Chen Shui-bian

Chen Shui-bian, often called A-Bian, was a Taiwanese lawyer and politician who held the office of the Republic of China's fifth president from 2000 to 2008. He made history as the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), breaking the Kuomintang's (KMT) 55-year uninterrupted hold on power in Taiwan. Before his presidency, he served as Taipei's mayor from 1994 to 1998 and also chaired the KMT for two separate terms, from 2002 to 2004 and again from 2007 to 2008. Born on 12 October 1950 in Guantian District, Tainan County, Chen grew up in a poor farming family. He studied at National Taiwan University, graduating in 1974, and then worked as a lawyer, gaining a reputation as a human rights advocate and a supporter of Taiwanese independence. His political career began in 1981 when he won a seat on the Taipei City Council as part of the Tangwai movement. He joined the DPP in 1987 and later served in the Legislative Yuan from 1989 to 1994. That year, he became the first directly elected DPP mayor of Taipei. During his mayoral term, he reformed the civil service, oversaw the completion of the Taipei Metro, and launched crackdowns on crime and prostitution. Despite high approval ratings, he lost the 1998 mayoral race to Ma Ying-jeou. In the 2000 presidential election, he defeated James Soong and incumbent vice president Lien Chan, capitalizing on a split in the ruling KMT to achieve Taiwan's first peaceful transfer of power to an opposition party. Chen won a second term in the fiercely contested 2004 election, narrowly beating a joint ticket of his 2000 rivals, Lien and Soong. He left office in 2008, succeeded by Ma Ying-jeou after the KMT's landslide victory over the DPP. Later that year, in November, Chen was arrested on corruption charges. He received a life sentence, which was later reduced to 20 years in prison. He was released on medical parole in 2015. Chen was born to a Hoklo tenant farming family in Kuantien Township, Tainan County (now part of Tainan City), on the second day of the ninth lunar month in 1950. Because of doubts he would survive, his birth certificate was not issued until 18 February 1951. He was educated in Mandarin Chinese, which replaced Japanese as the national language after Japanese rule ended. A bright student, he graduated with honors from National Tainan First Senior High School. In June 1969, he entered National Taiwan University, initially studying business administration but switching to law in his first year. He became editor of the school's law review and passed the bar exams before finishing his junior year, achieving the highest score and becoming Taiwan's youngest lawyer. He earned an LL.B. in commercial law in 1974. In 1975, he married Wu Shu-chen, a physician's daughter. They have a daughter, Chen Hsing-yu, a dentist, and a son, Chen Chih-chung, who earned a law degree in Taiwan and a Master of Laws from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005. From 1976 to 1989, Chen was a partner at Formosa International Marine and Commercial Law, focusing on maritime insurance and handling the Evergreen Marine Corporation account. Chen's political involvement began in 1980 when he defended participants of the Kaohsiung Incident in a military court. His client, opposition leader Huang Hsin-chieh, and seven co-defendants, including future Vice President Annette Lu, were found guilty, but Chen became known for his forceful arguments. He later said this experience showed him the unfairness of Taiwan's political system and spurred his activism with the Tangwai movement. He won a Taipei City Council seat as a Tangwai candidate in 1981, serving until 1985. In 1984, he founded the pro-opposition Civil Servant Public Policy Research Association, which published the magazine *Neo-Formosa*. On 12 January 1985, he was sentenced to a year in prison for libel related to an article in the magazine claiming that the doctoral dissertation of college philosophy professor Elmer Fung (later a New Party legislator) was plagiarized. While appealing, he ran for Tainan county magistrate in November 1985. Three days after losing, his wife Wu Shu-chen was struck twice by a hand tractor driven by Chang Jong-tsai as they thanked supporters. She was left paralyzed from the waist down. Supporters believed it was a government intimidation tactic, though another theory holds it was a simple accident. Chen lost his appeal in May 1986 and served eight months in Tucheng Penitentiary with Huang Tien-fu and Lee I-yang, two other defendants. While there, they were briefly joined by prominent gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei. During his imprisonment, his wife campaigned and won a seat in the Legislative Yuan. Upon his release in 1987, Chen served as her chief counsel. In May 2022, the Transitional Justice Commission overturned the libel charges against Chen, Huang, and Lee. In 1989, Chen was elected to the Legislative Yuan and became executive director of the DPP caucus. With support from some KMT colleagues, he was also elected convener of the National Defense Committee.