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Some people believe the Republic of China is in a pre-revolutionary state. Although many scoff at this idea, saying that the nation’s democracy is in a good place, with a stable society and functioning economy, they may have to re-evaluate their position after Saturday, when more than 200,000 people descended upon Taipei’s Ketagalan Boulevard to protest the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘).

These protesters were not mobilized by advertisements in newspapers or on TV, and no political party was behind the demonstration. It was a relatively unknown activist group called Citizen 1985 that organized the white T-shirt vigil for Hung in front of the Presidential Office and managed to get hundreds of thousands of people to attend. The demonstrators sat in the street in an orderly manner and dispersed calmly once the event was over, having expressed their dissatisfaction with the authorities and those responsible for Hung’s death.