Chapter 6 1981

When I started to have a little memory, our family also moved from the old rented house to the new one.The new home is in the Tianmu area of ​​Taipei City, at the foot of Yangming Mountain.It was originally bought for grandparents to live in, but they were not used to it, so they went back to their hometown in Yunlin.The environment of Tianmu is not bad. Before the U.S. military withdrew from Taiwan, it was the dormitory of some officers. Up to now, there are still some American-style bungalows nearby.The room my dad bought was the first high-rise building in this area. It was nearly 200 square meters when I bought it, but it was not expensive at that time, so I bought it. Who knows that after a few years, McDonald’s opened here. , the entire house price soared.

Anyway, when we first moved here, there were farmlands and lumber yards nearby, the air was good and quiet, and there was an impressive old woman selling desserts who could chat with foreigners in fluent English. At this time, I also began to realize that my sister was a threat to my rivalry with my parents, so I began to deliberately bully her. Alas, the bad nature of children is really... When I was three or four years old, I was also thrown into kindergarten.Kindergarten is a place where the church runs an orphanage, so it is quite big, and it is very unhappy to run around there all day.

I don’t have any memories of kindergarten, I just remember playing and eating all day long, and anyway, I just did some stupid things that the teacher would feel congested after watching, such as blowing up stool with firecrackers, lifting girls’ skirts and so on. Every October, the whole society becomes lively. What a beautiful October, it was called "Glorious October", but now it seems that few people mention it.In October, there are "Double Ten Days", "Taiwan Liberation Day", and the anniversary of Chiang Kai-shek's birth, which are worthy of joy and encouragement.This month is full of flags flying everywhere, and the TV is also full of joyful atmosphere. In short, October will be "as far as possible" without natural disasters and man-made disasters, and "as far as possible" without social incidents.But later, when Lee Teng-hui came to power, a military plane crashed at Taipei Airport on the morning of Double Tenth one year, and I saw Lee Teng-hui's pooping face during the whole ceremony that year.

On the day of the "Double Ten" day, each of the three channels sent the most powerful anchors to broadcast the news, and some stations arranged for ten anchors to go into battle at the same time.The other one, not to be outdone, "scrambled for the field" and insisted on gathering 20 anchors to sit in three rows and take turns broadcasting.Of course, the three channels have also been broadcasting in simulcast for a few years, and the anchors of the three channels have appeared together in this three-row carousel news.Throughout October, the archways and slogans celebrating the festival in the streets and alleys will make the whole city red, especially on Jieshou Road in front of the "Presidential Palace", a "Ten Ten" archway will be built to represent Double Ten, and the entire archway Filled with bright lights.Every year, the double ten archway lighting is a big event, attracting crowds from all over to watch.Except for the Chinese New Year, this time should be the busiest time.For children, there are so many holidays in October, so they are looking forward to it.

On "Double Ten" or Chiang Kai-shek's birthday, children would parade around nearby streets with small flags and slogans they made themselves, singing some songs that they might not understand the meaning of.There is always a kid in front of us beating the drums, and everyone walks happily like a hiker; the adults also applaud, a bit like the current bilingual kindergartens who like to go to outside stores to hold trick-or-treating activities on Halloween. I don't know what it is.Although the purpose of this so-called "political education" is serious, children like it, and it is always good to go out for a walk.

This year, Diana married Charles. After televised broadcast, the whole world saw the dream wedding of the prince and princess, and my dad was overwhelmed by it.In particular, Diana's elegant hairstyle became the favorite of Taiwanese men, and for a while, my dad has been urging my mother to get that hairstyle. Taiwan has entered 1981. Because the Taiwan authorities broke off diplomatic relations with the United States in 1979 and suspended the election on the grounds of political instability, it was not resumed until after the Formosa Boulevard Trial.At that time, people from Formosa Island were all imprisoned, but all relevant people actively participated in the election. For example, their family members participated in the election with slogans such as "going for their husbands", and all of them were elected with a high number of votes.And some lawyers who worked or defended for the "Beautiful Island Trial" also participated in politics and elections. For example, Hsieh Chang-ting and Chen Shui-bian were both elected as Taipei City Councilors, and they were in the first constituency on my home side.The "complex" between the two of them, who both cooperate and compete, and are both enemies and friends, was probably decided at this time.

Of course, when it comes to the development of Taiwan's democracy, it did not start with a few street activists or lawyers after the Formosa incident.It should be said that these events are continuous.From the local self-government implemented by Chen Cheng when he was the provincial chairman during the national government, to the election of local representatives at all levels under the authoritarian authorities, to the democratization in the later period of Chiang Ching-kuo, the Formosa incident can only be regarded as a point of detonation, acceleration and qualitative change. Although the party has not yet been formally formed, these people outside the party have launched candidates in the name of "non-party candidate recommendation meeting", and they have all been warmly welcomed by the public.What impresses me deeply is that my father always likes to take me "to the field" to listen to the political opinions of various candidates.In addition to the speeches of the candidates themselves, everyone also likes to listen to the so-called support from famous speakers. These famous speakers often make witty remarks, ridicule the government, and make the audience laugh out loud.These venues have surpassed the original intention of general political opinion meetings. It is not that the people had any specific political positions or really supported them at that time, but these venues provided some people with an opportunity to vent their long-suppressed feelings.

Some impressive little tidbits are that in these non-party venues, there are always small trolleys selling grilled sausages. They are probably some grilled sausage vendors who basically support the non-party movement. Sometimes there may be some bowl with craps sausages.Like nomads, they moved around following the campaigns and protests outside the party or later by the DPP.In addition to selling grilled sausages, there are also glutinous rice sausages, drinks and other things. This kind of sausage stall was commonly known as "democratic sausage" at that time.So you can imagine a picture: many people, protesters, reporters and even the police eat sausages together, and then exchange some information.In addition, there must be some mobile book stalls nearby, selling banned books that cannot be seen in bookstores, videotapes of street movements, and pornographic movies smuggled and sold among these videotapes. This is a special feature of Taiwan's democratic movement in the early years.

Since the people of Taiwan were so displeased with the Kuomintang in the past, why has there been no major resistance for decades, and the support rate of the Kuomintang is still so high when voting at the grassroots level?It would be wrong to attribute all of this to the repressive rule of the KMT.In fact, what the Kuomintang wants is absolute political power. As for the grassroots society, the personal and traditional space has not been eliminated, but has been replaced by another form of management.For example, in every township in Taiwan, even in remote areas, you can see the "public service agency" of the Kuomintang, which is actually the township party headquarters.I don’t know what services I usually serve, but when it comes to the election period, it becomes a base for township mobilization, stake fixing, and even ticket buying.

Not only in the localities, the Kuomintang's organizational network has become so dense that from village chiefs, farmers and fisheries associations, and clan associations, to various associations, public enterprises, dependent villages, and troops, you can see the Kuomintang party groups in these places.At that time, the civic awareness of the Taiwanese people had not yet been established, so these dense organizational networks demonstrated a strong mobilization ability during elections, especially local elections.Therefore, the Kuomintang has always been good at fighting this kind of organizational warfare to get its candidates to power, and the long-established relationship with local political forces is the reason why it is difficult for people outside the party to get a share of the pie.

In January 1982, Deng Xiaoping pointed out in a speech that "Ye Jiu Tiao" is actually "one country, two systems".For a long period of time, the people of Taiwan have been taught that the Communist Party wants to "wash Taiwan with blood", so I have had this kind of shadow since I was very young, fearing that I will really be washed with blood.It was not until the 1980s that ordinary people in Taiwan slowly emerged from this shadow.But this year, with the proposal of "Ye Nine Articles" and Liao Chengzhi's open letter to Chiang Ching-kuo in the coming year, Chiang Ching-kuo's response is still the "three no's policy": no contact, no negotiation, and no compromise. The political atmosphere on the two sides of the strait was like this at that time. Although there was no direct contact, there was an exchange of fire and words.In addition to the broadcasts of the two sides "inspiring" each other, Taiwan also likes to send some hot air balloons to the mainland, which probably contain some leaflets, or watches, radios, canned food and so on.Of course, most of the time, the government will not directly release it, but the "spontaneous behavior" of some "non-governmental organizations".These air balloons, if the airflow is calculated accurately, it is possible to float to Sichuan and Hunan. This incident and the Linzhai massacre in the previous year can be regarded as the two major political unsolved cases of that year.Chen Wencheng is a scholar who studied abroad in Taiwan, and later taught at Carnegie Mellon University. He also obtained the qualification of actuary of the United States, which can be said to be quite outstanding. In July 1981, Chen Wencheng returned to Taiwan from the United States to visit relatives.Overseas students at that time were somewhat supportive of the opposition movement on the island. After Chen Wencheng returned to Taiwan, he was interviewed by the police headquarters because he had donated money from overseas to the "Beautiful Island" magazine. Here is an explanation of what the police headquarters is. This is an institution that has turned Taiwanese people's faces for decades.The full name of the Garrison Headquarters is the Garrison General Command. In fact, this institution has existed since the Kuomintang was in the mainland.During the period of martial law in Taiwan, the police headquarters was responsible for public security, civil defense, and mobilization tasks, as well as entry and exit management affairs. Some roles were similar to today's police, but its power was far superior to that of the police. It can be said that it was time and space The monsters that appear due to the inconformity of the system.Because its business can be said to cover mountains and seas, and under the background at that time, the business of the police headquarters penetrated into all aspects of people's lives, closely monitoring every word and deed of the people, under the ruling mentality of "would rather kill a hundred by mistake" Under this circumstance, many unjust cases were also created.In fact, it is a bit like a secret police agency. My dad recalled that the person who took him to a certain place for tea was probably someone from the security headquarters.In the past, there was a well-known saying in Taiwan: Everyone has a little police chief in their hearts.It can be seen that the "General Police" has exerted pressure and influence on the psychology of the people of Taiwan. Back to the topic, the day after Chen Wencheng was interviewed by the police chief, he was found dead next to the National Taiwan University library.The Kuomintang authorities initially said that he committed suicide in fear of crime, but Chen Wencheng really had no reason to commit suicide.In the past, as long as the Kuomintang said it was "suicide", the people had developed a sensitivity over time-there must be something tricky about it. Because Chen Wencheng is a U.S. citizen, and Taiwan's human rights record in those years has not been very good in the international arena, even the U.S. Congress was alerted to this incident, and Chen Wencheng's colleagues and coroner were sent to Taiwan.Everything points to the fact that Chen Shi was abused and poisoned to death during his lifetime. It is generally believed that the police chief did it, but the result was still nothing, the murderer could not be found, and the government at that time did not give a satisfactory answer, so it became an unsolved case. one. However, the influence of this incident made everyone pay attention to the problem of overseas student spies.Taiwan calls them "professional students". Most of them are students who have received the Kuomintang Zhongshan Scholarship to leave Taiwan to study. In addition, they also have the task of monitoring other students and making small reports.