Democratic Transition

A Human Rights Day march in Kaohsiung in 1979 ended in arrests. In 1980 a defendant's mother and twin daughters were murdered. In 1982 four new directors made In Our Time. In 1984 Henry Liu was shot in California.

In 1986 the Democratic Progressive Party was announced; no one was arrested. Martial law ended in July 1987. Houjin villagers blockaded a refinery for three years. Indigenous marchers demanded their land back. In 1989 Nylon Deng set himself on fire.

Chiang Ching-kuo died in January 1988; Lee Teng-hui was sworn in that evening. In 1990 students sat in at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and the legislators elected in 1947 were ordered out. By 1992, speech alone was not sedition.

National health insurance began in March 1995, before the cards were printed. A year later Taiwan elected its president directly, after Chinese missile tests off its ports. On 21 September 1999 an earthquake killed more than 2,400 people.