Online Conference: Remembering Taiwan's Martial Law 憶起戒嚴

Wednesday 28 July 2021, 10:00am – Friday 30 July 2021, 2:00pm 

(All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time)

Location: Online (with 2 in-person events in Canberra) 

Registration is Essential

Organiser: Australian Centre on China in the World, The Australian National University

For program and to register for panels, please click here:

The martial law period (1947–87) lies at the heart of narratives shaping Taiwanese identities, criss-crossing the foundations of contemporary society. Experiences of this period are relived through expressions of individual and collective memories, through arts and literature, language and politics, and everyday minutiae. These stories emerge from historical prohibition, creating powerful connections with Taiwan’s living history and layering upon the present a multi-layered narrative of heroes, villains, and victims. 

How are such deeply ingrained, personal, and political experiences told? Remembering Taiwan’s Martial Law  憶起戒嚴 examines the diversity of voices across lands and spaces, platforms and mediums, lines, and cleavages that form the foundation of the story of modern Taiwan. 

To register for keynote lectures, please visit: 

‘Writing about sex and politics: From authoritarianism to democracy', Li, Ang 李昂, Taiwanese feminist writer 

‘1970s-80s Taiwan: What led to the end of martial law?', Yao, Chia-wen 姚嘉文, Senior Adviser to President Tsai Ing-wen 蔡英文 

‘Rethinking Modernist and Realist Photography in 1970s Taiwan', Kuo, Li-Hsin 郭力昕, Dean, College of Communication, National Chengchi University, Taiwan 

‘(online & in-person) Memory and Resistance: The martial law period and Taiwan’s future in the era of Xi Jinping', Mark Harrison, Senior Lecturer (Chinese Studies), University of Tasmania 

Zoom details will be disseminated one day in advance.