Youth and Student Movements in East and Southeast Asia: From Sunflower/Umbrella Movements to #MilkTeaAlliance and Beyond

East and Southeast Asia differ from the 2011 global youth movements. Developed regions like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, experienced early demographic shifts, with declining birth rates and expanded higher education. In contrast, countries like Thailand, the Philippines, and Myanmar faced these transformations later. China, post-Tiananmen, straddles these development patterns. Complex geopolitical factors arise from China’s rise and expansionist policies, impacting neighboring nations and eliciting diverse responses from youth movements.

Taiwan saw anti-“Chinese influence” movements like the 2012 Anti-Media Monopoly and 2014 Sunflower Movement. Hong Kong had events like the 2014 Umbrella Movement and 2020 Anti-Extradition protests. South Korea and Japan had quieter youth movements with conservative political values. China’s authoritarian expansion supports regional autocracies, fostering transnational movements like the 2020 “Milk Tea Alliance” connecting activists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, and beyond.

Please refer to the comments for the link to the registration form and conference program.

Venues:

Room 104, Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University

Organizers (in alphabetical order)：

Global Asia Research Center, National Taiwan University

Taiwan Social Resilience Research Center, National Taiwan University

Co-organizers (in alphabetical order)：

Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University

#The Organizer reserves the right not to admit participants after the quota of this seminar is full. Successful applicants will receive a notification letter from the Organizer via email, please pay attention to the email notification.