Cultural movements were a fundamental part of the dangwai (黨外, “outside the party”) era. A few years after the end of World War II, the Free China Journal (自由中國) and Apollo Magazine (文星) began publishing dissenting political ideas.
The Taiwanese literature movement involved a pivoting away from “Chinese literature in Taiwan,” with more stories pertinent to Taiwanese life being featured. The movement stemmed from the 1964 founding of two magazines, Taiwan Literature and Arts (台灣文藝) and Li Poetry Magazine (笠詩刊), as well as the release that year of A Declaration of Formosan Self-Salvation (台灣人民自救運動宣言) by democracy advocate Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) and his students.
The cultural movement of the dangwai era entered a new phase in the 1970s. Democracy advocates such as Kang Ning-hsiang (康寧祥) and Huang Hsin-chieh (黃信介) launched the Taiwan Tribute (台灣政論), The Eighties (八十年代) and Formosa Magazine (美麗島雜誌). The forced closure of Formosa Magazine led to the Kaohsiung Incident.
When political prisoners of the Kaohsiung Incident were behind bars, dangwai magazines continued to be published. A plethora of new journals arose in the following decade, including Cultivate (深耕), CARE Magazine (關懷), The Movement (新潮流) and Progress (前進), China Tide(夏潮), Ren-Jian (人間),Con-Temporary (當代) and Freedom Era Weekly (自由時代), published by Taiwanese independent advocate Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕).
By focusing on historical discussions, political criticism, world events and tales from the then-one-party state, the publications inspired Taiwanese long held back by the authoritarian system. Despite government censorship, the journals were widely distributed. Cultural movements in the dangwai era played a crucial role in enlightening Taiwanese, facilitating the end of one-party authoritarian rule by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and leading Taiwan to democracy.
In contrast, since the first transition of power in 2000, with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leading several administrations, government-led cultural institutions have prioritized contracts and rewards, leaving national aspirations constrained.
When the DPP took office for the first time, it accepted the Republic of China as a government institution. At the same time, Taiwan entered a consumerist, post-modernist phase, with few deliberating the importance of a Taiwanese nation.
The spectres of the one-party-state era have since returned to haunt Taiwan. They have gone from opposing the communist doctrine to becoming a vassal of the Chinese Communist Party and are seeking to derail Taiwan’s normalization.
Throughout the movement to recall numerous KMT lawmakers, young Taiwanese have shown their determination to safeguard democratic values by rallying across Taiwan. Independent bookstores have become hubs of the mass recall movement, filling the void left by a lack of cultural movements. Independent bookstores are like the dangwai magazines: They are becoming a force for Taiwanese culture by educating and strengthening democratic values. They have become a hot spot for people to learn about Taiwanese identity and culture in the modern age. The cultural impact of independent bookstores mirrors that of the dangwai magazines advocating democratic and liberal values in times of martial law and authoritarianism.
Political reforms must embody the essence of cultural movements to be formidable. The re-establishment of a Taiwanese state and the reconstruction of society are two sides of the same coin. Independent bookstores are strongholds for people to learn about Taiwanese identity and culture in the modern age.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Cayce Pan
A failure by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to respond to Israel’s brilliant 12-day (June 12-23) bombing and special operations war against Iran, topped by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the June 21 bombing of Iranian deep underground nuclear weapons fuel processing sites, has been noted by some as demonstrating a profound lack of resolve, even “impotence,” by China. However, this would be a dangerous underestimation of CCP ambitions and its broader and more profound military response to the Trump Administration — a challenge that includes an acceleration of its strategies to assist nuclear proxy states, and developing a wide array
Eating at a breakfast shop the other day, I turned to an old man sitting at the table next to mine. “Hey, did you hear that the Legislative Yuan passed a bill to give everyone NT$10,000 [US$340]?” I said, pointing to a newspaper headline. The old man cursed, then said: “Yeah, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] canceled the NT$100 billion subsidy for Taiwan Power Co and announced they would give everyone NT$10,000 instead. “Nice. Now they are saying that if electricity prices go up, we can just use that cash to pay for it,” he said. “I have no time for drivel like
Twenty-four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are facing recall votes on Saturday, prompting nearly all KMT officials and lawmakers to rally their supporters over the past weekend, urging them to vote “no” in a bid to retain their seats and preserve the KMT’s majority in the Legislative Yuan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which had largely kept its distance from the civic recall campaigns, earlier this month instructed its officials and staff to support the recall groups in a final push to protect the nation. The justification for the recalls has increasingly been framed as a “resistance” movement against China and
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) reportedly told the EU’s top diplomat that China does not want Russia to lose in Ukraine, because the US could shift its focus to countering Beijing. Wang made the comment while meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on July 2 at the 13th China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue in Brussels, the South China Morning Post and CNN reported. Although contrary to China’s claim of neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, such a frank remark suggests Beijing might prefer a protracted war to keep the US from focusing on
RSS