{"id":2318,"date":"2026-08-10T16:31:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/?p=2318"},"modified":"2026-10-18T16:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T08:02:06","slug":"red-20260810","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/red-20260810\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Place the Red Shirt Movement in History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"2318\" class=\"elementor elementor-2318\" 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>\u201cThe anti-corruption campaign is a social movement; it is the construction, or shaping, of values.\u201d \u2014 The Commander\u2019s Confessions, pp. 52\u201353<\/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-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>July 2007, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. Someone asked the commander-in-chief, who had been invited to speak: what, in the end, was the value or achievement of the Red Shirt Movement? He listed six.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>First, it opened Taiwan\u2019s era of anti-corruption.<\/strong> In Chinese-speaking societies, \u201cevery official is corrupt\u201d was once common knowledge, and graft in office hardly seemed a serious wrong. From then on, opposing corruption became a conviction. He asked in turn: would the wives of Taiwan\u2019s future presidents and senior officials still dare to parade their gold and jewels as before?<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Second, it proved that the people of Taiwan have a sense of right and wrong.<\/strong> In an age of rampant materialism, people had assumed that Taiwanese society had grown indifferent, that nothing was anyone\u2019s business. But integrity shows itself in hard times: at the critical moment, the people turned out in full to defend a principle.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Third, it demonstrated the democratic maturity of the people of Taiwan.<\/strong> Images of brawls in the Legislative Yuan had long been notorious around the world. Yet a million people kept the Presidential Office surrounded, their emotions running high, without shedding a single drop of blood.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Fourth, it rooted democratic institutions more deeply.<\/strong> Its strength was unprecedented, yet it refused to stage a coup. After this, a coup in Taiwan became very hard to imagine.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Fifth, it awakened the courage of Taiwan\u2019s judiciary.<\/strong> Before the Red Shirts, Taiwan\u2019s justice system observed the rule that \u201cpunishment does not reach the president.\u201d Afterward, the National Taiwan University Hospital administrative council voted fifty-seven to one against the president\u2019s son-in-law returning to practice there, and the president\u2019s wife was indicted for corruption, with the indictment naming the president as co-principal.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Sixth, it strengthened a sense of community among Chinese-speaking people worldwide.<\/strong> And shared memory is history.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>As for shortcomings, he named only one: Chen Shui-bian neither resigned nor was forced from office. He took that responsibility upon himself. But he immediately added that had they stormed the Presidential Office, the Red Shirts would no longer have been an \u201carmy of democracy\u201d but a \u201ccoup force\u201d or a \u201cmob\u201d \u2014 an entirely different identity and place in history.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>In June 2009, Professor Fang Ning of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences came to visit. His assessment was that of the anti-corruption movements in three Asian countries, only Taiwan\u2019s had failed, since it did not bring down Chen Shui-bian, while those in the Philippines and Thailand had succeeded.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Shih Ming Te replied on the spot that this conclusion was entirely wrong.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Marcos in the Philippines did fall, but the Philippines did not thereby establish anti-corruption as a value; later presidents were implicated in corruption just the same, and its politicians were no cleaner. In Thailand, the Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts took to the streets in turn, and prime ministers came and went, returned and left again. The anti-corruption movements in both countries not only failed but left endless trouble in their wake.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Taiwan alone was left with no such aftermath. Taiwan dealt with the Chen family\u2019s corruption in the most civilized way, and in 2008 delivered its verdict at the ballot box.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>To judge a movement only by whether its target leaves office at once is to misread a social movement as a wager won or lost on the spot. What is precious in a movement \u2014 a truly meaningful movement \u2014 is its beginning; success may take decades, even a century.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gathered more than two hundred thousand people in Washington and delivered \u201cI Have a Dream.\u201d Forty-five years later, America elected its first Black president. And the civil rights movement has still not fully succeeded.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>In 1979, when the Kaohsiung Incident occurred, people said Taiwan\u2019s democracy would be set back thirty years. In the end, twenty years later, Taiwan saw its first transfer of power between parties.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>The fight against corruption has not yet succeeded. No movement succeeds overnight.<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p class=\"p1\">The red tide has receded \u2014 not vanished, but waiting for history to call it again.<\/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-d9ae0ed e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d9ae0ed\" 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-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=\"1503\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/12-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-2320\" alt=\"Huge crowd dressed in red gathers around a pagoda-style pavilion in a city square, umbrellas open across the sea of people.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/12-1.jpg 1503w, https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/12-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/12-1-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/12-1-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1503px) 100vw, 1503px\" \/>\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-443a579 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"443a579\" 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 class=\"p1\">September 9, 2006, Ketagalan Boulevard.<\/p>\t\t\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-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. 52\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>History cares not about length, but about beginnings.<\/p>\n<p>The Shih Ming Te Foundation needs your support.<\/p><p><br><\/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>July 2007, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. Someone asked the commander-in-chief, who had been invited to speak: what, in the end, was the value or achievement of the Red Shirt Movement? He listed six.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2320,"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-2318","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\/2318","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=2318"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3002,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318\/revisions\/3002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2318"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shihmingte.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}