108-568: Lien Chan ( Chinese : 連戰 ; pinyin : Lián Zhàn ; Wade–Giles : Lien² Chan⁴ ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : Liân Chiàn ; born 27 August 1936) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government from 1990 to 1993, Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to 2000, and was the Chairman of
216-740: A groundbreaking visit to Mainland China in his capacity as the Chairman of the Kuomintang to meet with the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Hu Jintao on 29 April 2005, the first meeting between the two party leaders after the end of Chinese Civil War in 1949, which subsequently helped thaw the long-stalled cross-strait relations . Lien Chan was born at Jenkins and Robertson Hospital in Xi'an , Shaanxi province, China as
324-656: A Japanese equivalent to the United States' Taiwan Relations Act , which was discussed in the Japanese Diet in February, though the idea was first proposed by Chen Shui-bian in 2006. In 2014, Lee said in the Japanese magazine SAPIO published by Shogakukan , "China spreads lies such as Nanjing Massacre to the world ... Korea and China use invented history as their activity of propaganda for their country. Comfort women
432-531: A banquet hosted by Shanghai CCP Party Secretary General Chen Liangyu . On May 2, he met with Wang Daohan , the 90-year-old chairman of the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits , and the representatives of Taiwanese businesspeople. He returned to Taiwan at noon on May 3. In October 2005, Lien made his second visit to the mainland. He visited Shenyang , Liaoning to pay homage to his maternal grandmother's tomb at Lansheng Village and
540-556: A book under the same name) was honored as the year's best doctoral thesis by the American Association of Agricultural Economics and remains an influential work on Taiwan's economy during the Japanese and early KMT periods. Lee encountered Christianity as a young man and in 1961 was baptised. For most of the rest of his political career, despite holding high office, Lee made a habit of giving sermons at churches around Taiwan, mostly on apolitical themes of service and humility. He
648-584: A center rather than an appendage. In 1997, he presided over the adoption of the Taiwan-centric history textbook Knowing Taiwan . Under Lee, it was stated that "legally, historically, geographically, or in reality", all of the South China Sea and Spratly islands were the territory of the Republic of China and under ROC sovereignty, and denounced actions undertaken there by Malaysia and the Philippines, in
756-503: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from
864-562: A combined ticket against DPP's Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu. Chen Shui-bian was the incumbent and was trailing 13% behind in the polls before ballot day. Then, out of nowhere came two bullets, one barely grazing Chen's belly and another one grazing Annette Lu's knee. Immediately the DPP-control government suspended all election activities and prohibited all servicemen, policeman and security workers to return home to vote. The servicemen are typically Pan-Blue voters and number of service men affected
972-476: A different history,” and that people should approach these differing experiences and interpretations with an attitude of understanding that will allow for learning from history, rather than allowing it to be used a tool for manipulating divisions. Lee published a book, Remaining Life: My Life Journey and the Road of Taiwan's Democracy , in February 2016. In it, he reasserted support for Japanese sovereignty claims over
1080-524: A major reshuffle of the Executive Yuan , as he had done with the KMT Central Committee, replacing several elderly waishengren with younger benshengren , mostly of technical backgrounds. Fourteen of these new appointees, like Lee, had been educated in the United States. Prominent among the appointments were Lien Chan as foreign minister and Shirley Kuo as finance minister . 1990 saw
1188-442: A minor stroke. On 29 November 2018, he was rushed to Taipei Veterans General Hospital after falling and hitting his head. He was discharged from hospital on 31 January 2019, and President Tsai Ing-wen later visited him at his home. On 8 February 2020, Lee was hospitalised at Taipei Veterans General Hospital after choking while drinking milk and retained in the hospital under observation due to lung infection concerns. Later, he
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#17330845499811296-475: A special "state to state relationship", Mainland China was deeply angered, therefore Taiwan became increasingly marginalized. Lien took an active role as a representative of Lee Teng-hui in quasi-official diplomacy in the mid-1990s. One of the greatest moments of his career is his 1995 meeting with Václav Havel , in which Lien likened the democratic reforms of the Lee Teng-hui administration as being similar to
1404-606: A speech at Peking University , which his 96-year-old mother Chao Lan-k'un attended nearly 80 years ago. On April 30, he headed to his birthplace Xi'an . He revisited Houzaimen Primary School , which he attended 60 years ago. He also visited the Great Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang , China's first emperor. Early on May 1, he paid homage to his grandmother's tomb near Qingliangsi. Later that day, Lien arrived in Shanghai , where he attended
1512-611: A statement on 13 July 1999 released by the foreign ministry of Taiwan. The claims made by both the PRC and the Republic of China "mirror" each other. During international talks involving the Spratly islands, the PRC and ROC have sometimes made efforts to coordinate their positions with each other since both have the same claims. Since resigning the chairmanship of the KMT, Lee stated a number of political positions and ideas which he did not mention while he
1620-471: A warm relationship with the people and culture of Japan . During the latter period of Japanese rule of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, Lee attended a Japanese school where he was one of only four Taiwanese in a class of 23 pupils. At the time, due to the Kominka movement, Taiwanese Han culture and language was greatly discouraged. Lee's father was a middle-level Japanese police aide; his elder brother died serving in
1728-850: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;
1836-608: Is a boy , name him Lien Chan, signifying that the strength coming from within oneself will never diminish and can overcome the enemies and be victorious. It also has the meaning of reviving the former nation , reorganizing the light and hope of our homeland . Lien Chan was descended from a family of literati. His family arrived in Taiwan during the Emperor Kang Xi era and had settled in Tainan residing in an area called Ma Bing Ying; which
1944-587: Is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to
2052-471: Is married to Lien Fang Yu . They have two sons, Sean Lien and Lien Sheng-Wu (連勝武), and two daughters, Lien Hui-Hsin (連惠心) and Lien Yong-Hsin (連詠心). Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in
2160-466: Is the most remarkable example." In 2015, Lee said "The issue of Taiwanese comfort women is already solved" in the Japanese magazine Voice (published by PHP Institute). He was strongly criticized by Chen I-hsin , spokesman of the Presidential Office as "not ignorant but cold-blooded". Chen added, "If Lee Teng-hui really thinks the issue of comfort women is solved, go to a theater and see Song of
2268-483: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to
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#17330845499812376-599: The Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of the predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such
2484-752: The CC Clique . His mother, Zhao Lankun, came from a prominent family in Shenyang and had Manchu ancestry. She graduated from Yenching University . Lien earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the National Taiwan University in 1957 and a Master of Arts in International Law and Diplomacy in 1961. He received a Doctor of Philosphy in political science in 1965 from the University of Chicago and married former Miss Republic of China Fang Yu
2592-570: The Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport . In Hangzhou, Lien met with provincial government leaders and visited the West Lake . Two days later, Lien visited Beijing to attend the first Cross-Straits Economic Trade and Culture Forum . Lien met with CCP general secretary Hu Jintao at the forum, where both underscored the peaceful development of relations between the two sides. In April 2010, Lien visited Shanghai to attend
2700-686: The Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II and is listed in the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. During his youth, Lee had a Japanese name, Iwasato Masao ( 岩里政男 ) . This name was suggested by Lee Teng-chin, combining Longyan ( 龍岩 ), where their family originated, and their surname Lee ( 李 ), which shares the same pronunciation with the character " 里 " in both Japanese on'yomi and Chinese. Lee spoke fondly of his upbringing and his teachers and
2808-577: The Kensiu language . Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui ( Chinese : 李登輝 ; 15 January 1923 – 30 July 2020) was a Taiwanese politician and agriculturist who served as the 4th president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the first president to be born in Taiwan, the last to be indirectly elected and
2916-585: The Kuomintang (KMT) from 2000 to 2005, apart from various ministerial posts he had also held. Lien ran for the President of the Republic of China on behalf of the Kuomintang twice in 2000 and 2004, but both lost to Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party . Upon his retirement as KMT Chairman in August 2005, he was given the title Honorary Chairman of KMT. He is highly credited after holding
3024-463: The People's Republic of China (PRC) that all negotiations between the two sides of the Strait needed to observe. As president, he attempted to further reform the government. Controversially, he attempted to remove the provincial level of government and proposed that lower level government officials be appointed, not elected. Lee, observing constitutional term limits he had helped enact, stepped down from
3132-592: The Republic of China took over Taiwan , Lee enrolled in the National Taiwan University , where in 1948 he earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural science . Lee joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for two stints, in September 1946 and October or November 1947, both times briefly. Lee began the New Democracy Association [ zh ] with four others. This group was absorbed by
3240-505: The Republic of Taiwan . He generally opposed unlimited economic ties with the PRC, placing restrictions on Taiwanese wishing to invest in China. After Chen Shui-bian succeeded Lee in the 2000 election , the two enjoyed a close relationship despite being from different political parties. Chen regularly asked Lee for advice during his first term in office. In Chen's 2001 book, he called Lee the "Father of Taiwanese Democracy" and also named himself
3348-622: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝ 'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for
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3456-649: The Taipei Guest House where people paid respects to Lee was opened to the public from 1 to 16 August 2020, after which Lee's body was cremated and his remains interred at Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery . All national flags at government institutions were placed at half-mast for three days. Lee had the nickname "Mr. Democracy" and Taiwan's "Father of Democracy" for his actions to democratize Taiwanese government and his opposition to ruling Communists in China. Kuomintang members still blame Lee for losing
3564-524: The Taipei Times : “We've never heard of such an award and of course Mr Lien has no plans to accept it.” On April 26, 2005, Lien Chan traveled to mainland China to meet with the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). His meeting with Communist Party general secretary Hu Jintao was the highest level exchange since Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong met in Chongqing on August 28, 1945, to celebrate
3672-486: The Velvet Revolution . After the defeat of the KMT in 2000, Lien assume the leadership of the KMT. As the Chairman of the KMT, Lien vowed to learn from his loss and remake the KMT party. He held forums to discuss erasing the KMT's image as a corrupt institution and Lien promised to give up property seized by the KMT after the Japanese exodus. The Pan-Blue reunited in the election of 2004 with Lien and Soong running on
3780-419: The human rights ' concern to release the remaining survivors of the civilian Tanker Tuapse free after 34 years in captivity . As he consolidated power during the early years of his presidency, Lee allowed his rivals within the KMT to occupy positions of influence: when Yu Guo-hwa retired as premier in 1989, he was replaced by Lee Huan, who was succeeded by Hau Pei-tsun in 1990. At the same time, Lee made
3888-727: The "Son of Taiwan" with respect to Lee. However, the two's relationship began to worsen when Lee questioned Chen's reform of the fisheries branch of the Council of Agriculture . Though Lee was present in the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally orchestrated by the Pan-Green Coalition before the 2004 election , the two's relationship broke apart after Chen asked James Soong to be the President of the Executive Yuan in 2005, which Lee disagreed with. Lee also publicly criticized Chen in 2006 by calling him incapable and corrupt. In February 2007, Lee shocked
3996-621: The Act Governing Preferential Treatment for Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents, aimed at denying Lee privileges as a former president. Lee also stated, in 2015, that Taiwanese people were "subjects of Japan" and that Taiwan and Japan were "one country", sparking much criticism from both China and the Pan-Blue Coalition. In response to media requests for comment, then presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen said that “each generation and ethnic group in Taiwan has lived
4104-500: The Asia-Pacific, Lien espoused a platform called the “Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center” because Taiwan has two natural deep water harbors, one is Keelung and second one is Kaohsiung, shipments from all over the world would transport and transfer in these harbors before heading to Japan, Korea, China or Southeast Asia. However, due to Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) “two state solution” (兩國論), a theory advocated for China and Taiwan to engage in
4212-656: The Asian stock market. Lee's overall stance on Taiwanese independence during the election cycle was characterized as "deliberately vague". The previous eight presidents and vice presidents of the ROC had been elected by the members of the National Assembly . For the first time, the President of the ROC would be elected by majority vote of Taiwan's population. On 23 March 1996, Lee became the first popularly elected ROC president with 54% of
4320-815: The CCP ), Dai Bingguo ( state councilor of the PRC ), Wang Yi (director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council ), Chen Yunlin and Zheng Lizhong (president and vice president of ARATS ). Lien and his wife Lien Fang Yu also visited Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center and met with Liu Wang , Liu Yang and Jing Haipeng , astronauts of the Shenzhou 9 . Lien and delegates from 80 business leaders and civil group representatives, including former Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Shu Chin-chiang , visited Beijing on 17 February to meet with Zhang Zhijun ,
4428-490: The CCP, and Lee officially left the party in September 1948. In a 2002 interview, Lee admitted that he had been a Communist; Lee remains the only Taiwanese president known to have once been a member of the Chinese Communist Party. In that same interview, Lee said that he had strongly opposed Communism for a long time because he understood the theory well and knew that it was doomed to fail. Lee stated that he joined
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4536-669: The Communists out of hatred for the KMT . In 1953, Lee received a master's degree in agricultural economics from Iowa State University (ISU) in the United States . Lee returned to Taiwan in 1957 as an economist with the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR), an organization sponsored by the U.S. which aimed at modernizing Taiwan's agricultural system and at land reform. During this period, he also worked as an adjunct professor in
4644-625: The Department of Economics at National Taiwan University and taught at the Graduate School of East Asian Studies at National Chengchi University . In the mid-1960s, Lee returned to the United States, and earned a PhD in agricultural economics from Cornell University in 1968. His advisor was John Williams Mellor . His doctoral dissertation, Intersectoral Capital Flows in the Economic Development of Taiwan, 1895–1960 (published as
4752-601: The KMT chairmanship and sideline him as a figurehead. With the help of James Soong —himself a member of the Palace Faction—who quieted the hardliners with the famous plea "Each day of delay is a day of disrespect to Ching-kuo," Lee was allowed to ascend to the chairmanship unobstructed. At the 13th National Congress of Kuomintang in July 1988, Lee named 31 members of the Central Committee, 16 of whom were bensheng ren : for
4860-507: The KMT that had enabled Chen to win. Lee had promoted the uncharismatic Lien over the popular Soong as the KMT candidate. Soong had subsequently run as an independent and was expelled from the KMT. The number of votes garnered by both Soong and Lien would have accounted for approximately 60% of the vote while individually the candidates placed behind Chen. Protests were staged in front of the KMT party headquarters in Taipei. Fuelling this anger were
4968-405: The Kuomintang (KMT) first moved to Taiwan. There are over 879 of these Military dependents’ villages which housing nearly 100,000 households within. Most of this housing was temporary shelter and were constructed during the period between 1945 and 1950s to house the military personnel as the KMT retreated to Taiwan. Half a century later when it became clear that reunification with Mainland China under
5076-547: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China
5184-477: The Political Science Department and dean of the Graduate Institute of Political Science the following year. His official positions included Ambassador to El Salvador (1975–1976), Minister of Transportation and Communications (1981–1987), Vice Premier (1987–1988), Foreign Minister (1988–1990) before becoming Governor of Taiwan Province (1990–1993). In 1993 he was appointed Premier of the Republic of China . In 1996, Lee Teng-hui selected him as running mate in
5292-419: The Reed ." In July 2015, Lee visited Japan, and again stated that Japan has full sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands . This was the first time Lee made remarks of this nature while in Japan. Members of the pan-Blue New Party and Kuomintang accused him of treason. New Party leader Yok Mu-ming filed charges of treason against Lee, while the KMT's Lai Shyh-bao called a caucus meeting to seek revisions to
5400-415: The Senkaku Islands, drawing complaints from the ROC Presidential Office, President-elect Tsai Ing-wen , and Yilan County fishermen. On 22 June 2018, he visited Japan for the final time in his life. On 30 June 2011, Lee, along with former KMT financier Liu Tai-ying were indicted on graft and money-laundering charges and accused of embezzling US$ 7.79 million in public funds. He was acquitted by
5508-475: The Taipei District Court on 15 November 2013. Prosecutors appealed the ruling, but on 20 August 2014, Lee was cleared of the charges again. Lee and his wife were Presbyterian Christians. Lee married Tseng Wen-hui on 9 February 1949, with whom he had three children. Their firstborn son Lee Hsien-wen (c. 1950 – 21 March 1982) died of sinus cancer. Daughters Anna and Annie, were born c. 1952 and c. 1954, respectively. Shortly after stepping down from
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#17330845499815616-419: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,
5724-435: The United States in 1976. Lien also established diplomatic relations with Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Grenada, Belize, Republic of Guinea-Bissau and reestablished diplomatic relations with Kingdom of Lesotho, Republic of Liberia and the Republic of Nicaragua. Lien also established the foundations for the Internet in Taiwan via research centers established under the National Science Council (國家科學委員會). Furthermore, he liberalized
5832-438: The arrival of the Wild Lily student movement on behalf of full democracy for Taiwan. Thousands of Taiwanese students demonstrated for democratic reforms. The demonstrations culminated in a sit-in demonstration by over 300,000 students at Memorial Square in Taipei. Students called for direct elections of the national president and vice president and for a new election for all legislative seats. On 21 March, Lee welcomed some of
5940-413: The best national health plans in the world and modeled by other nations who seek to have a national health coverage for other citizens. He spearheaded the constructions of Cross-Island Highway (橫貫公路), a series of highways that connected the eastern side of the island to the western side of the island. Taiwan is dominated by the Central Mountain Range which cordons off the east from the west. In order to go to
6048-492: The center of people's lives as opposed to Nationalist China. During the Chiang era, China was promoted as the center of an ideology that would build a Chinese national outlook in a people who had once considered themselves Japanese subjects. Taiwan was often relegated to a backwater province of China in the KMT-supported history books. People were discouraged from studying local Taiwanese customs, which were to be replaced by mainstream Chinese customs. Lee sought to turn Taiwan into
6156-496: The colony's police academy and soon volunteered for the Imperial Japanese Navy and died in Manila . Lee—one of only four Taiwanese students in his class at Taihoku Higher School [ zh ] , the only higher school (preparatory schools for the Imperial Universities ) in Japanese Taiwan—graduated with honors and was given a scholarship to Japan's Kyoto Imperial University . During his school days, he learned kendo and bushido . A lifelong collector of books, Lee
6264-428: The eastern side from the western side, one had to circle the island to reach their destinations before the highways were constructed. After Lien constructed these highways, traffic back-and-forth between the east and west of the island was much more efficient. He also began the reconstruction to the Military dependents’ villages (眷村) which were temporary shelters designated for the military personnel and their families when
6372-400: The first time, bensheng ren held a majority in what was then a powerful policy-making body. On 20 March, he ordered to release the political prisoner , Gen. Sun Li-jen from 33 years of house arrest . In August, he listened to the aboriginal legislator Tsai Chung-han 's advocacy in the General Assembly of Legislative Yuan and the journalism reportage of Independence Evening Post on
6480-447: The first to be directly elected . During his presidency, Lee oversaw the end of martial law and the full democratization of the ROC , advocated the Taiwanese localization movement , and led an ambitious foreign policy agenda to gain allies around the world. Nicknamed " Mr. Democracy ", Lee was credited as the president who completed Taiwan's democratic transition. After leaving office, he remained active in Taiwanese politics . Lee
6588-420: The head of Taiwan Affairs Office , and on 18 February with Xi Jinping , General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party CCP Central Committee , at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for non-governmental exchanges. This 3-day trip came after the invitation from the Chinese Communist Party . Lien was invited to a Chinese military parade marking the end of the Second Sino–Japanese War in September 2015. During
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#17330845499816696-449: The highest distinction of the Scout Association of Japan , the Golden Pheasant Award . In August 2001, Lee said of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi 's controversial visit to Yasukuni Shrine , "It is natural for a premier of a country to commemorate the souls of people who lost their lives for their country." In a May 2007 trip to Japan, Lee visited the shrine himself to pay tribute to his elder brother. Controversy rose because
6804-400: The highest level of official exchange between the Mainland and Taiwan on the international stage at that time. His family name is Lien; his given name is Chan. "Chan" means " battles " and his full name literally means "successive battles." The name originated from Lien Heng who wrote to his pregnant daughter-in-law in Xi'an : China and Japan will battle inevitably. If the child born
6912-425: The hospital on the same day and went to vote on the next day. Neither one had life-threatening injury nor did they lose consciousness or had a surgery. Rather, alleged assassin Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄) was killed and his body was found ten days later ditched into a pond near where he lives. His body was formally dressed in suite and tie and entangled in a fishnet. This incident sparked mass riots and controversy because it
7020-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from
7128-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as
7236-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In
7344-542: The media when he revealed that he did not support Taiwanese independence , when he was widely seen as the spiritual leader of the pro-independence movement. Lee also said that he supported opening up trade and tourism with China, a position he had opposed before. Lee later explained that Taiwan already enjoys de facto independence and that political maneuvering over details of expressing it is counterproductive. He maintains that "Taiwan should seek 'normalization' by changing its name and amending its constitution." Lee enjoyed
7452-916: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often
7560-405: The motherland". The PRC government launched another set of tests just days before the election , sending missiles over the island to express its dissatisfaction should the Taiwanese people vote for Lee. In 1996, the United States sent two aircraft carrier groups to Taiwan's vicinity and the PRC then de-escalated. The military actions disrupted trade and shipping lines and caused a temporary dip in
7668-414: The next year, together with Lee's June 1995 visit to Cornell University , sparked the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis . The United States had not prepared the PRC for Lee receiving a United States visa. The PRC conducted a series of missile tests in the waters surrounding Taiwan and other military maneuvers off the coast of Fujian in response to what Communist Party leaders described as moves by Lee to "split
7776-665: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as
7884-473: The only child of Taiwanese father Lien Chen-tung and Mainland Chinese mother Chao Lan-k'un (趙蘭坤). His paternal grandfather, Lien Heng , was the writer of The General History of Taiwan (臺灣通史), a book that is often cited for the quote, "Taiwan's sorrow is that it has no history."His father, Lien Chen-tung, served as Minister of the Interior from 1960 to 1966, promoting local autonomy and maintaining close ties with
7992-636: The opening ceremony of the Shanghai World Expo 2010 . In February 2013, Lien visited Beijing to meet with Xi Jinping , the newly elected General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party . Lien also met with Yu Zhengsheng (chairman-designate of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference ), Wang Huning (member of the Politburo of the CCP ), Li Zhanshu (chief of the General Office of
8100-496: The original members of the Legislative Yuan , elected to represent Chinese constituencies in 1948, were forced to resign and new elections were held to apportion more seats to the bensheng ren . The elections forced Hau Pei-tsun from the premiership , a position he was given in exchange for his tacit support of Lee. He was replaced by Lien Chan, then an ally of Lee. The prospect of the first island-wide democratic election
8208-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as
8316-517: The persistent suspicions following Lee throughout his presidency that he secretly supported Taiwan independence and that he was intentionally sabotaging the Kuomintang from above. Lee resigned his chairmanship on 24 March. During his presidency, Lee supported the Taiwanese localization movement . The Taiwanization movement has its roots in Japanese rule founded during the Japanese era and sought to put emphasis on vernacular Taiwanese culture in Taiwan as
8424-473: The political party's long-term rule of the country and believe that Lee's moves led to the fragmentation of the KMT. On the other hand, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) views Lee positively as a beacon of hope. The DPP had grown in strength under Lee's rule and he set a precedent by presiding over the first ever peaceful transition of power to an opposition party in 2000. A November 2020 phone survey of 1,076 Taiwan citizens aged 18 and above which asked
8532-406: The presidency at the end of his term in 2000. That year, Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian won the national election with 39% of the vote in a three-way race. Chen's victory marked an end to KMT rule and the first peaceful transfer of power in Taiwan's new democratic system. Supporters of rival candidates Lien Chan and James Soong accused Lee of setting up the split in
8640-463: The presidency in 2000, Lee had coronary artery bypass surgery . In late 2011, he underwent surgery to remove stage II colon adenocarcinoma, the most common form of colon cancer. Two years later, he had a stent implanted in his vertebral artery following an occlusion. Lee was sent to Taipei Veterans General Hospital in November 2015 after experiencing numbness in his right hand, and later diagnosed with
8748-439: The presidential election. Lee and Lien won the election for the presidency and the vice-presidency respectively. Before becoming Chairman of the KMT, he was Vice Chairman (1993–2000) and a member of the Central Committee (1984–2000). During his term in office, Lien was credited for having established National Health Insurance, which is the national health insurance policy for all citizens of the Republic of China. It ranks as one of
8856-592: The same year. Lien is also currently a Trustee Emeritus on the Board of Trustees to the University of Chicago. Lien held assistant professorships of political science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1966 to 1967 and the University of Connecticut from 1967 to 1968. He returned to Taiwan in 1968 to become visiting professor of political science at the National Taiwan University, serving as chairman of
8964-560: The school where his mother studied. In April 2006, Lien departed to Mainland China to visit Fujian . He paid tribute to his ancestors in Zhangzhou and received an honorary doctor's degree from Xiamen University in Xiamen . On 11 April 2006, Lien arrived in Hangzhou , Zhejiang . He was welcomed by Xia Baolong , deputy secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party at
9072-405: The shooting was a staged event. "We have compared all of the evidence and clues through interviews and reconstructed the scene. Although the truth of the event remains unclear, the "truth" that government publicized and the evidence don't match," committee convener Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) told reporters. The report also suggested that Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), whom the authorities identified as the shooter,
9180-419: The shrine also enshrines World War II Class A criminals among the other soldiers. During the 2012 China anti-Japanese demonstrations , on 13 September 2012, Lee remarked, "The Senkaku Islands , no matter whether in the past, for now or in the future, certainly belong to Japan." Ten years previously, he had stated, "The Senkaku Islands are the territory of Japan." In September 2014, Lee expressed support for
9288-595: The students to the Presidential Building . He expressed his support of their goals and pledged his commitment to full democracy in Taiwan. In May 1991, Lee spearheaded a drive to eliminate the Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist Rebellion , laws put in place following the KMT arrival in 1949 that suspended the democratic functions of the government. In December 1991,
9396-530: The telecommunications network which allowed for multiple players to compete and ushered in the mobile service era in the Telecommunications sector. He also revised and deregulated the regulation on cable television sector that allowed for multiple players in the television and cable sectors. These policies made Taiwan the most liberal area in Asia for Media. For the purpose of developing Taiwan as an economic hub in
9504-518: The terms of the Republic of China would not be possible, it became obvious that the housing for the military personnel would have to be reconstructed. Throughout Lien's term as Foreign Minister and through his premiership, about 30 countries had diplomatic relations with Republic of China (Taiwan), this was the highest number of diplomatic relations since Republic of China was expelled from the United Nations in 1972 and severed diplomatic relations with
9612-578: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with
9720-1020: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write
9828-509: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being
9936-655: The victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War and discuss a possible truce in the impending Chinese Civil War . On April 27, Lien visited the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing. On April 28, he arrived in Beijing. On the afternoon of April 29, he met with PRC Paramount leader Hu Jintao (in his capacity as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party ). Before meeting with Hu on April 29, Lien Chan delivered
10044-494: The visit, Lien asked Beijing to strongly consider supporting ROC President Ma Ying-jeou 's East China Sea Peace Initiative. Lien was selected by President Ma Ying-jeou as special envoy to represent the Republic of China (participating as Chinese Taipei ) at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2008–2012. While at APEC, Lien also met with Chinese Communist Party general secretary Hu Jintao ,
10152-463: The vote. Many people who worked or resided in other countries made special trips back to the island to vote. In addition to the president, the governor of Taiwan Province and the mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung (as leaders of provincial level divisions they were formerly appointed by the president) became popularly elected. Lee, in an interview that same year, expressed his view that a special state-to-state relationship existed between Taiwan and
10260-571: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c. 200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c. the 5th century . Although
10368-494: Was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan . Lee's native language was Taiwanese Hokkien . He was proficient in both Mandarin and Japanese and was able to speak English well. It has been claimed that he was more proficient in Japanese than Mandarin. Shortly after returning to Taiwan, Lee joined the KMT in 1971 and was made a cabinet minister without portfolio responsible for agriculture. In 1978, Lee
10476-668: Was appointed mayor of Taipei , where he solved water shortages and improved the city's irrigation problems. In 1981, he became governor of Taiwan Province and made further irrigation improvements. As a skilled technocrat , Lee soon caught the eye of President Chiang Ching-kuo as a strong candidate to serve as vice president. Chiang sought to move more authority to the bensheng ren (residents of Taiwan before 1949 and their descendants) instead of continuing to promote waisheng ren (Chinese immigrants who arrived in Taiwan after 1949 and their descendants) as his father had. President Chiang nominated Lee to become his Vice President . Lee
10584-438: Was believed that the shooting was staged in order to gain sympathy votes for Chen and Lu who won by a sliver of a margin. Hence the 319 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee was established. On 31 Jan 2008, the 319 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee concluded its investigation into the assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), and raised questions about whether
10692-492: Was considered the "spiritual leader" of the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), and recruited for the party in the past. After Lee campaigned for TSU candidates in the 2001 Taiwanese legislative election , he was expelled by the KMT. Other activities that Lee engaged in included maintaining relations with former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian and Japan. Lee was born in the rural farming community of Sanshi Village , Taihoku Prefecture , Japanese Taiwan . He
10800-408: Was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia caused by pulmonary infiltration , and was subsequently intubated. Lee died of multiple organ failure and septic shock at Taipei Veterans General Hospital on 7:24 pm, 30 July 2020, at the age of 97. He had suffered from infections and cardiac problems since he was admitted to hospital in February. A state funeral was announced, while a memorial venue at
10908-469: Was formally elected by the National Assembly in 1984. Chiang Ching-kuo died in January 1988 and Lee succeeded him as president. The " Palace Faction " of the KMT, a group of conservative Chinese headed by General Hau Pei-tsun , Premier Yu Kuo-hwa , and Education Minister Lee Huan , as well as Chiang Kai-shek 's widow, Soong Mei-ling , were deeply distrustful of Lee and sought to block his accession to
11016-672: Was heavily influenced by Japanese thinkers like Nitobe Inazō and Kitaro Nishida in Kyoto. In 1944, he too volunteered for service in the Imperial Japanese Army and became a second lieutenant , in command of an anti-aircraft gun in Taiwan. He was ordered back to Japan in 1945 and participated in the clean-up after the Great Tokyo Air Raid of March 1945. Lee stayed in Japan after the surrender and graduated from Kyoto Imperial University in 1946. After World War II ended, and
11124-560: Was murdered instead of committing suicide when he was found dead 10 days after the incident. In 2005, after Ma was elected as KMT chairman to succeed Lien, the KMT Central Committee offered the title of "Chairman Emeritus" (Honorary Chairman) to Lien. In December 2010, Lien was awarded the Confucius Peace Prize in China, which was instituted as a reaction to the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Liu Xiaobo . Lien's office said to
11232-459: Was of Yongding, Tingzhou Hakka descent. As a child, he often dreamed of traveling abroad, and became an avid stamp collector. Growing up under Japanese colonial rule, he developed a strong interest in Japan. He was given his Japanese name, Iwasato Masao (岩里政男) by his father. Lee's father was a middle-level Japanese police aide, and his elder brother, Lee Teng-chin (李登欽), who was also known as Iwasato Takenori ( 岩里武則 ) in Japanese, joined
11340-478: Was president, but which he appeared to have privately maintained. After Lee endorsed the candidates of the newly formed Pan-Green Taiwan Solidarity Union , a party established by a number of his KMT allies, Lee was expelled from the KMT on 21 September 2001. Lee publicly supported the Name Rectification Campaigns in Taiwan and proposed changing the name of the country from the Republic of China to
11448-642: Was roughly 350,000. The DPP Secretary General of the President's office Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) immediately came out on media to announce that there was an assassination attempt on the DPP candidates Chen and Lu and accused the KMT of collaborating with the Chinese Communists Party to assassinate Taiwan's President. Lien lost that election by 0.228% margin, a mere 29,518 votes out of a total of 12,914,422 (12 million nine hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred and twenty two) ballots cast. Both Chen and Lu were released from
11556-546: Was the former training ground of the Zheng Cheng Gung forces in his campaign against the Dutch. Lien's family harvested sugar on their plantations for generations. Lien's grandmother's family were also wealthy merchants who traded camphor and sugar. Lien ‘s mother, Chao Lan Kun came from a wealthy Shenyang family, and is credited for having preserve the family wealth throughout the turbulent times of post-Japanese colonization. Lien
11664-464: Was welcomed in visits to Japan since leaving office. Lee admired and enjoyed all things Japanese such as traditional Japanese values. This was the target of criticism from the Pan-Blue Coalition in Taiwan, as well as from China, due to the anti-Japanese sentiment formed during and after World War II. However, this animosity fell in later years, especially in Taiwan. In 1989, he received
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