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.
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