Taiwan Docs

At the outset, the film informs the audience that, intended to both document and support the student movement, it is a gift to all of the students and the people as a whole. In March 1990 students from all of the universities, colleges and vocational schools throughout Taiwan raised their voices in unison to call for old National Assembly members to retire from office. There were four points to their demands: (1) dissolve the National Assembly; (2) abolish the Temporary Measures for Suppression of the Rebellion; (3) convene a conference to discuss national affairs; and (4) provide a timetable for democratic reform. They were not demanding that the government agree with their actions, but that it agree with their demands. The students shouldered their guitars and sang "We Wish to Protest", thereby giving voice to their youthful, passionate ideals of reform. The filmmakers intercut images of the old National Assembly members for an ironic effect that can be read between the lines. The students took turns mounting the stage to present their ideas, while some of the student intentionally used back lighting to disguise their faces as they indirectly lashed out at the government, with interaction between the erudition of the professors and the idealism of the youth. From the 19th to the 20th of 1990, the students' numbers swelled to 5,000, as they called upon their comrades to join forces. Solidarity from the high school students was fermenting, and the ideal of sovereignty as residing in the people had reached the ears of the ordinary people. The crowds sleeping at the National Theater, their bedding hanging from the balustrades, and tents pitched in the plaza - these are scenes not to be encountered today. And the wild lily, after 150 hours of the demonstration, finally put down roots at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall that day.