The Protest And Deconstruction Of The KMT’s Authoritarianism By The Free Times Group Magazine (1984-1989)

Non-Party Magazine had unique significance in Taiwan’s democratic movement.Since the establishment of Taiwan Politics in August 1975,non-party magazines have sought to combine with non-party forces.Until 1988,when the ban on newspapers was lifted in Taiwan,non-party magazines were the most important voice channel for non-party forces in Taiwan.The series of Freedom Times,founded by Zheng Nanrong,was born in the periodical period of non-party magazines in Taiwan,and is one of the representative publications of non-party magazines.Since its inception,the magazine series of Freedom Times has taken "the pursuit of 100%freedom of speech" as the goal.With bold words,the magazine repeatedly challenged the taboo bottom line of the Kuomintang regime,and was a typical representative of the non-party radicals in Taiwan at that time.This paper takes the weekly group of Freedom Times as the research object to analyze how Freedom Times protested and deconstructed the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang.The main content of this paper is divided into four parts.The first part introduces the background and development of the Freedom Times.The second part focuses on the criticism of the Kuomintang’s policies in the Freedom Times,including the protest against the Kuomintang’s policies and the ability to govern.The magazine carried out these discussions with a strong sense of "Taiwan standard",and it can be seen from these discussions that the legitimacy of the Kuomintang government’s achievements is not enough to sustain the authoritarian system.The third part discusses the criticism of the Kuomintang’s authoritarian rule,including the martial law system at the social level,the intelligence and policing systems on which the Kuomintang depends for its survival and the military rule to maintain its position.The Freedom Times directly attacked these politically sensitive issues,imperceptibly reducing the public’s tolerance for authoritarianism and raising the demand for democracy.The fourth part elaborates how the Freedom Times dispels the authority of the Kuomintang.By deconstructing the history of the Kuomintang,the magazine questioned the legitimacy and legitimacy of the ruling of Taiwan by the Kuomintang.To break through the myth of Chiang’s family by uglifying Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo.Finally,through the "muckraking" of the Kuomintang senior officials,to bring the KMT down from its pedestal..The late 1980s was the period of Taiwan’s transition from authoritarian system to democratic system.Non-party magazines played an important role in promoting Taiwan’s political transformation.Through the analysis of the texts of the Freedom Times series,this paper discusses how the non-party magazines protested and deconstructed the Kuomintang’s authoritarianism,thus promoting the democratic transformation of Taiwan.At the same time,the text of the Freedom Times also reflects the historical background at that time,from which we can have a glimpse of the appearance of Taiwan’s public opinion in the 1980s.