pao raised three questions in its editorial "Another Tragedy at Sea" on February 2:"1. Driving ability; 2. The Taiping vessel is over age and has incomplete life-saving equipment;3. The vessel is overweight." On February 4, Ta Kung Pao once again questioned the Taiping wreck. In an article titled "Causes of the Ship Crash", it concluded that the reason for the disaster was that after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the number of ships increased significantly and the quality of the crew was low. You can sail the ship only with an admission ticket; secondly, the shipping company did not pay attention to life-saving equipment. However, in the private sector, there are other reasons for the collision of the two ships. For example, the "Taiwan New Life Daily" published on February 7, 1949 summarized three reasons for the private sector. First, the Taiping Ferry took a small path and took the wrong route, then the Taiping Ferry was loaded with 600 tons of steel and was seriously overloaded. Finally, the crew was drinking when the two ships collided. Survivor Xu Zhihao said that the reason why the two ships collided was because the first mate drank alcohol and handed over the responsibility of steering to the third mate, who forgot to adjust the rudder when he slept. Survivor Gek recalled: "When the shipwreck occurred, everyone panicked and rushed to escape; there were not enough lifebuoys, Gek jumped into the sea with his wife and children. The ship sank, and the wooden boards, wardrobes, and boxes in the cabin fell everywhere. People who could swim held the board and floated on the sea. Those who could not swim and had little strength would soon be invisible again. The biting waves rolled the cold tide, wave after wave, the cries and screams of children and adults streaked through the night miserably. The sea water in winter is getting colder and colder. Many people cannot withstand the cold, gradually lose their body temperature and let go and sink. "Ye Lunming was one of the survivors of the" Taiping Ferry "and later became a famous long-distance runner in Hong Kong. According to survivor Ye Lunming," He began to work hard to find if there were any survivors. When someone reached out, he would try to hold their hands. Let everyone grab the wooden bucket together and wait for rescue." The Australia warship Warmungo rescued the survivors, changed them into clean clothes, gave them food and hot drinks, sent them to Shanghai, lined up personal belongings for everyone to claim,"not short of a business card, not short of a gold dollar." At the moment of life and death, there are also human ugliness. "Someone took a gun and forced others to give up wooden boards. "" In the dark night, there were cries and screams all around, but someone paddled a lifeboat, ignoring the cries for help around them, and walked away." Sixty years later, Ye Lunming is still angry. The Taiping Ship sank, but more people traveled from Shanghai to Taiwan on limited ships. Many people thought they would return soon, but the result was a lifetime separation. The fugitives who sat on the last Taiping steamer would be buried at the bottom of the sea forever. Zhang Dianwan told a reporter from The Paper News (www.thepaper.cn),"Stories of separation from life and death have been unearthed in forgotten memories. The Taiping Ferry and other fleets brought people of fugitives. The shipwreck disaster before the split between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China met with the colonial scars of the Taiwanese after the war. The gap of that era was once again connected and turned into quiet sharing and listening." These memories related to the Taiping Ferry quickly became only private memories until 2004, when Zhang Dianwan and her friends began filming the documentary "Looking for the Taiping Ferry". Zhang Dianwan's mother, Sima Xiuyuan, arrived in Taiwan on the Taiping Ferry a month before the sinking of the ship. Sima Xiuyuan began to live as a foreigner and married a Hakka. The former Miss of Shanghai stubbornly retained her former living habits. "In October 2000, she passed away. I sorted out her belongings and found her and her father's Shanghai ID card in 1935. A notebook filled with the address book they had just arrived in Taiwan. Carefully write down the contact information of each friend. Yuyuan Road, Huaihai Road, Jinshen Road, Gordon Road... are all maps of her young life. And these calls are numbers that will never be dialed, after 1949." Zhang Dianwan told the Morning Post reporter. In history textbooks, no matter whether in mainland China or Taiwan, these life memories of dispersion have hardly been seen or heard. Starting from the end of 2004, Zhang Dianwan decided to start searching for the ship and the family stories that sank with it to remember the exile of her mother's generation. Zhang Dianwan said that these Taiping Ship archives in the Shanghai Archives have not been opened since 1949 until they came to shoot a documentary in 2005, when the lost era was opened. There were also those family memories that were awakened again.