On the morning of April 7, 1989, two hundred police officers surrounded the Freedom Times magazine office on Minquan East Road in Taipei. Zheng Nanrong, 41, had already been self-imprisoned in the editor-in-chief's office for 71 days, refusing to appear in court on charges of "suspected treason."1 The moment the霹雳 (霹雳) squad broke down the door, he ignited pre-prepared gasoline, responding to a subpoena with self-immolation.
Seven months later, the Berlin Wall fell. Eight years later, Taiwan elected its first directly elected president. Eleven years later, the party behind that subpoena lost power.
Zheng Nanrong's wife, Ye Ju-lan, came from the advertising industry and had never stepped into politics. Eight months after her husband's death, she ran for Legislative Yuan member on his behalf. Her campaign slogan was: "Children, accompany me to fight a mother's holy war!"1 She was elected with a high number of votes. Fifteen years later, she took the seat of Vice Premier of the Executive Yuan.
30-Second Overview: Taiwan traversed the path from the world's longest martial law to Asia's most free and democratic system in forty years, with almost no bloodshed. This was not because the rulers were benevolent, but because every crackdown was counterproductive: the February 28 Incident created silent resisters, the Formosan Magazine Trial put defense lawyers on the political stage, and Zheng Nanrong's fire made freedom of speech an irreversible baseline. The most ironic legacy of an authoritarian regime is that it trains the people who bury it.
The Seeds of Trauma: The Shot at the Roundabout (1947)
On the evening of February 27, 1947, at the Taipei Roundabout, Special Sales Bureau investigator Ye De-gen smashed the head of widow Lin Jiang-mai with a gun butt. She fell beside scattered illicit cigarettes, her face covered in blood. The crowd chasing the fleeing investigator was joined by another investigator, Fu Xue-tong, who fired a warning shot into the air. A stray bullet hit 20-year-old Chen Wen-xi, who was watching from his own doorway; he died the next day.2
A pack of illicit cigarettes ignited the entire island.
The next day, citizens surrounded the Administrative Headquarters to petition. Guards opened fire from the balcony, sweeping the crowd. The protests spread across Taiwan. On March 8, the Nationalist Army's 21st Division landed in Keelung, launching a "clearing of the countryside." The number of casualties remains disputed to this day; the Executive Yuan's 2006 investigation report estimates the death toll between 18,000 and 28,000.3 Intellectuals, doctors, lawyers, and local gentry were systematically purged.
"They did not kill thugs; they killed an entire generation of people who might have led Taiwan." — Wu Zhuoliu, Fig Without Flowers
The direct effect of the February 28 Incident was fear. The indirect effect was implanting an indelible question in the memory of an entire generation: Why can't we decide our own destiny?
On May 19, 1949, Taiwan Provincial Chairman Chen Cheng declared martial law. This "temporary measure" lasted for 38 years and 56 days, the longest period of martial law in world history.4 Forming political parties was banned, assemblies were banned, strikes were banned, newspapers were censored before printing, and there were only three TV channels. A baby born in 1949 had to wait until age 38 to know what a Taiwan without martial law looked like.
The authoritarian regime made a fatal error: it assumed silence equaled submission.
The Most Expensive Talent Training Class for Authoritarianism (1979–1980)
On December 10, 1979, International Human Rights Day. The Formosan Magazine Office planned a rally and march in Kaohsiung. The authorities denied permission, but about 20,000 people gathered anyway. After nightfall, riot police surrounded the venue, with tear gas and batons flying.5
The mass arrests followed. Huang Xin-jie, Shi Ming-de, Lu Hsiu-lien, Chen Chu, Lin Yi-hsiung, Yao Chia-wen, Chang Chun-hung, and Lin Hung-hsuan were sent to military courts on charges of "treason."
Then the authoritarian regime made a second mistake: it decided to hold a public trial.
On March 18, 1980, a nine-day military law grand trial unfolded under the spotlight of domestic and international media. The performances of the fifteen defense lawyers (including Tsai Ing-wen, Hsieh Chang-ting, Su Tseng-chang, and Chang Chun-hsiung) made them famous overnight.6 The government intended to use the public trial to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, but instead, it created a whole batch of tomorrow's stars. Twenty years later, one president and three Premiers emerged from among these defense lawyers.
📝 Curator's Note
Chen Chu, one of the defendants in the Formosan Magazine Trial, wrote a suicide note after being imprisoned at age 29. She was not writing to her family, but to the people of Taiwan. The note quoted the Epistles of Paul: "I have fought the good fight."7 She thought she would be shot. Forty-one years later, this former political prisoner became the President of the Control Yuan, responsible for investigating whether the government had committed crimes.
On February 28, 1980, the 33rd anniversary of the February 28 Incident, Lin Yi-hsiung's mother and seven-year-old twin daughters were murdered in their home, and the eldest daughter was severely injured.8 The case remains unsolved. This bloodshed made more Taiwanese people see clearly: authoritarian rule is not just an abstract political issue; it breaks into your home and kills your children.
The Fatal Blow: Gunshots from a California Garage (1984)
On October 15, 1984, overseas Chinese writer Liu Yi-liang (pen name "Jiang Nan") was shot dead in the garage of his California residence. The FBI investigation revealed: the killer was a member of the Zhuhui Gang absorbed by the Taiwan Military Intelligence Bureau, orchestrated by Intelligence Bureau Director Wang Hsi-ling.9
The Taiwanese government assassinated an American citizen on U.S. soil.
Washington was outraged, threatening to cut off arms sales. Chiang Ching-kuo was forced to hand over Wang Hsi-ling and two others for trial. The Jiang Nan case forced Chiang Ching-kuo to face a cold calculation: the cost of continuing authoritarian rule had become higher than the cost of opening up.
"Changes in the international situation stripped the legitimacy of Taiwan's authoritarian rule. Democratic transition was not a gift, but an inevitable choice under internal and external pressure." — Larry Diamond, Taiwan: A Democratic Success Story10
"Arresting People Doesn't Solve Problems" (1986–1987)
On September 28, 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was illegally established at the Taipei Grand Hotel. The Police Headquarters sent over an arrest list. Chiang Ching-kuo's response was six words: "Arresting people doesn't solve problems."11 He set the list aside.
In January 1987, Chiang Ching-kuo gave an interview to the Washington Post publisher, Marvin Kalb, announcing the lifting of martial law and the opening of political parties. Ma Ying-jeou, then 36 years old and serving as a translator, later recalled: "My scalp went numb, and my whole body felt like it was being electrocuted."11
Why lift martial law? Not out of a change of heart. The Jiang Nan case had ruined the international image; pressure from the non-KMT movement continued to rise; the end of the Cold War was stripping the authoritarian regime of its international backing; and Chiang Ching-kuo's own diabetes had left him nearly blind, with his health deteriorating rapidly. Lifting martial law was the result of calculation, not the product of mercy.
At midnight on July 15, 1987, the martial law order was lifted. Taiwanese people could suddenly form parties, assemble, and march. But thirty-eight years of silence would not turn into clamor just because of an order. Most people did not know what to do.
Democracy is not a switch. It requires an entire society to relearn how to be citizens.
Seventy-One Days and a Fire (1989)
Taiwan was not peaceful after the lifting of martial law. In 1988, Chiang Ching-kuo died, and Lee Teng-hui succeeded him as president, with conservative factions within the party watching like tigers. The boundaries of freedom of speech remained blurred.
Zheng Nanrong decided to test this boundary. In December 1988, he published the full text of the Draft Constitution of the Republic of Taiwan, drafted by Hsu Shih-kai, in the Freedom Times. The authorities issued a subpoena on charges of "suspected treason." Zheng Nanrong publicly declared: "The Kuomintang cannot catch my person, only my corpse."1
Starting January 27, 1989, he locked himself in the magazine's editor-in-chief office, refusing to appear in court. Seventy-one days later, on the morning of April 7, he fulfilled his promise with fire.
His wife, Ye Ju-lan, said: "One person running a magazine, writing articles, and dying—you think once they are dead, it's over? Although I am a woman, I can also do something."1
April 7 was later designated as "Freedom of Speech Day." Zheng Nanrong's self-immolation turned "freedom of speech" from a policy issue that could be discussed into an un-negotiable baseline. After him, no one could righteously say "such words cannot be spoken."
Six Thousand Wild Lilies vs. Tiananmen (1990)
On the afternoon of March 16, 1990, a small group of students went to the square at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall for a sit-in. The cause was the National Assembly, elected in 1947 on the mainland and never fully re-elected after coming to Taiwan, preparing to elect Lee Teng-hui for re-election as president.
When the news spread, it resonated across the island. In just a few days, nearly 6,000 people gathered.12 They presented four major demands: dissolve the National Assembly, abolish the Temporary Provisions, convene a National Affairs Conference, and establish a reform timetable.
The key question arose: Would Lee Teng-hui respond like Tiananmen did the previous year, or would he take another path?
On the evening of March 21, Lee Teng-hui met with 53 student representatives at the Presidential Office.12 He promised to convene a National Affairs Conference. After the representatives returned to the square, student movement leader Fan Yun reported to all students. By a vote of the inter-school meeting, 22 to 1, the students decided to withdraw autonomously.
📝 Curator's Note
The students at Tiananmen waited for tanks. The students in Taipei waited for the President's promise. And the promise was kept: the Temporary Provisions were abolished in 1991, the Legislative Yuan was fully re-elected in 1992, mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung were directly elected in 1994, and the president was directly elected in 1996. Within nine years, from authoritarianism to full democracy. The subsequent trajectories of the Wild Lily Movement leaders read like a political encyclopedia: Fan Yun became a DPP legislator, Lin Chia-lung became Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Cheng Wen-pan became Mayor of Taoyuan.
Voting in Line Under Missiles (1996)
On March 23, 1996, Taiwan held its first direct presidential election. China's response was to fire missiles in the waters off Keelung and Kaohsiung, attempting to intimidate Taiwanese voters. The U.S. dispatched two carrier strike groups to cross the Taiwan Strait.13
Voting stations in Taipei were set up in temples, with voters receiving ballots before the gods. A newlywed couple in Kinmen rushed to vote on their wedding day, celebrating both their marriage and Taiwan's first free election.14
The result was counterproductive. With a 76.04% voter turnout, Lee Teng-hui was elected with 54% of the vote. The missiles instead spurred the Taiwanese people's will to vote.14
"For every missile China fires, Lee Teng-hui gains another percentage point." — A joke circulating at the time
Four sets of candidates, a massive international media presence, missile threats, and then peaceful vote counting, with the losers accepting the results. For the first time in the Chinese-speaking world, a national leader was chosen by ballot.
Party Rotation: The Stress Test of Democracy (2000–2024)
On the evening of March 18, 2000, TV stations announced successively: Chen Shui-bian and Lu Hsiu-lien were elected. The Kuomintang lost power in Taiwan after 55 years. Twenty years prior, political prisoner Lu Hsiu-lien became Vice President. The defense lawyers from the Formosan Magazine Trial entered the Presidential Office. On May 20, Lee Teng-hui handed the presidential seal to Chen Shui-bian. Peaceful, complete, bloodless transfer of power.15
In 2008, Ma Ying-jeou was elected, marking the second rotation, proving the first was no accident. In 2016, Tsai Ing-wen was elected, making Taiwan's first female head of state. In 2024, Lai Ching-te was elected, opening the era of a minority government.
Four party rotations within twenty-four years. Democracy has become a daily operation rather than a historical event.
Thirty Seconds to Declare and Twenty-Four Days of Occupation (2014)
On the afternoon of March 17, 2014, KMT Legislator Chang Ching-chung declared the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement "deemed reviewed" in thirty seconds. The next night at 9:30, over two hundred students and civic groups rushed into the Legislative Yuan chamber.16
This occupation lasted twenty-four days. Unlike the Formosan generation, the Sunflower Movement was a decentralized digital movement. The citizen hacker community g0v set up the g0v.today aggregation platform, simultaneously streaming seventeen live video feeds, exposing every corner inside and outside the chamber to global viewers.17 Engineers from the Industrial Technology Research Institute even assisted in installing six cameras to eliminate blind spots in the corridors. Tang Feng (then a g0v member) later said: "Most of the technology we deployed was neutral; their purpose was simply to encourage people to dialogue."17
On March 30, hundreds of thousands gathered on the Ketagalan Boulevard. The Service Trade Agreement was indeed blocked. More profoundly, it redefined the way Taiwan's younger generation participates in politics: you don't need to join a party; you just need a laptop and a presence on the scene.
💡 Did You Know
The open-source code of the Sunflower Movement was used by protesters in Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement to build their own platform. After the occupation ended, g0v collaborated with the government to spawn vTaiwan and the "Legislative Yuan Unparalleled" (Guohui Wushuang) legislative live-streaming system. An occupation became an institution.
Asia's First Rainbow Certificate (2019)
At 3:27 PM on May 17, 2019, Legislative Yuan Speaker Su Tseng-chang struck the gavel, passing the Act Implementing the Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 in its third reading. Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.18
It took effect on May 24. On the first day, 526 same-sex couples completed their registration.
The significance of this goes beyond marriage itself. It proves that Taiwan's democracy is not just about majority rule, but also has the capacity to protect the rights of minorities, even if the majority voted against them in a referendum. From the total ban on homosexuality during the martial law period to being number one in Asia, it took more than thirty years.
Freedom on a Treadmill
Freedom House 2024 Report: Taiwan scored 94 (out of 100), ranking second in Asia and seventh globally.19 The Economist Democracy Index 2024: First in Asia, twelfth globally.20
The numbers are impressive. The challenges are also real. Information warfare from China continues to escalate; social media exacerbates political polarization; youth voter turnout is declining. The Council for National Reconstruction's Transitional Justice Commission ended its mission in 2022, but political archives have not been fully opened, perpetrators' responsibilities have hardly been pursued, and the transformation controversy surrounding the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall remains unresolved.21
⚠️ Controversial Viewpoint
Chiang Ching-kuo's historical position has always been one of the most divisive issues in Taiwanese society. Supporters view the lifting of martial law as his gift. Opponents point out that during the White Terror, he directed the intelligence system, and lifting martial law was also a calculation forced by internal and external pressure. Both narratives have factual basis, but choosing which side to emphasize is itself a political stance.
Democracy is not a trophy; it is a treadmill. The moment you stop, it moves backward.
In 1980, 29-year-old Chen Chu wrote a suicide note in prison, saying goodbye to the Taiwan she loved. She quoted the Epistles of Paul: "I have fought the good fight."7
She was not shot. She served six years. After release, she helped found the DPP, served as Mayor of Taipei, Minister of Labor, and Mayor of Kaohsiung for twelve years. In 2020, she was nominated as President of the Control Yuan.
The same person. The same island. The only difference is: in 1979, her ideas were a crime. In 2020, this former political prisoner was responsible for investigating whether the government had committed crimes.
From a suicide note to President of the Control Yuan, forty-one years. This is what democratic transition means. Not a smooth inspirational arc, but a political experiment full of absurdity, contradictions, and irreversible costs. The people who started it didn't know it would succeed. Many thought they would die. The experiment continues.
Further Reading:
- February 28 Incident — How the trauma of 1947 became the origin of Taiwan's democratic consciousness
- White Terror in Taiwan — The full picture of political cases and human rights violations during the 38-year martial law period
- Martial Law Period — The legal basis and social control mechanisms of the world's longest martial law order
- Formosan Magazine Incident — The complete process and historical impact of the 1979 Kaohsiung incident
- Taiwan Elections and Party Politics — The evolution of the electoral system from the Eternal Congress to four party rotations
- Resolution on Taiwan's Future — In 1999, the DPP used a document full of ambiguity to complete a route transition, opening the door to the first party rotation in 2000
- Taiwan Transitional Justice — How society faces the historical trauma of the authoritarian period after democratization
- Sunflower Student Movement — A complete chronicle of the 2014 Legislative Yuan occupation, from the thirty-second intrusion to economic decoupling from China twelve years later
- 2026 Xi-Taiwan Meeting: Ten Minutes of a Decade Reunion Between KMT and CCP Leaders — Why does AIT emphasize "dialogue with elected leadership"? The foundation of this principle lies in this history of democratization
- Chou Tzu-yu — The 90-second apology video on the eve of the 2016 election is the heaviest stroke in Taiwan's third party rotation
References
- Wikipedia: Zheng Nanrong — A complete record of Zheng Nanrong's life from founding the Freedom Times to his self-immolation martyrdom. Ye Ju-lan's quote is from a Central News Agency 2022 report and a Focus Taiwan 2025 36th-anniversary commemorative report.↩
- Wikipedia: Roundabout Cigarette Smuggling Incident — Detailed account of the February 27, 1947, illicit cigarette smuggling incident, including the beating of Lin Jiang-mai and the first-hand historical restoration of Chen Wen-xi being shot.↩
- Research Report on Responsibility for the February 28 Incident — Published by the Foundation for Reconciliation and Development in 2006, commissioned by the Executive Yuan, it is currently the most authoritative official analysis of casualty figures and responsibility attribution.↩
- National Human Rights Museum: Martial Law Period — Official archives on the legal basis, implementation scope, and social control mechanisms of Taiwan's 1949-1987 martial law system.↩
- National Human Rights Memory Bank: Kaohsiung Incident — Contains photos, trial records, and oral histories of the December 10, 1979, Kaohsiung Incident; it is the most digitally advanced historical archive of the Formosan Magazine Incident.↩
- Story Studio: From Mass Arrests to Military Law Grand Trial — Contains photos of the military law trial and the list of fifteen defense lawyers, recording how the trial unexpectedly created the next generation of opposition movement leaders.↩
- Liberty Times: The Story of Chen Chu's Prison Suicide Note — The content and leakage process of the suicide note written by Chen Chu in the Investigation Bureau prison in 1980, secretly brought out by defense lawyer Gao Jun-ming. The note used the Epistles of Paul to encourage himself, saying goodbye to the people of Taiwan rather than his family.↩
- Wikipedia: Lin Family Tragedy — The process and subsequent investigation of the Lin Yi-hsiung family massacre on February 28, 1980, remains one of Taiwan's most significant unsolved cases.↩
- National Human Rights Memory Bank: Jiang Nan Case — The complete process of the 1984 murder of Liu Yi-liang, recording the investigation into the assassination orchestrated by Military Intelligence Bureau Director Wang Hsi-ling and its international political impact.↩
- Larry Diamond, "Taiwan: A Democratic Success Story," Journal of Democracy, 2015 — Academic analysis by Stanford University democracy scholar on Taiwan's democratic transition, arguing how the interaction of internal and external pressures forced the authoritarian regime to reform.↩
- China Change: Chiang Ching-kuo and Taiwan's Democratization — Analysis of Chiang Ching-kuo's decision-making process in his last two years, including the anecdote "Arresting people doesn't solve problems" and Ma Ying-jeou's recollection of "scalp going numb," synthesizing analyses from Commonwealth Magazine and Retrospect Journal.↩
- Wikipedia: Wild Lily Student Movement — Complete record of the March 1990 student movement, including the process of Lee Teng-hui meeting 53 student representatives and the 22:1 vote to withdraw in the inter-school meeting.↩
- Central News Agency: 1996 Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis — CNA retrospective report, recording the missile crisis involving China firing missiles at Taiwan and the U.S. dispatching carrier strike groups.↩
- Focus Taiwan: First Direct Presidential Election 30th Anniversary Image Review — Images from the voting day in 1996, including temple voting stations and the Kinmen newlywed couple voting. Voter turnout and vote data are cited from the Wikipedia 1996 Presidential Election article.↩
- Freedom House: Taiwan Democratization — Freedom House's annual assessment of Taiwan's democratic development, recording the democratic consolidation process from the first party rotation in 2000 to the present.↩
- Wikipedia: Sunflower Student Movement — Complete timeline of the 2014 Legislative Yuan occupation movement, from Chang Ching-chung's forced thirty-second passage to the students' autonomous withdrawal over twenty-four days.↩
- Global Voices: How Technology Shaped the Sunflower Movement — Complete record of the g0v citizen hacker community setting up the g0v.today aggregation of 17 live streams during the occupation, ITRI assisting in installing cameras, and Tang Feng's quote.↩
- Legislative Yuan: Act Implementing the Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 — The full text of the law passed in its third reading on May 17, 2019, making Taiwan the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.↩
- Freedom House: Taiwan 2024 — 2024 Annual Report, Taiwan scored 94/100, Political Rights 38/40, Civil Liberties 56/60.↩
- The Economist: Democracy Index 2024 — The Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index, Taiwan scored 8.78 in 2024, ranking 12th globally and first in Asia.↩
- Executive Yuan: Council for National Reconstruction's Transitional Justice Commission — An independent agency operating from 2018 to 2022, responsible for opening political archives, removing authoritarian symbols, and remedying judicial injustices. Its mission ended in 2022, with business transferred to various ministries.↩