New | Willing recruit: A Taiwanese man makes peace with his father's wartime links with the Japanese army
A military blanket and a badge are reminders of Lee Sheng-li's complex family legacy - and wider divisions on Taiwan and across the strait
It was a secret that retired Taiwanese military school lecturer Lee Sheng-li dared not tell his family before now - and one his wife still cannot fully accept.
In June, Lee revealed to them the role his father played in the second world war - as a willing member of the Imperial Japanese Army. He decided to share it because he is about to give the last of his father's belongings from the war - a military blanket, copper badge, barometer and army pack, among others - to a museum in mainland China.
"I had to tell them now because I am going to say goodbye to my late father's mementos, which I decided to donate to Yunnan Provincial Museum in Kunming soon," Lee said. "I kept the secret because my wife's family hated the Japanese very much."
Although his daughter took the news well, his wife had a more difficult time, and she still views the items as "garbage".
The Lee family has roots that span several sides of the Asian conflict, and to this day, their lives remain deeply influenced by the complex relationship of victim, oppressor and colonised subject.
His father, Lee Sai-kun, was 16 when he was recruited by the Japanese to work at a Tainan police station in Taiwan. Japan had ruled Taiwan since 1895, when the Qing government ceded control of the island after losing the first Sino-Japanese war.