The Petition Movement for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament
In 1921, the first Petition Movement for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament, with the Taiwanese
students in Tokyo as its backbone, began with a petition signed by 178 people, including Lin Hsien-tang. They persuaded actively the Imperial Parliament of Japan in hope of establishing a Taiwanese parliament and electing Taiwanese parliament members for the goal of self-governance in the colony. Until 1934, a total of 15 iterations of the petition were organized. Throughout the period, speeches had been held in Taiwan to gather signatures for the petition, and petition posters had been distributed extensively. The first Taiwanese pilot, Hsieh Wen-ta, also airdropped flyers promoting the petition movement in Tokyo. Each iteration of the petition movement was fervently received by the Taiwanese in Japan, who also organized groups to welcome the delegates of the petition movement at Tokyo Station. During this period, the founding of the League for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament led to the Incident of the Petition Movement for the Establishment of a Taiwanese Parliament in 1923, and the Office of the Taiwan Governor-General launched a whole-island arrest, turning over a total of 29 people on the ground of violating the Public Order and Police Act. In the end, Chiang Wei-shui, Tsai Pei-huo and other five people were sentenced to prison. The event symbolized Taiwanese people’s resistance against injustice. Therefore, when the seven people were transferred to prison and upon their release, people had lined the streets to see them off and welcome them.
