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When Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁 began his university studies in 1969, gifted student though he was, few could have imagined he would become Taiwan’s first non-KMT president. The young Chen had no political plans – he wanted to study business and make money for his impoverished family in rural Tainan. One day during his first semester, he heard a speech by an independent candidate who publicly criticized the autocratic rule of the KMT. Chen was fascinated. Listen to this week’s story to learn how Chen changed majors, and despite being called “boring” by a few young women he liked, eventually wed Wu Shu-chen 吳淑珍, the daughter of a wealthy Tainan doctor. Plus, Chen’s involvement in the Kaohsiung Incident of 1979, a turning point for the democracy movement and for Chen. And we end with Chen’s first stint in prison; not the more recent sentences for corruption, but in the mid-1980s for libel.
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Cover: Chen Shui-bian and Wu Shu-chen in happier times. (Date unknown, via UDN)
Below: Chen Shui-bian circa 1984 via Commonwealth Magazine.
Below: Wu Su-chen, the daughter of a well-to-do Tainan doctor. Wu married Chen on February 20, 1975, against the wishes of her father. Photo via Taipei Times.
Below: Former president Chen's memoir, "The Son of Taiwan." NOTE: This book is for hardcore Chen Shui-bian fans only as it is not exactly riveting.
NOTE: This episode drew on the work of Richard C. Kagan, who wrote an early biography of Chen Shui-bian (as well as a 2007 book on former president Lee Tung-hui). The book mentioned in this episode is "Mayor Chen Shui-bian: Taipei, Taiwan: Building a Community and a Nation," by Richard C. Kagan (1998).
Below: Then-legislator Chen Shui-bian in 1993. Formosa Files will bring part three of the story soon, in which Chen rapidly ascends in politics. Picture via Taiwan Digital Archives.
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Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became was famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
