English 1102 March 24, 2014 All men and women are born with an innate sense of curiosity. Mankind desires to explore the world in order to understand its functions. Impact occurs when curiosity and passion overlap to make a difference in somebodys world. Over the past and current century, the image of the university student has become iconic for the portrayal of reform. Internationally, university students are known for their passion, patriotism and altruistic behavior. To understand the importance of the university students involvement for reform in a more critical and relative way, it is imperative to observe how their passion manifests in their culture, how policy creates limits their mobility, how these students overcome these limits. The Chinese and the Taiwanese The Chinese and Taiwanese students had a special case in their situation and it is proposed that it was the result of an old Chinese tradition. China, in its late twentieth century, was experiencing a student led movement to make China more democratic shortly after the death of the beloved General Secretary Hu Yaobang on April 15 th , 1989. The students formed an alliance, marched for several weeks later, occupied Tianeman Square in Beijing, and experienced an abrupt reaction from the Chinese military on June 4 th with the Tiananmen Square incident. Taiwan, in around the same time period, experienced a similar case. The Taiwanese started by with a smaller number of followers, proposed a platform that sought to re-elect the National Assembly, abolish the old constitution, present a better political platform, and to prepare a National Affairs Conference to discuss political reform. In observation of the events Teresa White (author of The Perils of Protest) explains that the Chinese and the Taiwanese movements ended in completely different ways. The Chinese movement died violently, and the Taiwanese movement ended voluntarily and peacefully. The scholars who have analyzed and compared the Chinese and Taiwanese problems at hand of the student protests in the 1980s and the 1990s propose that culture was one of the factors that determine the fate of the unions. For example, in China, a state- of-grace (elitism) is traditionally given to the scholars because they are said to be enlightened. White explains that the Chinese movement was flawed because this cultural detail was strongly incorporated. Those who were elites did not mingle with the social details of the organization. In contrast to the Chinese movement, the Taiwanese performed effectively because their union was based on friendship and harmony. Their patience and reluctant, yet voluntary, decisions to step down left a better opportunity for change. The point that needs to be made is that culture will affect any student led movement. At times, it will determine how effective the movement will be.
On Plato's Political Philosophy Author(s) : Christopher Bruell Source: The Review of Politics, Vol. 56, No. 2 (Spring, 1994), Pp. 261-282 Published By: For The Stable URL: Accessed: 14/11/2013 00:06