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Witness History: The "Wild Lily" protests in Taiwan

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The "Wild Lily" protests in Taiwan

03/01/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, The "Wild Lily" protests in Taiwan

In 1990, Taiwan’s students took to the streets in their thousands to demand democracy.

How 1990's Wild Lily student movement in Taiwan called for political reforms and marked an important point in the country’s road to democracy.

Taiwan’s Wild Lily student movement in 1990 was the biggest student protest the country had seen and was a key turning point in the country’s path to democracy. For six days thousands of students camped out in the central square in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in the capital, Taipei. Martial law in Taiwan had ended just a few years earlier but the country was still governed by the KMT party, which had been in power since the 1940s.  The students were angry at a presidential election with only one candidate, the incumbent president, and called for wide-ranging democratic reforms.  Caroline Bayley has been talking to Chiu Hua-Mei, who took part in the Wild Lily movement. 

PHOTO: A huge logo of the Wild Lily movement is seen under Taipei's Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall in January 2008 (Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)

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