Freedom Era Weekly

Cheng Nan-jung 鄭南榕
Cheng Nan-jung's portrait in the 14th ROC President inauguration performance
Born	(1947-09-12)September 12, 1947 Taipei, Taiwan
Died	April 7, 1989(1989-04-07) (aged 41) Taipei, Taiwan
Alma mater	Taiwan Provincial Cheng Kung University Fu Jen Catholic University National Taiwan University
Occupation	publisher, democracy activist
Known for	Self-immolation
Spouse(s)	Yeh Chu-lan

Cheng Nan-jung (Chinese: 鄭南榕; sometimes anglicised Nylon Deng; 12 September 1947 – 7 April 1989) was a Taiwanese publisher and pro-democracy activist. He was the founder of the Freedom Era Weekly. He is most known internationally for setting himself on fire in support of freedom of speech.

Cheng's father was a mainlander from Fuzhou, Fujian, China and his mother was from Keelung, Taiwan. Cheng was born in the year of the February 28 Incident. On his first job-seeking résumé, Cheng Nan-jung wrote: "I was born the year of the February 28 Incident, and this incident has tormented me throughout my life.... Only because we were protected by our neighbors were we mainlanders safe from the wave of retaliation from the Taiwanese." He wrote that his experience growing up in the White Terror drove his commitment to Taiwan independence.

Cheng studied engineering at Taiwan Provincial Cheng Kung University, and philosophy at Fu Jen Catholic University and National Taiwan University. He refused to take the classes on Sun Yat-sen Thought (), and handed back his National Taiwan University graduation certificate.

In March 1984, he founded Freedom Era Weekly and declared that "[it was] fighting for 100 percent freedom of speech." Cheng Nan-jung had registered 18 different magazine licences, as "spare tires" for use when the Kuomintang banned the magazine and suspended publication. He said "I'm not scared of arrest nor of being killed, basically, I'll fight them to the very end." The magazine was banned several times by the authorities but continued to be printed and distributed.