The Wild Strawberries Movement () is a protest movement in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

begun on 6 November 2008 after the visit of the People's Republic of China's ARATS chairman

Chen Yunlin Chen Yunlin (; born December 1941) was the chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), the body responsible for negotiations with Taiwan in the People's Republic of China in 2008–2013. Early life Chen was born ...

to the island. Police actions on protests aimed at Chen suppressed the display of Republic of China national flag and the playing of Taiwanese songs. This prompted a group of 400 students in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

to begin a

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

in front of the

Executive Yuan The Executive Yuan () is the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Its leader is the Premier, who is appointed by the President of the Republic of China, and requires confirmation by the Legislative Yuan. ...

in protest of Taiwan's .

Background

The name chosen by the students for their initiative, "Wild Strawberry", makes a pair of references. The word ''wild'' recalls the

Wild Lily student movement Taiwan's Wild Lily student movement () or March student movement was a six-day student demonstration in 1990 for democracy. The sit-in at Memorial Square in Taipei (since rededicated as Liberty Square in commemoration of the movement) was ini ...

of 1990, which led to vast political reforms and Taiwan's first general democratic elections. The word ''strawberry'' makes ironic use of the term "

strawberry generation Strawberry generation (; or ) is a Chinese-language neologism used in Taiwan for Taiwanese people born from 1990s onwards who "bruise easily" like strawberries – meaning they cannot withstand social pressure or work hard like their parents' gener ...

", a description of Taiwan's youth employed pejoratively by their elders to portray the newest generation as "soft", lacking strength of character and political convictions.

Demonstrations

Sit-ins began with students in Taipei in front of the Executive Yuan. On 7 November 2008, police began removing protesters from the scene and taking them to separate locations around the city. Having made a regrouping plan earlier, the students reconvened at Liberty Square in front of the

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall () is a national monument, landmark and tourist attraction erected in memory of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, former President of the Republic of China. It is located in Taipei. The monument, surr ...

. Following the lead of the students in Taipei, six other sit-in protests sprang up around Taiwan: *

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

, November 7 *

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a Special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" ...

, November 7 *

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Taiw ...

, November 9 *

Changhua Changhua (Hokkien POJ: ''Chiong-hòa'' or ''Chiang-hòa''), officially known as Changhua City, is a county-administered city and the county seat of Changhua County in Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. For many centuries the site was h ...

, November 9 *

Hsinchu Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...

, November 10 *

Chiayi Chiayi (, Taigi POJ: ''Ka-gī''; ), officially known as Chiayi City, is a city located in the plains of southwestern Taiwan. Formerly called ''Kagee'' during the late Qing dynasty and ''Kagi'' during the Japanese era (), its historical name i ...

, November 12

Student demands and government responses

The student-led sit-in protests were conducted in response to incidents of police violence and abuse of power during the visit of

to Taiwan. The original protesters in Taipei issued a statement with the following demands: #A public apology by President

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from ...

and Premier

Liu Chao-shiuan Liu Chao-shiuan (; born 10 May 1943) is a Taiwanese educator and politician. He is a former president of the National Tsing Hua University (1987–1993) and Soochow University (2004–2008) and a former Premier of the Republic of China (2008– ...

for police misconduct. #The immediate resignations of National Police Agency Director-General and National Security Bureau Director-General (). #An immediate review and amendment of the Assembly and Parade Law to ensure the right of peaceful assembly and expression. Government responses to the Wild Strawberry petition included these actions: *On 11 November 2008, Premier Liu made a statement to the ''

Liberty Times The ''Liberty Times'' is a national newspaper published in Taiwan. Founded by Lin Rong-San, it is published by the Liberty Times Group, which also publishes ''Taipei Times'', an English language newspaper . The newspaper was first published on 1 ...

'' as saying, "I will not apologize. With this kind of thing, you just wait one or two days and it will pass." *President Ma Ying-jeou addressed the students on 13 November 2008, saying that, while he believed there was room for improvement in Wang Cho-chiun and Tsai Chao-ming's handling of public assembly issues, he saw no reason for them to step down. *On 11 December 2008, Wild Strawberry and Tibetan demonstrators at Liberty Square were forced by police to leave the site for failure to comply with the existing Assembly and Parade Law. *On 24 December 2008, an amended version of the Assembly and Parade Act passed its initial review at the legislature's

Internal Administration Committee Internal may refer to: * Internality as a concept in behavioural economics * Neijia, internal styles of Chinese martial arts * Neigong or "internal skills", a type of exercise in meditation associated with Daoism *'' Internal (album)'' by Safia, 20 ...

. The amended version of the law remained controversial at the time of drafting in May 2009. Proposed changes fell short of student demands for a law in Taiwan that resembles assembly laws in

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

nations and the United States that give priority to constitutional guarantees of rights to peaceful assembly and free speech. While the proposed amendments would make the new law generally more permissive than one crafted during the martial law period, proposals continued to give state police substantial powers of veto over the content and location of citizen rallies.

WildBerry House

On 4 January 2009, the movement stopped sit-ins. A headquarters called "WildBerry House" () was established in Taipei for the movement. This location subsequently closed as of 30 June 2009.

References

External links