Since the war forty years ago Taiwan has entered an important period of historical change. In recent years, with political changes, economic liberalization, and the development of internationalization, a social force which has been in the making for a long time has arisen, capturing the attention of the public. Self-supporting demonstrations which have sprung up everywhere have captured the attention of the international community and sparked an interest for analysis.

From a socioeconomic perspective, we can of course offer various degrees of analyses and explanations for the changes which have occurred in recent years on Taiwan, but they still lack a holistic overview so that they see matters as one-sided; they merely take a part for the whole. We are of the opinion that political and economic changes which have occurred on Taiwan in recent years are basically a reflection of changes in the Chinese culture on Taiwan in the past forty years and at the same time have promoted cultural changes. These phenomena are worthy of our careful examination from a standpoint of cultural history.

Which major areas of Chinese culture on Taiwan have undergone change over the past forty years on Taiwan? Before we attempt to answer this question we must single out the question of the basic unique characteristics of traditional Chinese culture. Culture is a synthesis of living, and when viewed from different angles different viewpoints can be arrived at. When seen from the standpoint of Chinese cultural history we may say that the unique characteristics of traditional Chinese culture certainly abound, but the "domain of single subjectivity" is the keynote which is apparent in traditional Chinese culture.

This so-called "domain of single subjectivity" refers to the main characteristic that in traditional Chinese history social, economic, academic, cultural, and artistic activities as subjectivities were deeply influenced by political activity as subjectivity.

The domain of single subjectivity and the principle of subordination, the motifs in historical Chinese culture, have faced historical changes on Taiwan in the past forty years. There are basically two directions where these changes are evident: (1.) single subjectivity has moved towards multisubjectivities, and (2.) the principle of subordination has moved towards a principle of coordination.

The formation of multi-subjectivities tells us that traditional Chinese culture on Taiwan has already undergone a brand new change after the War of Resistance. The new cultural phenomenon which echoes this change is the principle of coordination which took the place of the principle of subordination and became the characteristic of the culture in various realms. Domestically, the influence of political power on nonpolitical areas (economic, social, and cultural) has declined with each passing day. Autonomy of various sectors has increased day by day, for example, the Ministry of Education is becoming more and more concerned with its intended purpose and is no longer like it was in the past when it adopted education as a means for economic development. These new developments basically reflect the new direction in which the development of culture on Taiwan is headed.

Today, as we enter multi-subjectivities and new cultural attitudes increase from day to day, we must be more diligent to establish a new tradition of law-abiding based on the ethics of traditional culture. Only by having law and order will we be able to guarantee harmony of a pluralistic subjective living and create an even larger space for autonomy. This leap from the realm of ethics in traditional culture to the realm of jurisprudence is an important direction all Chinese people should work towards.