Social movements have brought about large impacts to the social development throughout the hundred years of the Republic of China (R.O.C). In this article, Chiu discusses the critical social movements in the development of the R.O.C. taking 1949 (the year the R.O.C government resettled in Taiwan) as a separation into two major periods.

Early social movements in the R.O.C. often began either under the influence of the social elite—such as the May Fourth Movement—or led by the government to bring about social change. Student movements were often mixed with political motives, which resulted in heavy (and often violent) social influences. On the other hand, before the R.O.C. came to Taiwan, four main social movements under the Japanese rule in Taiwan are worth mentioning: Petition Movement for Establishing Taiwan Parliament, Cutural Enlightenment Movement to establish the Taiwanese Cultural Association, the Taiwan Peasant Movement in protest of farmer social status, and Labor Movement to ask for equal benefits between Taiwanese and Japanese workers.

When the R.O.C. shifted to Taiwan, the government first imposed an authoritarian regime, and then later a democratic rule. In the beginning, during the 228 Incident and the single-party state rule, few social movements could develop. After 1963, the government began to see the importance of industrial development, bringing about economic change and improvement of living standards. The people started to ask for better quality of living, as well as Taiwanization (Taiwanese localization movement) movements to preserve culture, art, and etc. from a Taiwan-centric perspective. As social movements began to take flight, prior to the ending of the martial law period, people were already requesting for economic independence from politics, which stimulated political democratization, economic freedom, social diversification, and a series of social movements. After the martial law period ended, a vibrant rise of social movements brought issues of native language preservation, establishment of Taiwanese culture, economic equality, and etc. into light.

After World War II, a variety of social movements rose, the most notable 8 categories are elaborated as follows:

1)    Student Movements: Recent student movements can be traced to campus movements since 1970, and gained social awareness during the Lukang Rebellion in 1986, demonstrating the power of the student community. From 1988 student movements developed to combine social, political, and educational movements. The Wild Lily student movement in 1990 marks a new age of student movements for the purpose of promoting campus freedom and democracy, as well as call for educational and constitutional reforms.

2)    Consumer Rights Movements: The beginning of organized and active consumer rights movements can be marked by the establishment of the Consumer’s Foundation, Chinese Taipei in 1980 with the aim to promote consumer rights as well as regulate the order in the consumer market.

3)    Environmental Protection Movements: Environmental protection gradually gained attention in the 1980s with the purpose to decrease pollution as well as prevent abuse of natural resources. Many student led movements during that period also brought awareness to various environmental issues and helped establish organizations to promote their cause. There are currently over 20 environment protection organizations in Taiwan.

4)    Labor Movements: Early labor rights movements rose from Tangwai (outside-the-party) movements to promote labor welfare and establish labor movement organizations. Strikes and crowd mobilization are typical of labor movements.

5)    Peasant Movements: As the importance of industrial production rose above agriculture, farmers came together to organize peasant rights organizations to request for higher wages, agricultural promotion, and social welfare.

6)    Aboriginal Movements: Aboriginals play a crucial role in the diversified Taiwanese society. Most aboriginal movements have a purpose to protect their living rights and enhance cultural preservation.

7)    Hakka Movements: The Hakka population in Taiwan have led continued movements to gain awareness in the importance of preserving Hakka culture as well as raising their ethnic status economically, politically, culturally, and society-wide.

8)    Education Reform Movements: Most education reform movements promote democracy and freedom of expression on campus. Various education organizations and policies have been established since the beginning of the education reform movements in 1983.

In final analysis, Chiu lists some of his observations on social movements in the R.O.C society. The nature of these movements include their focus on a certain social issue, exhibiting protest, are directed towards the government, politically influenced, and often make use of the mass media to strengthen their request. To achieve their individual aims, different groups often gather for the same purpose, using simple and catchy slogans to gather crowds and gain mutual support. Chiu also observes that due to the nature of social movements, they often have much connection to political parties and activities. Parties would use social movements as a means to express discontent or gain favor in elections. The constant occurrences of social movements though represents the people’s strive for the better, also signifies that there still many social problems that require the attention of the society and policy makers. 

In conclusion, the role of social movements in the society is multidimensional, and should be understood from various aspects such as politic, economic, and cultural identity.