自由民主理念的引進，乃至於落實成為知識份子具體的政治訴求，在台灣有其相當的歷史傳承。日本領台以後，武裝抗日行動由於遭到殖民者殘酷的鎮壓，逐漸退出歷史的舞台。台灣知識份子遂以啟蒙者的角色，先在政治上要求台灣人與日本人在法律之前的平等，推動撤廢「六三法」體制；其後則意識到台灣特殊的殖民地地位，而要求設置殖民地議會，以及提倡文化的自覺、引進近代西方文明，這些皆是日據時代台灣史的重要內涵。

　　　　　Free China magazine is viewed as a representative magazine of the liberalism and democratic movement on Taiwan in the fifties. Thee concepts of freedom and democracy in Free China were not formatted from the beginning but developed with the political changes. This article, by using the articles in Free China magazine as raw data, clarifies the thread of its thought. This article also illustrates its position in Taiwanese history of thought at the time and the limitations of its view in comparison of the concepts of classical liberalism and democracy in the West. The result of this article shows that the idea of Free China, whether freedom or democracy, is opposite to the authoritarian regime. With the arrest of Lei Chen, Free China was eventually shut down. Therefore, the concept of Free China was in the vanguard and played a perceptive role in Taiwan at the time. From theoretical point of view, Free China's concept of state instrumentalism is close to classic liberalism; the constitution or human rights. Its concept of democracy is far from the ideal types of democracy in the West. Nonetheless, its advocacy of establishment of an opposition party made it unable to exist in Taiwan at the time. This also implies the lack of external condition for its concept of democracy to develop further.