a barricade to keep the police from storming up the stairs to the second floor. There's also a Sun Yat-sen head statue at the other stairway, facing down the stairs.
Real Time - Lve Cam Streaming Coverage
Re the “First time in history” about the occupation of the Parliament.
Here’s some more “Firsts” for Taiwan, from first hand experience and talking to people.
* First student protest permitted without a permit in Taipei was against Japanese claims to the Taiyutao Islands (also think they are named the Senkaku Islands, claimed by Red China, Vietnam and the Philippines).
[I’ll tell why this demonstration was so important in another paragraph]
* Second demonstration in Taipei, at the US Embassy. In July 1971, when Nixon announced that he would go to Red China in the future, a group of American students studying at Chengchi Un. in Taipei decided to deliver a letter of protest to the U.S. Ambassador, against this decision. We (moi included) went to the Embassy, which was very weird in that it was somewhat far back off the street and had a tiny glass-slot-like window, this in the most friendly country to the US in the world.
An embassy official took our protest letter but when we said that we were protesting the trip to “Red China”, he corrected us quickly saying that it was “the Peoples Republic of China”, to which I said, “How quickly they adapt” to the communist terminology.
We appeared on Taipei’s television and were actually national heroes. One of our professors, Dr. Li-Lian Chou, cried when she saw this (her story about the first biplane flying into a desolate part of old China was hilarious. People thought it was a flying dragon, exhaust smoke and flames to boot.
Now, the reason why the first protest was so important is that one of the leaders of it was a young, very handsome and intelligent student whose English version name was “Mark Ma”.
Today his is known at the president of Taiwan and goes by his Chinese name (which I will butcher here), something like Cheo Jing ju.
Mark, it seems like old times, doesn’t it, but this time you’re on the receiving end.
Such is life.
Chao, Mark. From you old classmate Fu Meih Keh.
Ma Ying-jeou.
Stooge for CCP.