The Sunflower Movement: How a student-led occupation transformed the nation

The 2014 Sunflower Movement, a 24-day student-led occupation of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan and its surrounding area, was the largest social movement in Taiwan’s history.

A protest against the near-passage of a trade deal with China, the movement transformed Taiwan’s political culture and redirected its geopolitical trajectory. This eyewitness account will clarify its causes, give a tour of the occupation sites and their social and spatial structure, and trace its lasting impacts.