Hopelessly Naive, Yet Beautifully Hopeful: “Our Youth in Taiwan”

This is a translation from the original 《我們的青春，在台灣》的創作初衷 by Fu Yue (傅榆), the director of the documentary Our Youth in Taiwan. Originally published by Voicettank. Translation by Tim Smith.

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I spent seven years making the documentary film Our Youth in Taiwan. Nonetheless, the film still seems to invite controversy and misunderstanding.

My documentary is a film about social movements, primarily the Sunflower Movement of 2014. I came into contact with social movements very recently; when I was just starting to film this piece, I wanted to try, through the lens of a documentary, to explore whether “social movements” are even necessary in our society. At that time, I spoke with young people with different political orientations. This political spectrum included KMT, DPP, unification supporters, independence supporters, left, right, Taiwanese, Chinese, Hong Kongers. All of them were very different, even including myself.

We only had maybe two things in common: regardless of what values we identified with, we were still willing to communicate with people of other viewpoints. Even more importantly, we all wished that our own country could get better through reform. The difference is that some people believe this type of reform should be done within existing political processes, while some people believe that that’s not enough and external pressure from social movements is needed in order to have real change.

I had many exchanges with everyone about internal and external reforms, but the longer I talked about it, the more I became bored with this question. Deep down, when all is said and done, there is no right or wrong answer, but instead the answer depends on the willingness to understand the other side’s problems and perspectives. When I learned more about these two types of people, I wanted to affirm the efforts put forth by both groups, but especially the people who believed in external pressure because they were even less understood by mainstream society.

Beginning in late 2012, because of student protests against media monopolization, more people (including myself) were becoming curious about social movements. In universities all over Taiwan, student organizations dedicated to protesting and advocacy were popping up everywhere. Even youths who believed in reform within traditional politics were decreasing in their ranks. To me at that time, I felt there is a new kind of hope, and believed that social movements could change our imperfect societies.

There are three characters in this film. One is the widely-known leader of the Sunflower Movement, Chen Wei-ting. Another is Cai Boyi, who was among the first cohort of exchange students from China. I chose her because she had written a book, illustrating her experiences and views on Taiwan and is now a best-selling author. The last role is actually myself, from the viewpoint of someone who’s full of expectations about social movements, looking on the ups and downs of these two disparate personalities during the tumultuous cross-straits political times that played out during their youths. One being Taiwanese, one being Chinese. Just two people at that time, participating in a series of social movements.

Following both of my documentary subjects, I was able to understand two very popular types of movements from that time. One type was the kind in which Cai Boyi primarily participated: movements for victims of land policies. The other type to which Chen Wei-ting devoted himself more were “China factor” movements such as opposing media acquisitions by Chinese capital, and then the Sunflower Movement.

From “Our Youth in Taiwan” (from Taipei Film Festival)

As I was making this film, people questioned why I’ve focused on a student from China in a film about social movements in Taiwan, to the point where some wondered if I was pro-unification. That is not the case. Instead, I was simply really curious. Just as Taiwan’s youths were becoming more politically active, that was the same time that these exchange students from China were beginning to learn about Taiwan. In addition, even within movements that had a clear anti-China sentiment, why was a Chinese student willing to participate?

Almost none of the students from China I know want to have anything to do with Taiwan politics, almost like an unspoken rule. But Cai Boyi broke that preconception for me. It was as if I needed to also find a reason to “care about the plight of the Chinese, as a Taiwanese.” Finally I came across the book A Third Vision for China by Prof. Wu Jieh-min, and I found a companion on my journey.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one to see China this way. No, we don’t see Taiwan as part of China; we all want Taiwan to be an independent entity. But can we see the people of China with less animosity? There was a trend between China, Hong Kong and Taiwan: cross-border corporations with common interests strengthening their ties with each other, becoming an anti-democratic force across the Strait. To fight this behemoth, can we not also imagine the civic societies between China, Hong Kong and Taiwan strengthening our ties as well?

Despite this original intention at that time, it has been seriously challenged in the past seven years, both within myself and in Taiwanese society as a whole. This theme continues to pop up in the film for viewers to see for themselves. But from start to finish, even up to today, I still believe that in the long run, this is a goal I can put my efforts towards, even if this goal already seems at this moment to have become a utopian daydream. Especially in the four years following the Sunflower Movement, both inside and outside Taiwanese society, we’ve experienced many depressing changes, leading to a certain kind of indescribable sense of helplessness brewing up in many people’s hearts and minds.

Sunflower Movement in 2014 (by 綠魚@維基共享資源, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Today, China is restricting its tolerance for freedom of speech more than ever. Many of those who participated in Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement have been judged by kangaroo courts to serve time in prison, or have been stripped of their right to vote. Some, like the Taiwanese Li Ming-che, who sympathizes with social advocates in China, was detained and imprisoned by the Chinese government. Within Taiwan, the raw energy of social movements had been channeled towards elections, but even after the transfer of power many people became disillusioned, because the reforms introduced by the DPP following their landslide win do not have the desired effects. Furthermore, people who were part of the same coalition of values have since split up because of their attitudes toward China.

In this chaotic and foggy political atmosphere, more and more of the youth who were optimistic and full of hope during the time of the protests have gradually lost faith that these issues can be changed. Not even five years after the fact, March 18th has already slowly metamorphosed into a day without any significant meaning. At this juncture, looking back on this documentary film about the protests, what kind of meaning and thoughts remain?

“If we want to continue moving forward, we might need to first start from realizing our own pain.”

This is what I had most wanted to say when I had stood on the stage of the Taipei Film Festival Awards Ceremony. It’s because of this film that I had an opportunity to discover my own hopes and frustrations from participating in these social movements. These feelings came from inexplicable wounds and scars from the past and the process of my trying to heal them. I hope that people who are feeling lost, just as I do, can try to return to that part of the past that was hopelessly naive, yet beautifully hopeful.

The author is currently involved in independent documentary work, primarily exploring Taiwanese youths’ attitudes towards Taiwanese politics, social values, and attitudes.  Her work, “Dialogue between Blue and Green” was once awarded the China FIRST Youth Film Exhibition’s “Best Documentary” award. Her documentary “A Perfect Crash” won the top prize for the Short Documentary category in the 2016 Hong Kong Chinese Documentary Festival.  Her documentary, “Our Youth In Taiwan” won Best Documentary in the 2018 Taipei Film Festival, and Best Documentary in the 2018 Golden Horse Film Awards.

(Feature photo is of Director Fu Yue, right, courtesy of the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee)