The Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement was supposed to be routine. Negotiated between Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang (KMT) government and the People's Republic of China, the pact would have opened service sectors in both countries to cross-strait investment. Advocates argued that Chinese capital would boost Taiwan's economy. Critics saw something more threatening: a trade deal that would give Beijing economic leverage over Taiwan's most sensitive industries, including telecommunications, healthcare, and finance. In June 2013, the KMT and the opposing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had agreed to conduct 16 public hearings with academics, NGOs, and industry representatives before any legislative vote. The KMT chaired eight hearings in a single week, with many stakeholders either uninvited or notified at the last minute. On March 17, 2014, the KMT attempted to force the agreement to the legislative floor without a clause-by-clause review. The students responded that night.

On the evening of March 18, a coalition of students and civic activists broke into the Legislative Yuan and occupied the chamber. It was the first time in Taiwan's democratic history that citizens had seized control of the parliament. Thousands of riot police from the National Police Agency were mobilized to surround the building, but Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng promised on March 20 that force would not be used against the protesters inside. The occupation settled into a tense standoff. On March 23, a breakaway group led by activist Dennis Wei stormed the Executive Yuan. That occupation was met with a very different response: roughly 1,000 riot police used water cannons and baton strikes to evict the protesters over a ten-hour operation. More than 150 people were injured and 61 were arrested. The Association of Taiwan Journalists accused police of attacking reporters and violating press freedom.

The aftermath of the Executive Yuan eviction hardened both sides. President Ma Ying-jeou invited student leaders to dialogue, but protest organizer Lin Fei-fan ultimately rejected the invitation, arguing that Ma, as KMT chairman, was still directing the party's legislators and that meaningful negotiation was impossible under those conditions. On March 30, the students called a mass rally on Ketagalan Boulevard, the road connecting the Presidential Office to the legislature. Organizers estimated 500,000 people attended; police put the figure at 116,000. Twenty-two NGOs participated. Even accounting for the disputed numbers, it was one of the largest demonstrations in Taiwan's history. A counter-rally organized by Chang An-lo -- a prominent gang leader known as "White Wolf" who had recently returned from 17 years of exile in China -- drew hundreds of pro-trade-pact supporters but dispersed before the students left.

On April 6, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng visited the occupied chamber and promised to postpone review of the trade pact until legislation monitoring all cross-strait agreements had been passed. The students evacuated the Legislative Yuan on April 10, ending the 24-day occupation. The movement's consequences rippled through Taiwan's politics for years. Student leaders Lin Fei-fan and Chen Wei-ting became prominent political figures. Huang Kuo-chang, an academic who had supported the movement, co-founded the New Power Party and won a legislative seat. The KMT suffered devastating losses in the 2014 local elections and the 2016 presidential election, which brought the DPP's Tsai Ing-wen to power. The Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement was never ratified. The sunflowers had turned toward a different sun.