We took the chance of visiting the  “Rebellion. Liberty” joint photography exhibition held to commemorate 25^th anniversary of the February 28 Incident Righteous Peace Movement and the May 19 Anti- martial Law Movement, to visit the Cheng Nan-jung (Nylon Cheng) Liberty Museum in an alley on Minquan East Road in Taipei. This is the former office of the Freedom Era Weekly magazine and now it has the atmosphere of a museum created by soft light and warm wooden floors;however,stepping further inside, we were shocked to see the preserved blackened remains of the office where Cheng Nan-jung self-immolated and became a martyr for free speech and democracy. The office no longer has an unsettling somber atmosphere, however, compared to the bright and clean filming and cultural relic display area, the scorched black walls and floor of the office, the steel mesh on the window and the items left behind, bring back clear memories.  A plague, carbonized but retaining its appearances, lies on the couch where Cheng used to sleep when he was working late on an article, with the words “ Strive for freedom of speech, Protect human rights” clearly visible, echoing Cheng’s choice to die a death more weighty than Tai Mountain. A clocking in machine has stopped at 9.15 am, seeming to remind visitors, especially the young, that Taiwan’s democracy, human rights and the freedom of speech, things taken for granted these days, were won with such difficulty.

The Foundation has preserved the scene of the incident. The scorched office shows Cheng’s determination to win freedom of speech for the people of Taiwan. Did a ray of sunlight shine in on that fateful day like the day we visited? The sky is blue beyond the iron grated window, representing the pursuit of and desire for liberty.

Cheng was born in the year of the February 28^th Incident, 1947;his father was from Fujian in Mainland China and his mother from Keelung, Taiwan. Growing up, as a “mainlander” he felt the tension and antagonism in society and this experience led him to later advocate independence for Taiwan. He believed that only by being independent could Taiwan be really democratic and avoid the occurrence of another tragedy like the February 28^th Incident. From the College of Engineering of National Cheng Kung University to the Department of Philosophy of Fu-jen Catholic University then to the Department of Philosophy of National Taiwan University, the course of Cheng’s education had a clear direction. His university classmate, Qian Yong-xiang, remembers him as one of the few students in the department who were really committed to philosophy because he believed that philosophy is a “Science that clearly distinguishes between true and false, cause and effect, right and wrong, is without ambiguity, does not compromise easily and is pointlessly stubborn” In the temple of philosophy Cheng gradually developed his own ideas and ideals.

The Freedom Era Weekly series of magazines was born on March 12 1984. To get around the ban imposed by the Garrison Command, he collected documents and obtained 18 publishing licenses that he used alternately, publishing Freedom Era Weekly under the name Pioneer Times, Democratic Times Opening Up Times etc

In December 1988, Cheng received a summons from the KMT government on suspicion of sedition after publishing Xu Shi-kai’s “Draft New Constitution for the Taiwan Republic ” in his magazine and, after a 71-day period of self-imprisonment in the magazine office, he chose to self-immolate before the police could break in and detain him. 

Spirit that was burned but not destroyed

Cheng is shown in relaxed pose but with a serious expression in a surviving photograph, reflecting his determination to win freedom of speech. The photograph is surrounded by copies of “Freedom Era Weekly”, a magazine that constantly had its name changed to circumvent a government ban.

Confronting, shouting, protesting, not cooperating etc are necessary ways to overthrow authoritarian governments but few people have given up their lives like Cheng did to awaken people to the importance of freedom of speech.

He played a number of roles;at the magazine he was chief editor, in charge of a team of writers who charged the “enemy lines” and pursued the truth;at home, he was the husband his wife depended on and his daughter’s  loving father;he still, however, chose to take his own life and leave his beloved family because of his insistence on his ideals and his refusal to compromise where truth was concerned. Cheng faced death without fear;in his 71 days of self-imprisonment Cheng faced death every second. In the face of his family’s tears and unwillingness to lose him he still chose to pursue his ideals and sacrifice his life in exchange for more space for freedom of speech and democracy in Taiwan in the hope that Taiwan could one day finally break free from its fate to be like a “dancing girl,” always dancing to the tune of others.

In the Deng Liberty Foundation, a letter he wrote to his daughter is on display. The letter is full of love for her, showing a softer side to the daring and tough Cheng who took on the government without fear we know about.

A letter written by Cheng to daughter Cheng Zhu-mei /Deng Liberty Collection

Cheng emerges from prison in 1987/Photographer: Yang Yong-zhi / Data source:”Discovering the truth of our times”, Yang Yong-zhi, Cyber Island website

Cheng’s efforts to win freedom of speech, advocacy of Taiwan independence and the 302 issues of “Free Times” he published under different names, full of articles promoting democracy, human rights and justice, strengthened the extra-party (non-KMT) movement of the late 1980s in Taiwan.

These magazines allowed the people to get around restrictions on political activity and freedom of speech and were important sources of new knowledge in Taiwan in the 1980s when martial law was still in force; unfortunately, full digitization of these extra party magazines has yet to be done (there is only a plan for digitization of extra-party magazines collected by individuals)

Much of the TELDAP material relating to Cheng is in the National Library’s “Taiwan Periodical Search System” and in the 2010 TELDAP Open Request-for-Proposal Project “ Taiwan Human Rights Promotion Association Archives and Literature Digitization Project.”

The former is the result of digitization by the National Library of magazines published in Taiwan; the latter was carried out by the Institute of Political Science of National Cheng-chi University, involving the digitization materials relating to the “Taiwan Human Rights Promotion Association” established in 1984,mainly human rights reports and human rights magazines;Cheng was the most important figure in the development of human rights in Taiwan so the project has collected a substantial amount of information relating to Cheng.

From the digital archives, materials and photographs of the Foundation we can trace Deng’s bravery and idealism and pay our respects to him. The sage is in the past; the fire burned his body but his spirit will live on forever.