{"id":2302,"date":"2026-08-08T15:58:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/?p=2302"},"modified":"2026-10-18T16:05:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T08:05:38","slug":"red-20260808","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/red-20260808\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting Heads Instead of Breaking Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2302\" class=\"elementor elementor-2302\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6d1281c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"6d1281c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a030a92 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a030a92\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>\u00a0<\/p><p><em>\u201cCounting heads in place of breaking heads.\u201d \u2014 The Commander\u2019s Confessions, pp. 128\u2013129<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ba24311 elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"ba24311\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_animation&quot;:&quot;fadeIn&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"671\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-2305\" alt=\"Crowd of red-clad protesters marching, foreground banner with Chinese characters held across the street.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10-1.jpg 671w, https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10-1-300x206.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 671px) 100vw, 671px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-02498e8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"02498e8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The hardest part of a mass movement is not the beginning. Beginning takes only anger, and Taiwan in 2006 was not short of anger. The hard part is the ending \u2014 especially when the movement\u2019s demands have not yet been met.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>On November 3, 2006, prosecutor Chen Jui-jen indicted First Lady Wu Shu-chen for corruption, naming Chen Shui-bian in the indictment as co-principal. Half a month earlier, the National Taiwan University Hospital administrative council had voted fifty-seven to one against allowing the president\u2019s son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, to return to practice there.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Shih Ming Te\u2019s judgment was that the movement had already succeeded. The judiciary had moved. The rebuilding of values he sought had begun. Only one thing remained undone: Chen Shui-bian had not stepped down.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>The problem was that a million people would not disperse just because the commander-in-chief declared success. In his own words: the play may be over, but the audience does not leave.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>So he brought down the curtain in stages. First he moved the movement from the streets indoors, letting the crowd\u2019s emotions gradually settle; then he announced his \u201cself-imprisonment.\u201d The movement was not dissolved; it was loosened, layer by layer.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>And once loosened, where would all that anger, resentment, and hatred go?<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>He channeled it into the 2008 legislative and presidential elections. In his own words: to deal with the corruption of Chen Shui-bian and the DPP by counting heads, instead of by breaking heads.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>The result is well known. In 2008, the DPP suffered an unprecedented defeat in both the legislative and presidential elections. The Red Shirts never stormed the Presidential Office, but the Presidential Office changed hands all the same \u2014 by ballot.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>The price was infamy. For years afterward, people accused him of \u201ca tiger\u2019s head and a snake\u2019s tail,\u201d of having \u201cno guts,\u201d of \u201cbreaking his word\u201d \u2014 among them the veteran diplomat Lu Yi-cheng, whom he had long respected. Deep-Blue supporters were especially aggrieved: with everyone already there, why not charge?<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>His answer was brief: to charge into the Presidential Office then would have been the easy reaction; restraint was the hard thing.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p class=\"p1\">This is what the story means. The moral judgment of a mass movement usually rests on one question: did it bring the other side down? But a movement\u2019s true maturity may lie in whether it knows how to hand the energy of the streets back to institutions \u2014 and to bear the twenty years of misunderstanding that follow.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-842916a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"842916a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f0dc754 elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"f0dc754\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_animation&quot;:&quot;fadeIn&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"456\" height=\"535\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10-2.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-2306\" alt=\"Group of people gathered around a long table in a small metal-walled room, some wearing red shirts, with a camera crew filming nearby.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10-2.jpg 456w, https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10-2-256x300.jpg 256w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 456px) 100vw, 456px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5030850 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5030850\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Source: Shih Ming Te, <em>The Commander\u2019s Confessions<\/em>, 2009, pp. 128\u2013131, 54\u201357.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5279d98 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"5279d98\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7952631 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"7952631\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bb099f8 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"bb099f8\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3e5b603 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"3e5b603\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"\/\u7e3d\u6307\u63ee\u7684\u544a\u767d\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/07-vindication.jpg?ver=1787202887\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-1496\" alt=\"Book cover showing a smiling man with sunglasses in a black-and-white photo, red spine with vertical Chinese text, and the title &apos;\u7e3d\u6307\u63ee\u7684\u544a\u767d&apos; with &apos;VINDICATION&apos; on the foreground.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/07-vindication.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/07-vindication-281x300.jpg 281w, https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/07-vindication-768x819.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3cb44fb elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3cb44fb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Want to learn more about the Red Shirt Movement and the innermost confessions of its commander-in-chief, Shih Ming Te?<\/p><p><a href=\"\/en\/\/the-commanders-confessions\/\">Click here to read more about <em>The Commander\u2019s Confessions<\/em> and get your copy.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-894709d elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"894709d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bb3316c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"bb3316c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The decision-making process behind the close of the Red Shirt Movement, and the related documents, are being preserved and catalogued by the Shih Ming Te Foundation.<\/p><p>The Shih Ming Te Foundation needs your support.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The hardest part of a mass movement is not the beginning. Beginning takes only anger, and Taiwan in 2006 was not short of anger. The hard part is the ending \u2014 especially when the movement\u2019s demands have not yet been met.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"post_folder":[19],"class_list":["post-2302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-23"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2302"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2991,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2302\/revisions\/2991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2302"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}