Talk:Tu Chen

19:12, 31 May 2024 (UTC)Sierrafondo (talk)== Involvement in the Promotion of Taiwanese Culture, and Taiwanese Democracy Movement ==

Tu Chen, after moving to the Bay Area in 1971, became very active in the promotion of Taiwanese culture and also Taiwanese Democracy Movement; he was instrumental in forming a group called Northern California Formosa Federation (NCFF), which shortly thereafter changed its name to Taiwanese American Federation of Northern California (TAFNC 北加州台灣同鄉聯合會TAFNC 北加州台灣同鄉聯合會) in 2000. He was one of its founding members and served as president in 1994 and 1995. He was also one of the co-founders of Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture (TAI 台灣協志會TAI 台灣協志會) in 1973 which was formed to promote Taiwanese culture in the United States and to support the democratization of Taiwan. TAFNC and TAI were very active in supporting democracy in Taiwan and led many efforts to get public awareness of human rights suppression taking place in Taiwan under the Kuomintang rule. Taiwan was under Marshall law from 1949 to 1987. During this time period, the Kuomintang suppressed any opposition to their rule with arrests and sometimes outright executions and murders.

In 1979, a pro-democracy demonstration took place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and the participants and its promoters were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms (Kaohsiung IncidentKaohsiung Incident). This incident is considered a watershed moment in the history of the movement toward democracy in Taiwan. The Taiwanese military court in 1980, as part of sentencing declared the TAI as a "rebel group" and also named Tu Chen and Shin C. (Jim) Shir, the co-founder of TAFNC and TAI, as "national traitor." Jim Shir is one of the co-founders of Komag. Both were unable to return to Taiwan for many years as a result and faced intimidation by underground gangsters operating within the US under the direction of Kuomintang. Many leaders of the democratic movements in the US faced such intimidation tactics, and it was dangerous for them to return to Taiwan even for a short visit. There was a Taiwanese professor who was murdered when he returned to Taiwan in 1981[|Chen, Wen-chen].

Tu Chen was elected to serve as president of the Taiwanese American Association (全美台灣同鄉Taiwanese American Association (全美台灣同鄉))from 1981 to 1984 and the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations (WFTA 世界台灣同鄉會聯合會World Federation of Taiwanese Associations (WFTA 世界台灣同鄉會聯合會)) for two terms between 1983 to 1987. In 2022, Tu Chen gave a talk on the history of TAFNC to its members History of TAFNC by Tu Chen, July 2021(in Taiwanese). It is an overview of the history of the work of Taiwanese in the US to promote democracy in Taiwan. Sierrafondo (talk) 18:55, 31 May 2024 (UTC)