Chen Chu, Part 1: The Prisoner Who Would Lead Kaohsiung – S6-E19

Long before becoming a three-time mayor of Kaohsiung, Chen Chu (陳菊) spent decades in Taiwan’s democracy movement. Born into a farming family in Yilan in 1950, Chen Chu moved to Taipei to attend university, and was soon drawn into the dangerous world of the dangwai opposition struggle against one-party KMT rule. After the Kaohsiung Incident of December 1979, Chen was sentenced to twelve years, and would spend more than six years behind bars – much of that time isolated with fellow prisoner and future vice president Annette Lu.

Cover image shows Chen Chu marching in one of the first martial law-era political protests: The Jan. 1979 Ciaotao Incident.

People mentioned in the episode

Chen Chu (Chén Jú, 陳菊) – Taiwanese democracy activist, political prisoner and later mayor of Kaohsiung.

Guo Yu-hsin (Guō Yǔxìn, 郭雨新) – Influential Yilan opposition politician for whom Chen worked as a secretary for ten years.

Annette Lu (Lǚ Xiùlián, 呂秀蓮) – Feminist activist, fellow Kaohsiung Incident defendant and Chen’s prison cellmate for nearly five years. She later served as Taiwan’s vice president.

Shih Ming-teh (Shī Míngdé, 施明德) – Leading democracy activist who escaped the initial police raid on the Formosa Magazine offices but was captured after twenty-six days in hiding.

Linda Gail Arrigo – American-born democracy and human-rights activist who was then married to Shih Ming-teh. Following the crackdown, the authorities deported her from Taiwan.

Lei Chen (Léi Zhèn, 雷震) – Publisher and advocate of political reform who was imprisoned after attempting to establish a new opposition party in 1960.

Yu Teng-fa (Yú Dēngfā, 余登發) – Former Kaohsiung County magistrate whose arrest, together with that of his son Yu Jui-yen (Yú Ruìyán, 余瑞言), provoked the January 1979 Qiaotou protest.

Books and principal sources

林倖妃 (Lín Xìngfēi), 《花媽心內話：陳菊4000天》

Approximate English title: Flower Mama Speaks from the Heart: Chen Chu’s 4,000 Days

This was published by the excellent CommonWealth Magazine (天下雜誌) in 2017. This is a Chinese-language biography, and the “4,000 days” refers to Chen’s long tenure as mayor of Kaohsiung, not her imprisonment. We'll cover the story of her 4000 days in Part 2.

陳菊 (Chén Jú), 《黑牢嫁妝：一個台灣女子的愛與戰鬥》

Approximate English title: A Prison Dowry: A Taiwanese Woman’s Love and Struggle

Chen Chu’s 1993 memoir provides her own account of her childhood, political awakening, arrest, interrogation and imprisonment. It was published in Taipei by 月旦出版 (Yuedan Publishing? - not sure of the English name).

Hsiu-lien Lu and Ashley Esarey, My Fight for a New Taiwan: One Woman’s Journey from Prison to Power

Annette Lu’s English-language memoir gives a valuable eyewitness account of the arrests following the Kaohsiung Incident and of the years that she and Chen Chu spent imprisoned together.

Related Formosa Files episodes

The Taiwan history articles of Wikipedia are usually excellent but both the Chinese and English Wiki pages for Chen Chu were surprisingly light. We relied on some magazine and newspaper pieces, and three main books.

Annette Lu – From Prison to the Presidential Office

The life of Chen Chu’s fellow Kaohsiung Incident defendant and longtime prison cellmate. The episode follows Annette Lu from her early advocacy of women’s rights and democracy through imprisonment, electoral politics, service as Taoyuan County magistrate and her two terms as vice president of Taiwan.

https://www.formosafiles.com/s2-e36-annette-lu-from-prison-to-the-presidential-office/

Linda Gail Arrigo’s Verdict on Shih Ming-teh

Linda Arrigo talks to Eryk about her former husband Shih Ming-teh, the democracy movement and his complicated later legacy.

https://www.formosafiles.com/bonus-episode-linda-gail-arrigos-verdict-on-shih-ming-teh-shi-ming-de/

Shih Ming-teh – “Taiwan’s Mandela”

The story of the activist who spent a combined twenty-five and a half years in prison for opposing Taiwan’s authoritarian government.

https://www.formosafiles.com/episodes/season/3/

Key terms

Dangwai (dǎngwài, 黨外) – Literally “outside the party.” The term used for independent opposition politicians and activists during the period when the Kuomintang prohibited the formation of rival political parties.

Formosa Magazine (Měilìdǎo Zázhì, 美麗島雜誌) – An opposition publication established in 1979 that also functioned as an unofficial nationwide political organization.

Kaohsiung Incident (Gāoxióng Shìjiàn, 高雄事件) – The confrontation between police and demonstrators following a Human Rights Day rally in Kaohsiung on December 10, 1979. It is also widely known as the Formosa Incident or Meilidao Incident.

Taiwan Garrison Command (Táiwān Jǐngbèi Zǒngsīlìngbù, 臺灣警備總司令部) – A military security organization that played a major role in surveillance, censorship, arrests and the enforcement of martial law.

Qiaotou Incident (Qiáotóu Shìjiàn, 橋頭事件) – A January 1979 protest against the arrests of Yu Teng-fa and his son, Yu Jui-yen. It is generally described as Taiwan’s first political demonstration after martial law was imposed in 1949.

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