Kang Ning-hsiang, born in 1938 in Taipei, was a representative figure of the parliamentary line within Taiwan's tangwai movement. Of humble origins, he worked in his early years at jobs such as a gas-station attendant before entering local politics, rising on a grassroots image and a talent for oratory. From 1969 he was elected to the Taipei City Council and later entered the Legislative Yuan, becoming one of the few tangwai legislators to openly challenge the authorities from within the system during martial law. He advocated advancing democratic reform through peaceful means — parliamentary debate and the scrutiny of speech — complementing the street-protest line. In 1975 he helped found Taiwan Political Review and later ran magazines such as The Eighties, an important promoter of tangwai expression. In his legislative interpellations he touched on sensitive issues such as full re-election of parliament, lifting martial law, and freedom of speech, repeatedly breaking through the political taboos of the time. Compared with the more radical line of the Kaohsiung generation, he was regarded as a tangwai "moderate" and a bridge between generations, and the line dispute sparked debate within the camp. After the lifting of martial law and democratization he served as legislator, deputy defense minister, member of the Control Yuan, and senior presidential adviser. Kang is seen as one of the founders of the tangwai parliamentary-democracy line, his long career of legislative work and publishing building crucial momentum for Taiwan's freedom of speech and parliamentary reform.

• Founded tangwai magazines such as Taiwan Political Review and The Eighties

• Long used the Legislative Yuan as a platform for democratic reform