Taiwan was under martial law since the KMT fled to the island. This period was also known as the White Terror (1949-1991). All of the Mandarin policies that were seen above were passed during this period. The White Terror was marked with an oppressive government and limited free speech. In December of 1979, Formosa Magazine—a pro-democracy Taiwanese publication—organized a human rights rally. Despite their applications for permission to assemble being denied, the magazine did not cancel the rally. During the rally, riot police began to throw tear gas into the crowd and approached the crowd with their riot shields, and a fight between the crowd and the police soon began. This caused outrage among the citizens of Taiwan, and made more people to speak out against the government. This incident came to be known as the Kaohsiung/Formosa Incident. The Formosa Incident is  not only credited with being Taiwan's first step at ending the White Terror and becoming a democratic nation, but also associated with the formation of a new Taiwanese identity.

Following the end of marital law in Taiwan in 1987 amid growing public pressure following the Kaohsiung Incident, Taiwan also began to loosen its Mandarin policies. All throughout the 1990s, different types of music became popular in Taiwan, from Mandopop to Taiwanese and Hakka music. Yet, Taiwanese and Taiwanese-speakers still seemed to have a stigma. On TV, movies, and media in general, people who spoke Taiwanese were associated with gang violence, rural life, and crude and unruly behavior. Even if the government was not directly punishing people for speaking Taiwanese, the media portrayal of Taiwanese strongly discouraged people from speaking it.

In contemporary Taiwan, Taiwanese has been able to be incorporated into movies, TV shows, pop music, games, and pop culture in a more positive light. Popular artists such as Jay Chou (周傑倫), Crowd Lu (盧廣仲), and Amazing Show (美秀集團) have incorporated Taiwanese into their music. These artists have begun to shift the public perception of Taiwanese, causing more youth to be more interested in learning the language.

The song "A Rooster" (一隻雞) by Amazing Show is a notable song. Apart from being a good song, it also carries some deep meaning. Sung in Taiwanese, the description of the music video reads, "Once, chickens could fly. But after being raised by humans in pens, they gradually forgot how to fly." The rooster in the song represents Taiwanese people, and how they were oppressed and how many forgot how to speak their mother tongue.

In 2019, the Taiwan Public Television Service (PTS) established PTS Taigi, a channel dedicated to featuring Taiwanese-Hokkien content. The Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法) passed in 2019, protects and help develops "natural languages and sign languages used by the different ethnic groups in Taiwan".