1950
Labor insurance is implemented.
1959
The "August 7th Flood" strikes; more than 600 die; hundreds of thousands left homeless.
1958
Taiwan's population exceeds 10 million.
1966
The Buddhist nun Cheng Yen founds the Tzu Chi Foundation.
1968
Family planning is introduced to lower the birth rate.
1969
The Dragons little league baseball team wins the world championship, setting off a national celebration.
1980
The Consumers' Foundation is estab- lished, initiating a wave of social activism.
1985
The Basic Labor Law is implemented.
1986
The city of Lukang protests the establis- ment of a factory for the American manufacturer Dupont, the first instance of environmental protest in Taiwan.
1987
The gambling game "Dajia Le" reaches epidemic proportions, forcing the suspension of the "National Patriotic Sweepstakes," on whose serial numbers "Dajia Le" is based.
1988
The largest farmers' protest in Taiwan's history, the "May 20th protest," erupts.
1989
Taiwan's population exceeds 20 million. The "Snails Without Shells" movement, protesting the rapid rise in housing prices, mobilizes tens of thousands to camp out on the streets of Taipei.
1994
Public protests held in Kungliao Rural Township against Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant .
1995
The population over the age of 65 exceeds 7% of the general population. National Health Insurance is implemented. Counties and cities under DPP rule distribute senior citizen tax rebates; Taiwan enters the age of welfare competition.
1996
Taoyuan County chief Liu Pang-yu and associates found murdered; DPP women's bureau director Peng Wan-ju murdered. Typhoon Herb strikes the island, causing serious landslides in Nantou County.
1997
Pai Hsiao-yen, teenage daughter of actress Pai Ping-ping, is kidnapped and mur dered, sparking protest rally on May 20. Typhoon Winnie strikes; Lincoln Mansion in the Taipei suburb of Hsichih collapses, killing 28.
1998
In January, government offices begin alternating two-day weekends; Taiwan enters the age of leisure.
1999
On Sept. 21, an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, its epicenter at Chichi in Nantou County, causes Taiwan's greatest catastrophe in 100 years, with loss of more than 2,000 lives.
During the 1950s and 60s, there were many single-parent families among t he destitute refugees from mainland China. Some families ended up in such dire financial straits that they had to place their beloved children in orphanages. The photo shows a scene from the Yikuang orphanage in Taipei. (photo by Huang Po-chi)
Do you still remember Hualien's Red Leaf little league baseball team? These little tykes that used sticks as bats and rocks as balls began Taiwan's "triple champion" little league craze that spanned a full 20 years. (courtesy of the China Times Information Center)
These "delinquent youths" obediently prostrating themselves clearly show the authority of the police in days gone by. The photo was taken during the 1960s. (courtesy of the Central News Agency)
The world's first successful surgical separation of male Siamese twins, in 1979, is one of the most memorable chapters in the collective memory of the Taiwanese people . The boys had been joined at the pelvis. Today the two twins Chung-jen and Chung-yi have already celebrated their 22nd birthday, and both have entered the work force. (courtesy of the China Times Information Center)