Yam: From the "Dutaihui Case" to Little Yam Babies—The Ideals and Disillusionment of a Local Search Engine

30-Second Overview: In 1991, Chen Cheng-ran—a National Taiwan University (NTU) sociology alumnus once arrested due to the "Dutaihui Case"—founded "Yam" in 1994 with his partners, creating Taiwan's first World Wide Web presence and Chinese-language search engine. This vision, rooted in social concern, deeply embedded itself into the childhood memories of countless "7th and 8th graders" (those born in the 1970s/80s) through "Little Yam Babies." However, facing the dot-on bubble of 2000 and competition from international giants, Yam's ambition as a local internet pioneer eventually exited the stage in 2006. Its rise and fall is not only a microcosm of Taiwan's internet development but also a profound dialogue between idealism and commercial reality.

I. 1991: From the Political Storm of the "Dutaihui Case" to the Germination of Internet Ideals

On May 9, 1991, Taiwanese society was in a sensitive period following the lifting of martial law, with investigators from the Bureau of Investigation constantly shadowing activists. In the early morning, a team raided Chen Cheng-ran's residence and arrested him and three other youths under the charge of being "Taiwan independence rebels"¹. This group of young people, including Chen, was caught in a political storm known as the "Dutaihui Student Movement" simply because they had visited the author of A Four-Hundred-Year History of the Taiwanese (史明), Shi Ming, in Japan and assisted the "Independent Taiwan Association" with propaganda production²¹. At the time, Chen Cheng-ran, a 1981 graduate of NTU's Sociology Department, had just returned to Taiwan after abandoning his doctoral studies in the United States, filled with passion for Taiwan's democratic reform³. He firmly believed that culture was the most fundamental determinant of social change; upon returning, he established the "Fig" (無花果) Cultural Information Center to collect and organize Taiwanese historical materials. This work, however, laid the groundwork for surveillance, marking him as a "dissident" under the authoritarian regime¹³.

Although the arrest lasted only nine days, it resulted in the destruction of hard drives containing Chen's painstakingly compiled Taiwanese historical archives during interrogation, leaving deep trauma¹. Recalling this experience, Chen once stated: "Looking back now, it seems absurd; one can only say it was a product of that era, representing the conservative authoritarian regime's distrust of intellectual freedom and openness. We were merely temporary actors pushed onto the stage, without even receiving our acting fees."³ Nevertheless, this experience did not extinguish his passion for social reform.

In 1993, when his friend Hsiao Ching-teng showed him a webpage and explained the concept of the internet, Chen's eyes filled with hope once again. He foresaw that the internet would ignite a revolution in media and communications. Based on this foresight and social concern, he, along with Hsiao Ching-teng, Wu Chun-hsing, and others, persuaded the Kewen Foundation to jointly establish the "Taiwan Social and Cultural Information Network" in 1994. This was not only the driving force behind Taiwan's first World Wide Web (WWW) presence but also laid the foundation for what would become Yam¹³.

In late 1994, "Yam" (蕃薯藤) officially went online. Its name was rich with local Taiwanese meaning: fan-shu (sweet potato) symbolized the land of Taiwan, while "vine" (藤) implied spreading and thriving, echoing the spirit that "the sweet potato does not fear rotting in the earth; it only seeks to pass its vines and leaves through generations"³. In its early stages, Yam had a strong "missionary" and public welfare character, aiming to promote internet knowledge and actively assisting social movement organizations in disseminating information—for example, by launching "228 Special Features" and "Labor Day Special Features"—attempting to introduce domestic and international social reform movements to Taiwanese netizens¹³.

Source: NTU Alumni Bi-monthly, E-commerce Times

📝 Curator's Note: The birth of Yam was not just a technological breakthrough, but a convergence point for the social movements and the tide of information liberalization in Taiwan during that era. Its roots are deeper than many imagine, firmly planted in care for this land and closely linked to the founder's personal political history.

II. The Golden Age of Search Engines and the Childhood Memories of "Little Yam Babies"

In August 1995, Yam officially launched its search engine service, becoming Taiwan's first portal site, providing diverse internet resources such as search, email, news, and categorized services⁴¹. In that era when the internet was just beginning, Yam rose rapidly, with daily active users once reaching 410,000, firmly securing its position as the leader of Taiwan's portal sites⁴. In 1997, Yam even collaborated with Microsoft to become the built-in search engine for the Chinese version of IE4.0, which not only proved the technical strength of the local team but also gained international recognition³.

However, Yam is most widely known for its "Little Yam" (小蕃薯) children's website and its signature service, "Little Yam Babies" (小蕃 $\text{薯}$ 寶寶), launched in 1999⁴¹. This virtual pet育成 (raising) game attracted countless "7th and 8th graders." Players had to log in to the Yam website daily to care for their Little Yam Baby—feeding, playing, and cleaning—watching it grow from a seedling into an adult⁵. For many elementary school students at the time, secretly opening the Yam webpage during computer class just to catch a glimpse of their Yam Baby was a shared childhood memory⁵.

The success of Little Yam Babies brought massive traffic and user stickiness to Yam, and created a unique cultural phenomenon in Taiwanese society. It transformed cold internet technology into a warm, humanized interactive experience, making the internet more than just a carrier of information, but a platform for emotional connection. This educational-yet-fun design also embodied Yam's consistent spirit of social concern, striving to provide children with a clean and educational online environment¹.

📝 Curator's Note: In an era before the internet was ubiquitous, "Little Yam Babies" was more than just a game; it was an emotional bond. It allowed many people to feel the "warmth" of the internet for the first time and established an irreplaceable brand loyalty for Yam—a "human touch" that international giants later found difficult to replicate.

III. Commercial Transformation and the Impact of the Dot-com Bubble

Despite its initial focus on public welfare, facing the rapid development of the internet industry and massive operating costs, Yam announced its transformation into a commercial company in November 1998, establishing "Yam Digital Technology Co., Ltd."²⁴³. This transformation aimed to introduce external resources to realize a larger internet dream. At the time, the team viewed commercialization as a means rather than an end—as stated in an interview with the NTU Alumni Bi-monthly, "The 'Old Yam' veterans treated the process of commercialization as a means; bringing in outside resources was about fulfilling the internet dream"³. They also sequentially built public welfare websites such as "Women's Web" and "Disability Web," attempting to uphold their ideals amidst the commercial wave.

Following its commercialization, Yam was in high spirits, proposing the "4C" service concept with the goal of surpassing "Taiwan Yahoo" to become the largest leading website brand in the global Chinese-speaking world, covering Content, Communication, Community, and Commerce³. In 2000, Yam even secured investment from Berhad, the world's fourth-largest media group, and Microsoft; however, it categorically rejected a merger offer from Yahoo, insisting that Chinese people should pioneer their own internet era¹.

However, good times do not last. After 2000, the wave of the global dot-com bubble swept in, causing profits for internet companies worldwide to decline sharply, and Yam was no exception⁴¹. Facing drastic market changes and competition from international giants—especially Yahoo! Kimo, which grew significantly in strength after its acquisition of Kimpo—Yam's market position gradually declined, falling from the leader of Taiwan's portal sites to fourth place, trailing far behind Yahoo! Kimo, PChome, and MSN¹.

📝 Curator's Note: Yam's commercial transformation was an inevitability in the history of Taiwan's internet development, yet it also highlighted the fragility of idealism within capital markets. The persistence of "Chinese people pioneering their own internet era" appears even more tragic in retrospect. This persistence, seen as national pride at the time, may have also been a missed opportunity for strategic transformation.

IV. A Somber Exit: The Intersection of Idealism and Reality

Under the impact of the dot-on bubble, Yam faced severe challenges. In 2001, Yam resolved to spin off its leading e-commerce business, but PChome became Taiwan's largest e-commerce site two years later, and Yam missed another critical opportunity¹. Ultimately, under the pressure of commercial competition, Yam announced in August 2006 that it would sell its portal business to Webs-TV for 290 million TWD⁴¹⁶⁷⁸.

This transaction shocked the internet industry at the time. Yam, which once had a market capitalization as high as 8.12 billion TWD, saw nearly 7.8 billion TWD of its value evaporate in just six years¹.

Source: E-commerce Times

For Chen Cheng-ran, this was undoubtedly a difficult decision. He had insisted on Chinese-led internet development and rejected the Yahoo merger, but ultimately could not withstand commercial reality. Some commentators pointed out that perhaps it was Chen's personality of social concern that caused him to overlook the business logic that a company must first grow strong to have the strength to care for the disadvantaged¹.

The somber exit of Yam marked the end of an era for the Taiwan internet. It is not just a story of the rise and fall of a search engine or portal site, but a microcosm of Taiwan's internet moving from its early days filled with idealism and public welfare toward commercial competition. Although Yam is no longer a market mainstream, its status as a pioneer in Taiwan's internet history and the warm memories of "Little Yam Babies" in many hearts will endure forever.

V. The Historical Significance and Cultural Legacy of Yam

The history of Yam is an indispensable chapter in the development of the Taiwan internet. It proved that during the early stages of the internet, local Taiwanese teams were capable of creating world-leading Chinese-language search engines and competing with international giants in the market. The journey of its founder, Chen Cheng-ran, from a social activist youth to an internet pioneer also embodies how intellectuals in Taiwan's democratization process attempted to put ideals into practice and influence society through technology²³.

As one of Yam's most successful cultural symbols, "Little Yam Babies" is not only a shared childhood memory for many "7th and 8th graders" but also symbolizes the fun and humanized characteristics of the early Taiwan internet. It made the internet more than just a cold tool, but a platform that could be interactive, nurturing, and capable of bringing emotional connections. This unique internet cultural experience is something international platforms like Google and Yahoo cannot replicate⁵.

The story of Yam ultimately froze at that merger in 2006. It failed to become the Chinese-language internet hegemon that would "surpass Taiwan Yahoo" as Chen Cheng-ran envisioned, and it could not withstand the cruel baptism of the capital market. But when we look back on this history, what truly remains may not be those once-glorious traffic statistics, but the purity of a group of young people attempting to change society through the internet at the end of the authoritarian era; and the Little Yam Baby that grew slowly on the screen during countless afternoons in elementary school computer classes. It proves that during the pioneering period of the Taiwan internet, there once existed such an era filled with human warmth and idealism.

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