THE 14th Party Congress of the Kuomintang has put a decisive end to authoritarian politics in Taiwan history.
While the Taiwan media has dubbed his re-election as party chairman the beginning of the Lee Teng-hui era, the congress which runs until tomorrow has showcased a blooming of several species of flowers.
Would-be strongman Mr Lee has in fact been rudely handed the message: institute real reforms and power-sharing or see the KMT - or at least his so-called Mainstream Faction - go down the drain.
This is most evident in the election of the 21-member Central Committee on Thursday, which showed that, in spite of the assiduous efforts by party whips, most delegates gave their votes to candidates who spoke for their factions and regions, or who were deemed best equipped to usher the party into the 21st century.
The balloting also helped speed up the generational change in KMT and Taiwan politics.
The younger generation of politicians, meaning those in their 40s and 50s most of whom have advanced degrees from Western universities, were clear favourites. The young turks accounted for 25 of the 30 highest vote-getters.