A Web site launched by three Academia Sinica institutions features some of the more than 7,000 items left behind by Sunflower movement protesters following their occupation of the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber for almost 23 days in March and April last year.
The items, which include objects such as post-it notes, works of art and even audio files were collected by members of Academia Sinica’s Institute of Taiwan History, Institute of Sociology and Institute of History and Philology.
The items were scanned and uploaded onto the Web site in an attempt to document an epoch-defining moment in Taiwanese politics and student activism, Academia Sinica researchers said.
Photo: Tang Chia-ling, Taipei Times
The protesters’ occupation of the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber was hugely influential in the landslide defeat the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) suffered in the November nine-in-one elections last year, researchers said.
Some very interesting things were collected, such as a large artwork in the form of a sunflower, sun cakes and a 3D replica of a banana, Institute of History and Philology research fellow Hwang Ming-chorng (黃銘崇) said.
The sun cakes were at the protest site in response to then-Executive Yuan deputy secretary-general Hsiao Chia-chi’s (蕭家淇) complaint that the sun cakes he left in his drawer were gone after the students’ failed attempt to take over the building on March 24.
The banana is a reference to former KMT legislator Chiu Yi’s (邱毅) pointing to the sunflowers and saying that “they are in fact bananas.”
“It is evident from the items we collected that there is a distinct difference in how young people express their opinions today compared with the older generation,” Hwang said.
“The Sunflower movement is perhaps the most colorful of all the civic movements in Taiwan’s history,” he added.
Moreover, as most of the activists had mobile phones, the Sunflower movement is the most recorded social activism period in the nation’s history, Hwang said.
Academia Sinica deputy researcher Chuang Tyng-ruey (莊庭瑞) said he was happy to be on the team documenting such an important period in history.
The archives have already been launched on the Web site and after Oct. 31, people can point out which items are theirs, Academia Sinica said, adding that it hopes the owners would authorize the academy to use the items.
The items are to be displayed at the National Museum of Taiwanese History in Tainan after an exhibition planned for early next year in Taipei, Academia Sinica said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard