臺北市政府文化局

Wenzhou Street’s Alley 16, Lane 18, is a quiet little alley that twists and turns. Sixty years ago, two types of people frequented it: thoughtful young students seeking out Yin Hai-kuang for his advice on philosophical and political matters, and military and police agents tasked with surveillance, who shadowed Yin Hai-kuang and others as they came and went.

Yin Hai-kuang was a liberal philosopher who taught at the nearby National Taiwan University. In 1960, he was censored by the government for his writings in the independent periodical Free China Journal and his work with figures such as Lei Chen to set up an opposition party. As a consequence, Yin could no longer teach at university, his works were banned, and he was put under lifelong surveillance. Nevertheless, Yin continued to think and write in this small house until his death in 1969.

In the article that led to his censorship, “The Great River Flows Ever Eastward”, Yin expressed his belief that reasonable aspirations for freedom, democracy, and human rights would inevitably be realized and could not be obstructed by a minority. Although he did not live to see these aspirations fulfilled, today we can pay our respects to this champion of freedom by freely entering the quiet, narrow alley that leads to his former residence without fear of surveillance.