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End of a long hair protest
Sun, May 25, 2008 The Straits Times
Kaohsiung - A retired Taiwanese teacher had a haircut for the first time in eight years, living up to his vow not to cut his hair until the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government was kicked out of office. The DPP was defeated by the Kuomintang (KMT) in the March 22 presidential election. To celebrate his first haircut in a long time, 70-year-old Wang Hui-lin, whose hair had reached his waist, threw a feast last Tuesday at a restaurant. The KMT loyalist who lives in southern Kaohsiung county then dyed his hair last Wednesday, the United Daily News reported.

His hopes of cutting his hair in March 2004 were dashed when Mr Chen was re-elected as president, although by a slim margin.

After KMT's Mr Ma Ying-jeou beat DPP's Mr Frank Hsieh on March 22 this year, Mr Wang held on to his locks for another three days out of concern that Mr Chen would not give up power peacefully.

Mr Wang told the newspaper that his long hair had given him a lot of trouble in the past, attracting taunts that he was a 'crazy old creature' and causing him to fall when it became entangled in some object.

'I will never wear my hair long again,' he swore.