On May 20, 2010...

The Taiwan Independence Action Motorcade (獨立台灣會) and Su Beng called for a referendum on the free trade act between Taiwan and China (aka the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement) and participated in a silent sit-in protest.

A protest to coincide with the second anniversary of President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) inauguration, was set to begin at noon in front of the Legislative Yuan on that day. Protesters planned a three day sit-in to increase pressure on the government to hold a referendum on its proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.

Read more about the 5/20 protest in these Taipei Times articles:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/05/20/2003473411
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/05/21/2003473518

Here are some photos from that day:

The sign on this Taiwan Independence Action Motorcade truck reads:

Want freedom
Have to be independent first



The sign on the Taiwan Independence Action Motorcade truck reads:

Want democracy
Have to be independent first

Finished first draft of sample chapter for Su Beng's biography!

I have finished writing the first draft of an exciting sample chapter for the book proposal for the biography of Su Beng. The chapter I've chosen to highlight covers Su Beng's escape from Taiwan after his involvement in a plot to assassinate Chiang Kai-Shek was discovered. In early 1952, after months of working as a laborer loading bananas onto the boats of a banana trading company, Su Beng was able to stow away in the cargo section of one of these boats en route to Japan. I've written briefly about his escape and the noodle shop that he eventually set up in Japan in a previous blog post here.

Of course I'll be sharing this first chapter with Su Beng himself and looking forward to some discussions with him over Skype about it, and other chapters that will be in the works soon.

Yesterday was the beginning of Taiwanese American Heritage week, and there's a facebook campaign going on to coincide with it. Participants are posting an image that reads "Taiwan is NOT part of China" as their profile photo to increase awareness of Taiwan's situation.

I've invited the tech-savvy 91 year old Su Beng who is on facebook to participate. So far it has generated some interesting comments and discussions for me on my facebook page.

More on Su Beng's March 14 appearance at Taiwan University

Lately I've noticed some new comments from people who have visited this blog and I want to thank everyone for their interest and encouragement. It is really very much appreciated. It is always amazing to see that people are finding my blog, reading it and interested in my project to document Su Beng's life.

Below are some photos from 文輔 許, which were taken at the Taiwan University event on March 14. You can see a slide show of photos from the event here: Bunhu Natea's album





Su Beng signs copies of "Crossing The Red Tide"

The March 14th event was reported on the evening news in Taiwan and you can watch it here: