Flowers and revolutions (Chop suey)

It seems that revolutions革命(ge2 ming4), are in these days. From Tunisia, Egypt, Libya to Yemen, people have been rallying to protest 抗議(kang4 yi4), against their dictators 獨裁者(du2 cai2 zhe3), that have been ruling their countries for decades. Thanks to the fast communication on the Internet, masses of people were gathered in no time to fight for the same cause. Some of them have been celebrating their success.

The trend does not limit to the Middle East. These days “jasmine”茉莉花(mo4 li4 hwa) are emerging in Beijing, Hong kong, or even Taipei to express support for “dissidents” 異議分子(yi4 yi4 fen4 zi) in China. It’s too early to comment on this. But I’d like to tell you an important historical event in Taiwan—野百合學運(ye3 bai3 he2 xue2 yun4), Wild lily student movement, a six-day student demonstration in March, 1990.

On March 16, nine students from National Taiwan University 台大(tai2 da4) initiated a sit-in demonstration 靜坐抗議(jing4 zuo4 kang4 yi4) at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Square 中正紀念堂(zhong zheng ji4 nian4 tang2) to express their appeals to dissolve the National Assembly that hadn’t been reelected and had voted for the president on behalf of Taiwanese for more than forty years. They sought direct elections of Taiwan’s president. Soon nearly six thousand college students joined them. They wore white Formosan lilies as a symbol of democracy.

The demonstration lasted from March 16 to March 22. Compared with the ill-fated student demonstration in Tiananmen Square less than one year ago, Wild lily student movement ended with succeess: One year later the National Assembly was dissolved and six years later, Taiwan’s first popularly elected president came out. This Wild lily movement initiated by college students has set up a very important milestone 里程碑(li3 cheng2 bei) for Taiwan’s democracy.

Ever since Taiwan’s martial law 戒嚴(jie4 yan2) was lifted in 1987, there has been huge changes in Taiwan’s society. Great progress has been made in terms of democracy. Like any other democratic countries in the world, speeches of diverse values and notions are allowed to be expressed. Almost every day you see demonstrators in front of the Legislative Yuan, but you hardly see people and the police confront each other. People in Taiwan can always express themselves without violence because they won’t face any oppression from the government. I think this is part of what I’m happy about living in Taiwan, a very big part of it.

抗議=抗议

獨裁者=独裁者

異議分子=异议分子

野百合學運=野百合学运

戒嚴=戒严