National Concert Hall

This guide to the National Concert Hall in Taipei begins on March 16th, 1990, when nine university students sat down on the plaza outside and refused to move, a protest that grew to more than twenty thousand within days. It traces the irony of that demonstration unfolding in front of a palace-style complex built to honor Chiang Kai-shek, and what newly sworn-in president Lee Teng-hui promised the student representatives who met with him. You'll also hear about the hall itself, twelve years and roughly seven point four billion Taiwan dollars in the making. Listen for the Dutch-built organ inside, said to hold over four thousand pipes.