The Kaohsiung Incident
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On 10 December 1979, pro-democracy activists clashed with police in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
The incident, which happened during Taiwan's martial law period, paved the way for the transition to democracy.
Rachel Naylor speaks to Yao Chia-wen, who was jailed for 12 years for his involvement.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
(Photo: The Kaohsiung Incident on 10 December 1979. Credit: AP Photo / Yueh-Kang Pan)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommasheranganathan. |
| 0:26.0 | However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. |
| 0:30.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.5 | Hi, this is Witness History from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:43.4 | I'm Rachel Naylor. |
| 0:44.9 | If you've heard us before, you can skip the next few seconds. |
| 0:47.8 | But if you are new, welcome. |
| 0:49.3 | With a podcast that takes you back to a moment in history |
| 0:51.4 | by speaking to those who are there. |
| 0:53.5 | Episodes are just nine minutes long and they come out every weekday. |
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| 1:01.3 | Today I'm taking you back to the 1970s and a seminal moment in Taiwan's transition to democracy. |
| 1:06.6 | The Gao Shihung incident was a rally where demonstrators clashed with police that happened |
| 1:10.8 | during Taiwan's martial law period. I've been speaking to a lawyer who was jailed for 12 years |
| 1:16.1 | for his involvement. It's the 10th of December, 1979, and we're in Gaoshi Young, Taiwan's |
| 1:24.3 | second largest city. Yao Ji Awun is working at Formosa magazine, a publication |
| 1:28.7 | which opposes the monopoly of the government of the Kuomintang, Chinese nationalist political |
| 1:33.7 | party. It's Human Rights Day and the magazine has organized a speech in favor of democracy. |
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