name	James Soong Chu-yu宋楚瑜
honorific-suffix	M.A., Ph.D.
Order	1st Chairman of People First Party
Term start	31 March 2000
order1	Governor of Taiwan Province
term1	20 March 1993 - 20 December 1994
predecessor1	Lien Chan
successor1	Chao Shou-po
order2	Head of Government Information Office
term2	25 January 1979 - 24 August 1984
order3	Presidential candidate for the 2000 election (Independent)
vicepresident3	Chang Chau-hsiung (candidate)
majority3	36.8 %
order4	Vice Presidential candidate for the 2004 election (People First Party)
president4	Lien Chan
majority4	49.89 %
birth date	March 16, 1942
birth place	Xiangtan, Hunan
party	People First PartyKuomintang
alma mater	National Chengchi UniversityUniversity of California, BerkeleyCatholic University of AmericaGeorgetown University
occupation	Politician
spouse	Viola Chen
website	}}

James Soong Chu-yu (; born March 16, 1942), is a politician in the Republic of China on Taiwan. He founded and chairs the People First Party, a smaller and more conservative party in the Kuomintang (KMT)-led Pan-Blue Coalition.

Born to a Kuomintang military family of Hunanese origin, Soong began his political career as a Secretary to Premier Chiang Ching-kuo and rose to prominence as Director-General of the Government Information Office from 1979 to 1984. Upon Chiang's death Soong was instrumental in silencing conservatives in the KMT from blocking the ascendancy of Lee Teng-hui as KMT leader. Soong was the only elected governor of Taiwan province from 1994 to 1998. He placed second in the 2000 presidential election; his independent candidacy split the pro-Chinese reunification vote between himself and the KMT candidate Lien Chan leading to the ascendency of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian. In the 2004 presidential election, he ran as vice president on the ticket of KMT chairman Lien Chan; they narrowly lost to Chen Shui-bian.

Early life and education

Soong was born in Xiangtan, Hunan province in mainland China (also the home county of Mao Zedong). It is said his grandfather taught at the same school Mao attended as a student. His father, Soong Ta, was a career military officer staunchly loyal to ROC President Chiang Kai-shek and rose to the rank of Major General in the Nationalist Army from an enlisted sailor. With the Nationalist defeat in the Chinese Civil War, the family fled to Taiwan in 1949. He earned his bachelor's degree in diplomacy from National Chengchi University in 1964.

Soong travelled to the United States for graduate school and received an M.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 and an M.S. in library science from The Catholic University of America in 1971. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Georgetown University in 1974.

While at Berkeley, Soong met his future wife Viola Chen (陳萬水). They later had a son and a daughter.

Rise to power

As he was finishing his doctoral studies, he was recommended by Government Information Office (GIO) Director Frederick Chien to be the English secretary of then-Premier Chiang Ching-kuo. Soong served as Secretary to Premier from 1974–1977 and with Chiang Ching-kuo's accession to the presidency, the Personal Secretary to the President from 1978–1981 and 1984-1989. Soong gained his public fame when he addressed the nation following the Carter administration's decision to break ties with the ROC in order to switch diplomatic ties to the People's Republic of China on December 16, 1978 in which he gave a patriotic condemnation of the American position and a ringing defense of the ROC.

Soon afterwards, President Chiang promoted Soong to become the youngest Director-General of the Government Information Office, in which he served from 1979 to 1984.

Soong and the rise of Lee Teng-hui

Upon Chiang Ching-kuo's death in 1988, Soong was seen as instrumental in consolidating the power of the new president, Lee Teng-hui. Soong was part of the Palace Faction (宮廷派) that included Chiang loyalists such as Hau Pei-tsun and Lee Huan and which sought to limit Lee Teng-hui and his native Taiwanese faction's role in the government. During the KMT's central standing committee on the day of Chiang's funeral, when the Palace Faction sought to delay Lee's accession to the party Chairmanship, Soong unexpectedly made an impassioned plea in favor of Lee, declaring that "Each day of delay is a day of disrespect to Ching-kuo." He also made a veiled criticism of Soong May-ling (with whom he was unrelated), implying that she had returned to Taiwan after her stepson's death to try to reassume power.

Soong established himself as one of the few mainlanders who were also loyal to Lee. In support of Soong, Lee coined the term "New Taiwanese" to describe a person born in mainland China, raised in Taiwan, who calls Taiwan home. Lee moved swiftly to promote Soong to KMT Secretary-General, a position Soong held from 1989 to 1993. In 1993, Lee appointed him Governor of Taiwan Province.

Governorship

In 1994 Soong became the only directly elected Governor of Taiwan Province. He was widely perceived to be an excellent campaigner and his excellent showing in the governorship ended hopes by the DPP of a "Yeltsin effect", by which an elected governor would have more legitimacy than the national government.

Despite his Mainlander background, Soong proved to be a popular politician among all ethnic groups on Taiwan, in part because he was one of the first KMT politicians to attempt to use the Taiwanese language in political and formal occasions.

After Premier Lien Chan was elected vice president in 1996, the premiership was to be vacated. Soong felt that as Governor of Taiwan, he was the natural successor to Lien, but Lee believed that Soong should serve out his term. Lee appointed Vincent Siew, whom Soong considered a subordinate, and this act led to the split between Soong and Lee.

The position of Governor of Taiwan was eliminated in 1998 following a National Development Council meeting in 1996, when it suggested that the administrative structure of the Taiwanese government be streamlined. Soong and his supporters believe this to have been a political move by Lee to cut off Soong's power base, but proponents of the downsizing called it a pragmatic move to eliminate contradictory administrative territory. Soong tendered his resignation on December 31 of the same year, but Lee did not accept it.

2000 presidential elections

After losing the KMT presidential nomination to then-vice president Lien Chan, Soong ran as an independent in the 2000 Presidential elections. Soong advocated a gradual union between Taiwan and the mainland by first signing a non-aggression pact followed by the formation of a cross-strait union similar to the European Union. His platform called for the characterization of relations between the Mainland and Taiwan as neither foreign nor domestic. Although widely seen as the candidate most friendly to Mainland China, Soong took particular effort to counter the perception that he would "sell out" Taiwan.

The KMT responded by expelling Soong and his supporters from the party. In the final months leading to the 2000 elections, the KMT, then under Lee Teng-hui's leadership, sued Soong for theft, alleging that as party Secretary-General, he stole millions of Taiwan dollars in cash intended for the family of the late President Chiang Ching-kuo and hid the money in the Chunghsing Bills Finance Company. In defense he stated that the money in those bank accounts was in fact all from the KMT, and he insisted that the money transfer was authorized by then-KMT chairman, Lee Teng-hui. These statements have been substantiated by an internal KMT memo signed by Lee which were published by the court many years later.

The scandal hurt Soong's clean image. Initially leading in the polls, Soong narrowly lost the election with 36.84% of the vote to Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party with 39.3%. Lien came in a distant third with only 23.1%. One common belief from the pro-blue camp in Taiwan is that Lee Teng-hui favored the unpopular Vice President Lien Chan over the highly popular Soong in a deliberate effort to sabotage the Kuomintang and was secretly supporting Chen, despite the fact that Lee is supposed to favor Kuomintang's own nominee Lien. Some believe Lee feared Soong would expose the corruption in his administration, and undermine his legacy.

After losing the election, Soong's supporters protested in front of the KMT party headquarters and blockaded the building for a few days. They succeeded in pressuring Lee Teng-hui to resign as KMT Chairman in favor of Lien Chan. Within weeks, Soong and his supporters formed the People First Party (PFP), considered a spin-off from the KMT.

Prosecutors later dropped all charges against Soong in the Chunghsing Scandal. In 2003, the investigation was reopened, with former President Lee (now expelled from the KMT and the "spiritual leader" of the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union) testifying against Soong in court. However, with the KMT allied with the People First Party for the 2004 presidential election, the KMT aided Soong in his defense, providing documents signed by Lee. KMT Chairman Lien Chan claimed the KMT was misled into filing the lawsuit against Soong. The KMT dropped the charges and is still trying to collect the money that had been returned and was deposited in the court by Soong.

2004 presidential elections

Despite the personal rivalries between Lien, the KMT chairman after 2000, and Soong, the KMT and People First Party pledged to cooperate in future elections to prevent splitting the vote. Though losses in the 2001 legislative elections made the DPP the largest single party in the Legislative Yuan, the pan-blue coalition retained a narrow majority over the pan-green coalition.

Soong ran as Vice Presidential candidate under Lien Chan in the 2004 elections. Some believe that the PFP's lack of experienced candidates in the December 2002 mayoral elections in Taipei and Kaohsiung (the PFP supported the KMT's candidates), and the PFP's poor performance the city council elections in those cities at the same time were major setbacks to Soong's chances of being the KMT-PFP candidate for president. There were widespread rumors that Soong agreed to take the Vice-Presidential post in exchange for a pledge by Lien to give him significant power including the Premiership. Many KMT members opposed the linkage as they considered Soong an opportunist and traitor. Soong's supporters pointed out that he was more popular than Lien, as consistently demonstrated by polls, and the results of the 2000 presidential elections. Though both men garnered a combined 60% of the vote in 2000 (compared to Chen's 39%) they lost to Chen in 2004 by a mere 0.22% of the vote and never conceded.

Post 2004 Election

After the 2004 Presidential election, Soong actively sought the merger of the KMT and People First Party. However, he ceased doing so after the ROC Legislative Election, 2004. Although the pan-blue coalition did well, the PFP did not, and Soong ended talk of a KMT-PFP merger. In February 2005, he signed a 10 point consensus program with President Chen Shui-Bian which brought heavy criticism to Chen. The possibility of DPP-PFP cooperation ended in May 2005, when Soong visited mainland China to meet with Hu Jintao. Initially, Chen stated that Soong was to deliver a secret message to the PRC leadership, but Soong denied this.

In the 2005 KMT chairmanship election, Soong, who retains significant following within the KMT, despite initially instructing party officials not to support either Ma Ying-jeou or Wang Jin-pyng, endorsed Wang at the last minute. The endorsement appeared to backfire, however, as Ma defeated Wang by a rather large margin of 72% to 28%.

On July 22, 2005, Soong, unopposed, was reelected chairman of the PFP.

On November 17, 2005, Soong was awarded NT$10 million in a defamation suit against former President Lee Teng-hui, who had alleged that Soong was playing mahjong while his supporters were protesting on the streets in April 2004. A three-judge panel of the Taipei District Court ruled that Lee must apologize and compensate Soong, saying that Lee's "groundless" remark had damaged Soong's reputation. In addition, the court ordered Lee to publish a half-page apology in major newspapers for three consecutive days.

Visit to mainland China 2005

Soong's visit to mainland China followed quickly on the heels of the trail-blazing visit of KMT Chairman Lien Chan. A few weeks after shaking Lien's hands at the airport and wishing him luck, Soong took his turn at the spotlight. Despite early predictions by critics that the two political peers would try to out-stage each other, the two visits proved to be similar and complementary in many respects.

Soong's whirlwind 9 day, 5 city "Bridge Laying" tour began on May 5, with a trip to the traditional Chinese capital of Xi'an. There, he visited the tomb memorial for the Yellow Emperor, a near-mythical historical figure from whom the Chinese believe they are descended. He then visited Nanjing, the former capital of the Republic of China, where he visited the tomb of ROC founder Sun Yat-sen. After a brief visit to Shanghai, Soong made an emotional return to his ancestral home in Hunan province. Soong and his family visited and honored the grave of his maternal grandmother buried in Xiangtan in a widely televised emotional ceremony. Choosing to appear as familiar as possible to his mainland hosts, Soong spoke his greetings in the local dialect in each of the cities that he visited.

Beyond sentimental visits, the important political aspect of his tour comes from his visit to Beijing. There, he shook hands with the general secretary of the Communist Party of China Hu Jintao and exchanged presents with him; Soong gave Hu a work of glass art from Liuli Gongfang, and received a piece of Jingdezhen pottery from Hu. Soong was only the second major political figure from Taiwan to ever do so. The carefully scripted red-carpet ceremony was identical to the previous greeting for KMT Chairman Lien Chan. The key out-come of the meeting was the publication of a shared political platform between the Communist Party and Soong's People's First Party. Finally, Soong lectured at Tsinghua University, an echo of Lien's lecture at Peking University four weeks prior.

Soong's visit was designed to emphasize his belief in common shared roots for the Chinese people, a reflection of his pro-unification sentiment. He specifically chose to honor the historical ancestor of the Chinese people, the contemporary father of the Republic of China, and then his own direct ancestors in that precise order. His public comments addressed this continuous theme as well, receiving rapturous support from his mainland audience. The political consensus borne of the visit between the PFP and the CPC called for practical actions towards establishing links between Taiwan and mainland China, while firmly resisting Taiwanese independence.

Political ideology

In the middle of the SARS endemic in May 2003, he bashed the administration for not being able to participate in the WHO which lead to the danger in public health. However, it is China that has steadfastly opposed Taiwan's participation in the WHO. Subsequently, he promised to the public that if elected, he will push for participation in WHO under the principle Under the Roof of One China. In this Under the Roof of One China principle, he will not challenge the One China policy set by PRC, he added. However, this proposal enhanced the public perception of "selling out" Taiwan toward him and his opponents questioned how he can protect Taiwan's sovereignty and accept that Taiwan be a part of China at the same time. In order to quelch this negative image, Soong and his running mate Lien made an unexpected change of direction in their cross strait policy by announcing that they would drop unification as the ultimate goal in their cross strait policy in an international press conference during the 2004 presidential election race. They further explained that they would not exclude the possibility of final independence of Taiwan. However, his opponents still cast a suspicious eye on Soong's true intentions. His mainland origins also plagued him in the 2004 election.

Soong has been a staunch opponent of Taiwan independence. He publicly opposed Taiwanese language education in his early political life and criticized that multi-lingual education would lead to "''Lebanonization of languages''" and create communication chaos in the nation. He also criticized President Chen for staging a referendum. He strongly opposed the major military weapon procurement from the US and actively participated in the anti-weapon-purchase protests. He maintained the purchase would be part of a military race across the strait and would not enhance Taiwan's ability in self-defense. He made these claims while the US government encouraged Taiwan to procure the weapons for self-defense.

His base of support includes strong supporters of Chinese reunification, some rural voters (particularly in northern and eastern Taiwan, who were grateful for the selective economic development undertaken while he was governor) and some urban middle class voters who see him as a cleaner alternative to the KMT. Soong is well known for using his body language, publicly kneeling and shedding tears, as a gesture to plead for constituency support. Though many criticize it as false and histrionic, most of Soong's supporters see it to be candid and sincere. Among his critics, Soong is widely seen as a competent administrator with a sure popular touch, but lacking in any serious political ideology and completely self-serving and corrupt.

Events of Late 2006 and Taipei Mayoral Candidacy

;Tax issue On August 17, 2006, Taiwan's Administrative Supreme Court handed down a ruling against Soong in a case of tax evasion. He was charged gift taxes by the National Tax Administration from events in 1994 when he wired NT$42 million from his election campaign account to that of his daughterinlaw in the United States. Soong's argument was that he had wired the money to his daughterinlaw in order to pay off remaining campaign debts and to establish a Foundation, and that he was not simply "gifting" the money to her. The Court however found that the first money was not given to the Foundation until December 2001, and ruled that the money had been used as his private assets and that therefore gift tax was payable. He was assessed NT$13 million in gift tax, with fine also of NT$13 million, for a total sum of NT$26 million.

;Taipei campaign On Wednesday October 18, 2006 Soong formally announced and registered his candidacy for the Mayoralty of Taipei City, Taiwan's capital and largest city, in the local government elections to be held in December 2006. Soong registered as a "non-partisan" candidate without a party affiliation, declaring that he had taken a leave of absence from his post as Chairman of the PFP.

After his defeat in Taipei Mayoral Election on the 9th of December, 2006, he won only 4% of cast ballots, James Soong announced that he will retire from politics, which entailed giving up the chairmanship of his party, the PFP. With this announcement and with no clear goal, the PFP face an uncertain future which could speed up any merger with the Kuomintang.

;Chen's claims Chen claimed in an interview with a cable TV channel in May 2005 that Soong met Chen Yunlin in the United States in February that year.

Following this claim, on February 15, 2007 Taipei District Court ruled Thursday that President Chen Shui-bian must pay James Soong NT$3 million (US$91,183) in damages and apologize in the top three newspapers for his allegation that Soong met secretly with China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Director Chen Yunlin in 2005. The court said President Chen failed to carry out necessary verification before making his allegation. "The president exercises overall control over the executive sector resources and his responsibility to verify information must be weighted," a court spokesman said.

PFP spokesman Lee Hung-Chun called the judgment "comforting" but said it came too late. "It took more than a year for the first judgment to come out," he said, adding that this meant the public did not get the chance to learn the truth during a time when the political situation was changing rapidly. Chen's counsel said he will appeal to the High Court.

Claiming that his remarks were based on "intelligence," Chen also said Soong promised during the meeting to oppose a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for popular referendums on future constitutional amendments, in exchange for Beijing's approval for Soong to visit China.

Soong filed a defamation suit against Chen in June 2005, demanding a symbolic NT$1 in compensation and a published apology in four major local newspapers for three consecutive days. After Chen repeated his claim in another TV interview in October that same year. Soong later extended his compensation demand to NT$50 million and asked Chen to publish an apology in four internationally famous newspapers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Japan, as well as in three local ones.

According to the written judgment, Chen said that the intelligence about Soong's activity was submitted to him by Bureau of Investigation Director-General Yeh Cherng-maw. However, Yeh told the court that he had warned Chen that the intelligence, some of which he admitted was drawn from media speculation, was difficult to check.

The judgment said that as president, Chen must have understood the weakness of the information and could have ordered the national security system to conduct further verification, but decided not to bother.

See also

Politics of the Republic of China

References

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Category:1942 births Category:Leaders of political parties in Taiwan Category:Living people Category:People First Party (Republic of China) politicians Category:Georgetown University Law Center alumni Category:The Catholic University of America alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan Category:People from Xiangtan Category:Republic of China politicians from Hunan Category:Chairpersons of the Taiwan Provincial Government Category:Independent presidential candidates of Taiwan Category:National Chengchi University alumni

zh-min-nan:Sòng Chhó͘-jû id:James Soong ja:宋楚瑜 zh:宋楚瑜

Name	Ma Ying-jeou
Office	President of the Republic of China
Premier	Liu Chao-shiuanWu Den-yih
Vicepresident	Vincent Siew
Term start	May 20, 2008
Predecessor	Chen Shui-bian
Office2	Chairman of the Kuomintang
Term start2	October 17, 2009
Predecessor2	Wu Po-hsiung
Term start3	July 27, 2005
Term end3	February 13, 2007
Predecessor3	Lien Chan
Successor3	Wu Po-hsiung
Office4	Mayor of Taipei
Term start4	December 25, 1998
Term end4	December 25, 2006
Predecessor4	Chen Shui-bian
Successor4	Hau Lung-pin
Birth date	July 13, 1950
Birth place	Kwong Wah Hospital, Yau Ma Tei, British Hong Kong
Nationality
Party	Kuomintang
Alma mater	National Taiwan UniversityNew York University School of LawHarvard Law School
Spouse	Christine Chow
Website	Official website }}

|s=|p=Mǎ Yīngjiǔ|tp=Ma Yingjiou|poj=Má Eng-kiú}} Ma Ying-jeou (; born July 13, 1950) is the 12th term and current President of the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, and the Chairman of the Kuomintang Party, also known as the Chinese Nationalist Party. He formerly served as Justice Minister from 1993 to 1996, Mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006, and Chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 2005 to 2007. Ma was elected Mayor of Taipei in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. He was elected Chairman of the Kuomintang on July 16, 2005. He announced his resignation on February 13, 2007, after being indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of misuse of mayoral funds during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; he was later cleared of all charges. Ma subsequently won the presidency by 58.45% of the popular vote in the ROC presidential election of 2008. He was sworn into office as president on May 20, 2008, and sworn in as the Chairman of the Kuomintang on October 17, 2009.

Personal background

Ma Ying-jeou was born in Kwong Wah Hospital in Kowloon, Hong Kong on 13 July 1950, He is of Hakka ancestry, originating from Hunan Province of China. In a family of five children, Ma was the only son.

Ma earned his LL.B. from National Taiwan University in 1972. He pursued further studies in the United States, first earning an LL.M. from New York University Law School in 1976 and then an S.J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1981.

After receiving his LL.M., Ma worked as an associate for a Wall Street law firm in New York and as a legal consultant for a major bank in Massachusetts before completing his doctoral studies. In 1981, Ma returned to Taiwan and started working for President Chiang Ching-kuo.

Ma is married to Christine Chow, and the couple has two daughters. Lesley (Ma Wei-chung, 馬唯中) was born in 1981 in New York when Ma was attending Harvard. She completed her undergraduate studies in life sciences at Harvard University and then her graduate studies at New York University. Ma's younger daughter is Kelly (Ma Yuan-chung, 馬元中), who was born in Taiwan and completed her undergraduate studies at Brown University in Rhode Island.

As a youth, Ma was baptized as a Roman Catholic, but is considered a "lapsed Catholic" today, as he is not in regular communion with the Church. After winning the presidential election, Ma received congratulations from Pope Benedict XVI.

Ma and his wife sponsor children of low-income families in El Salvador through World Vision. On an official trip to Central America in June 2009, Mrs. Ma was able to meet with one of her sponsored children, an 11-year-old boy in San Salvador.

Controversy over birthplace

On December 11, 2008, DPP legislator Chai Trong-rong called a press conference and produced a document that alleges Ma's birthplace to be contrary to what is officially reported. On this document, the birth certificate for one of Ma's daughters, Ma fills out "Shengchin" [sic] as his own birthplace, contradictory to his officially-reported birthplace of "Hong Kong" (under British rule).

Chai also noted that First Lady Christine Chow's birthplace was listed as "Nanking, China," even though she is listed as also being born in Hong Kong.

Chai continue to charges that, since Ma was born after 1949 and in Shenzhen, he is legally a citizen of the People's Republic of China. Presidential Spokesperson Yu-chi Wang (王郁琦) responded to Legislator Chai's charges by reaffirming that all information from the President's Office regarding the President's birth is accurate. Wang also informed that Ma, on his December 11 visit to Hong Kong, was able to obtain records of his birth at Kowloon's Kwong-Wah Hospital and Ma also keeps the original of his birth certificate issued by the Registrar General of Hong Kong, thereby confirming once again his birth in the former British colony instead of the Communist state. Copies of Ma's birth certificate have also been previously shown to the public. Wang also dispelled rumors that Ma had received affirmative action in his applications to Jianguo High School (建國高級中學) and the National Taiwan University with an "overseas Chinese" status.

Rise in politics

Ma Ying-jeou started working for President Chiang Ching-kuo as Deputy Director of the First Bureau of the Presidential Office and the President's English interpreter. Ma was later promoted to the chair of the Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission under the Executive Yuan at the age of 38, becoming the youngest cabinet member in the ROC government.

Ma was deputy secretary-general of the KMT from 1984 to 1988, also serving for a period as deputy of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), a cabinet-level body in charge of cross-straits relations. President Lee Teng-hui appointed him ROC Justice Minister in 1993. Ma was relieved of his post in 1996. His supporters claim that firing was caused by his efforts at fighting corruption among politicians and the police. Despite his efforts at anti-corruption, he remained a supporter of the Kuomintang, rather than supporting the New Party formed by KMT supporters who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform. Ma returned to academia and most people at the time believed his political career to have effectively ended.

Mayoralty, 19982006

In 1998, the KMT fielded Ma to challenge the then-incumbent Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who was seeking re-election. Despite Chen's public approval rating of over 80%, he was defeated. In the 2000 Presidential Election, Ma remained loyal to the KMT and supported its candidate, Lien Chan, over James Soong, who had bolted from the party and was running as an independent. The competition between Lien and Soong split the Pan-Blue vote and allowed his former rival Chen to win the presidential election with less than 50% of the popular vote. The election result, combined with other factors, incited a great deal of anger against Ma when he tried to dissuade discontented Lien and Soong supporters from protesting by appealing to them in his dual capacities as Taipei City mayor and a high-ranking KMT member.

Ma was able to repair the political damage and, in December 2002, became the leading figure in the KMT by easily winning reelection as mayor of Taipei with the support of 64% of Taipei voters while DPP challenger Lee Ying-yuan received 36%. His solid victory, especially in light of opposition from both President Chen and former President and KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui, led many to speculate about his chances as the KMT candidate for the 2004 presidential elections, although nothing came of it.

Ma again dissuaded angry Pan-Blue supporters from protesting, following the very close re-election victory of President Chen in 2004 after the 3-19 shooting incident. Ma chose not to join in calls to challenge or contest the election. Ma also avoided associating himself with claims that the assassination was staged.

Ma suffered some political damage as a result of the SARS epidemic in early 2003 and was criticized for not mobilizing the Taipei city government quickly enough and for keeping Chiu Shu-ti, the public health director, who was previously criticized for her lack of concern for the outbreak. Flooding in metropolitan Taipei in 2004 also led to public questioning of his leadership and caused Ma's approval rating to slide.

During his time as Taipei's mayor, Ma had many conflicts with the central government over matters such as health insurance rates and control of the water supply during the drought. Ma also was implicated in a scandal of Taipei Bank stock releases in 2003. However, the case was dismissed after an investigation by the Taipei prosecutor. He was strongly criticized by the DPP for not allowing the ROC national flag to be flown along with a PRC flag during Asian Women's Football Championship held in Taipei. Ma responded that he was merely following Olympic protocol, which only officially recognizes the Chinese Taipei Olympic Flag and forbids ROC national flags from being shown in an Olympic Game Stadium.

His initiatives in administering the city of Taipei include changing the transliterations of street names and the line and stations of the Taipei Metro to Hanyu Pinyin, as opposed to Tongyong Pinyin. Ma has expressed mild support for Chinese reunification and opposition to Taiwan independence. He opposed the 2004 referendum, which had been widely criticized by the U.S. and PRC. Nevertheless, his opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China, while other leaders of his party remained silent on the issue, led to him being banned from visiting Hong Kong to make a public speaking tour in 2005. He also criticized the PRC for the Tian'anmen crackdown.

Ma's cross-political following has led some to note him as a rare example of relative civility in the notoriously rough and tumble world of Taiwanese politics. Ma has generally avoided being accused of using the vitriolic and sometimes offensive rhetoric common in Taiwanese political debate. His academic background and bearing have helped cultivate the image of Ma as an honest, dispassionate technocrat. Despite this reputation, and his wooden speaking style and shy demeanor, Ma is also considered a charismatic figure and is popular among women and youth. On the other hand, Ma's critics claim that Ma, overeager to appear unbiased and/or neutral, is overly indecisive and lacks bold vision. Ma is often accused of avoiding being out in front on some of the more vigorous or controversial criticisms of President Chen or opposing parties, or involving himself in intra-party disputes. Among these critics, Ma has been referred to as a "non-stick pan" or "Teflon-man." Recently, there has also been some criticism of his stumping for election candidates suspected of and later indicted for corruption charges. Many in the Pan-Green Coalition expressed opinions that Ma misled voters by lending his clean charismatic image to unscrupulous candidates in his own party.

In recent years, Ma has increasingly employed Taiwanese (Hoklo) in public speaking, perhaps to avoid backlash for his parents' mainland China origins, and he has called himself a "child of Bangka (Wanhua)", identifying himself with the historic district of Taipei where he grew up. Others claim that Ma's mainland Chinese ancestry will further alienate members of the KMT who are "light-blue" vs. the pro-unification "deep-blue."

Mayoral controversies

While often nicknamed as "Teflon pot" for his extreme preservation of personal image, Ma was nonetheless caught in some political controversies. A series of mishaps during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei, including the administration problems that enlarged the extent of the Typhoon Nari (納莉風災), the shutdown of Hoping Hospital (和平封院事件), the Phosgene Incident (捷運光氣事件), the Scalping Incident (捷運扯頭皮事件) and the Human Ball Scandal (邱小妹人球事件), impaired Ma's reputation. However, Ma maneuvered through these incidents relatively unscathed.

One of Ma's most satisfactory mayoral construction was the Maokong Gondola. However, the frequent breakdown of the gondola earned the residents' distrust of the new transportation system. One poll showed only 14% of the Taipei City residents were satisfied with it, and it even led to protests. The Taiwan Environmental Information Center (台灣環境資訊協會) states that the choice to use a gondola intended for temperate zones in a tropical zone shows the failure of the Taipei City government led by Ma.

Corruption allegations

On November 14, 2006, Ma was questioned by prosecutors over his alleged misuse of a special expenses account as Taipei mayor. This occurred after Chen Shui-Bian was being investigated for corruption, and many KMT supporters believed that this prosecution was politically motivated.

At the same time, rumors surfaced that former party chairman Lien Chen would run in the presidential election of 2008. The incident may have affected the clean image of Ma and his political future. The next day, Ma admitted one of his aides forged receipts to claim Ma's expenses as Taipei mayor, and apologized for the latest political scandal. However, Ma argued that he, like most other government officials, regarded the special expense account as supplemental salary for personal expenses undertaken in the course of official duties and that his use of this account was legal.

On February 13, 2007, Ma was indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of allegedly embezzling approximately NT$11 million (US$339,000), regarding the issue of "special expenses" while he was mayor of Taipei. The prosecutor's office said that Ma had allegedly used government funds for personal use, such as paying for one of his daughter's living expenses while studying abroad and paying for his household utilities. Before that, Ma had admitted personal usage and claims that the special funds were simply a part of his salary but had used all funds for public use or public benefit (charity donations).

Shortly after the indictment, he submitted his resignation as chairman of the Kuomintang in accordance with party rules which prohibit an indicted person from serving as KMT chairman The resignation was initially rejected but then accepted by the party's Central Standing Committee before amending a clause that barred members from running for office if charged with a crime. Shortly after the resignation, however, Ma announced his presidential candidacy.

On August 14, 2007, the Taipei District Count found Ma not guilty of corruption. Ma's defense is that he viewed "Special Expenses" as essentially "Special Allowance", originally designed to compensate for mayor's "social spending" without actually raising salary. On December 28, 2007, the Taiwan High Court found Ma again not guilty of graft charges.

On April 24, 2008, The Supreme Court cleared Ma of corruption charges, delivering a final ruling in this matter before his inauguration on May 20, 2008. The island's highest court said Ma had neither collected illegal income nor tried to break the law. Ma's secretary, however, was found guilty and faced a year in prison for his own failures in administrative duties.

KMT chairmanship, 2005–2007

Ma's prestige increased after the loss by Lien Chan in the 2004 ROC Presidential Election, as he is widely seen as the natural successor of Lien Chan. His handling of the post-election demonstrations of the Pan-Blue Coalition, in which he at one point sent riot police to control the demonstrations of his pan-blue party supporters, was generally seen as impartial. In 2005, Ma and Wang Jin-pyng were candidates in the first competitive election for KMT chairmanship. On 5 April 2005, in an exclusive interview with CTV talk show host Sisy Chen, Ma said he wished to lead the opposition Kuomintang with Wang, if he were elected its chairman, as their support bases are complementary. On July 16, 2005, Ma defeated Wang by a 72% to 28% margin, a margin larger than anticipated by either camp or news sources, despite Wang receiving a last-minute endorsement by the People First Party (PFP) chairman James Soong, who had retained significant following within the KMT. Some, particularly the supporters of Wang Jin-pyng, accuse Ma of unfairly implying that Wang is involved in "black gold" and criticized Ma's aides for being rude to Wang during the campaign. After the election, Ma had stated repeatedly that he wishes Wang to remain as first-ranked deputy chairman. Wang, however, has so far rebuffed the gesture, instead stating that he wishes to serve as a "permanent volunteer." Wang has, indeed, accepted a party post that is incompatible with vice chairmanship, effectively ending the possibility that he would be vice chairman, although after meeting with Wang, Ma had stated that he would "leave the position open" for Wang. Ma has also repeatedly stated that he had no plans to resign from the Taipei mayorship, even after he formally took over the chairmanship from incumbent Lien Chan during the 17th Party Congress of the KMT in August 2005.

Led by Ma Ying-jeou, the Kuomintang made a resounding win in the three-in-one election held on December 3, 2005. The KMT gained six more seats in the mayoral/magistratical race, from eight seats in the last election, to a total of fourteen seats. Before the election, Ma swore that he would quit the chairmanship if his party could not win over half of the seats, which was a first for a KMT chairman. It was a decisive win for Ma Ying-jeou as well, since he took over the party chairmanship only 110 days before. In the election, the KMT won back the counties of Taipei and Yilan, and the city of Chiayi, which had been the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)'s strongholds for over twenty years. It was the first time in many years that the KMT regained popularity as far south as Cho-Shui River (Zhuo-Shui River). Repeating his famous quote, Ma said, "we should only be excited about it for one evening."

2008 presidential campaign

On the same day he resigned as chairman of the KMT, Ma also announced his intention to run in the 2008 presidential election. He was the official nominee of the Kuomintang for the 2008 presidential election.

Ma led a visit to India and Singapore in June 2007 to increase bilateral exchanges as well as to gain legitimacy and experience for his 2008 presidential bid.

Ma's vice-presidential running mate was former premier Vincent Siew, Lien Chan's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.

During a campaigning event in an aboriginal community, Ma made a controversial remark. Responding to a question from an aboriginal woman, Ma said, "If you come into the city, you are a Taipei citizen... Aborigines should adjust their mentality -- if you come into the city you have to play by its rules." This statement was thought to be extremely inappropriate.

U.S. green card issue

Democratic Progressive Party candidate Frank Hsieh questioned Ma for his possession of a US Permanent Resident Card. Ma denied having one and publicly expressed that no members of his family had one. However, the fact that Ma and his wife had applied for green cards and that his sisters and his elder daughter Lesley Weichung Ma are United States citizens caused controversy, as the DPP continued to question Ma's loyalty to the country. In response to the DPP attack on the US citizenship of his sisters and daughter, Ma commented that having a US passport or green card did not necessarily mean that someone was not loyal to Taiwan.

A week before the presidential election, incumbent President Chen Shui-bian vowed to quit if Ma could provide legal documents of the invalidation of his green card. The DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh also said that he was willing to withdraw from the race if Ma could prove, using official documents, that his green card was invalidated twenty years ago. Ma responded the next day to the president that he should work on improving Taiwan's economy instead of caring about the election so much; earlier, Ma also provided copies of US non-immigrant visas issued to him during the 1980s and 1990s, claiming the card was invalid, as such visas are not issued to green card holders.

Environmental criticism

Ma has been criticized by many environmental groups. His mayoral construction of the Maokong Gondola was criticized by the Taiwan Environmental Information Center. The construction of the Taipei Arena also drew negative reactions from these groups. The Society of Wilderness (SOW; 荒野保護協會) pointed out that of the three hundred and eighty-four trees that were moved for the construction, more than a hundred had already died. The city government said that the ages of the trees are unknown; therefore, they are not protected by law. The SOW then responded that, according to pictures taken by the United States Air Force in 1947 and 1948, these trees were present already during the Japanese rule era.

During his presidential campaign, Ma participated in one of the debates that discussed many topics, including environmental protection. The Taiwan Academy of Ecology evaluated the policies of both candidates Hsieh and Ma, and the secretary of its workstation in Taipei said that both candidates failed their expectations, but they had more hope for Hsieh than Ma because Ma's environmental concepts lack considerations of reality. In February 2008, several environmental groups created a list of commitments for the two candidates to sign. DPP candidate Frank Hsieh agreed to all the items on the list and signed it in March. Ma did not and emailed the group instead. The Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) criticized Ma for ignoring important issues and not having the guts to sign the commitments.

After Ma was elected president on March 22, 2008, the Green Party Taiwan expressed its fear that president-elect Ma would focus too much on improving the economy and would ignore many critical environmental issues. The head of the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation also emphasized the importance of environmental protection as one of the factors of economic development.

Presidency, 2008present

Ma officially won on March 22, 2008 with 58% of the vote, ending eight years of DPP rule and becoming officially recognized as the sixth president of the Republic of China. Ma won with 7,659,014 votes against Hsieh's 5,444,949 votes. Ma's overwhelming victory in the presidential election gave him political mandate to make changes in Taiwan.

style="background:#e9e9e9; text-align:center;" rowspan="2" colspan="2"	Party	Candidate		Votes	Percentage
	President

Ma took office on May 20, 2008. The inaugural ceremony took place in the Taipei Arena in Taipei. A state dinner took place in Kaohsiung the same day.

Ma was named among the 2008 Time 100 in its "Leaders & Revolutionaries" section. He is described by ''Time'' as "one of those rare politicians who have an opportunity to shape the destiny not only of their own nation but also of an entire region."

On August 12, 2008, Ma embarked on his first foreign trip as President. Ma's visit centered upon improving relations with Taiwan's Latin American allies. He attended the inaugurations of both Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic and Fernando Lugo of Paraguay. Ma also made a stop at Panama and met with President Martin Torrijos. There was an emphasis that there would be no new aid packages during the visits; if any new economic aid were to be announced, they would be announced from Taiwan and not from abroad. The trip included U.S. stop-overs in Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco. Ma's trip across the Pacific was via commercial flight and only chartered a smaller jet from the United States; he was accompanied by an 81-member delegation.

Cross-strait relations

Ma, in his inaugural address, laid out his promise in dealing with cross-strait relations that there would be "no reunification, no independence, and no war" (不統, 不獨, 不武) during his tenure as President. However, after Ma formally took office, his policies have been largely pro-PRC and have been seen by critics as part of a long-run scheme to steer Taiwan to "eventual unification." Critics argue that Ma, rather than follow his campaign promise, has been following his father's will instead, where Ma He-Ling clearly states his final words were "Repress independence supporters; Lead (Taiwan) to unification." During an interview in England in 2006, Ma affirmed that his goal was to lead Taiwan to "eventual unification."

An article published in the August 11, 2008 edition of ''Time Magazine'' said that in less than three months' time, "relations between Taiwan and PRC have arguably seen the most rapid advancement in the six-decade standoff between the two governments. Ma launched direct weekend charter flights between PRC and Taiwan for the first time, opened Taiwan to mainland Chinese tourists, eased restrictions on Taiwan investment in mainland China and approved measures that will allow mainland Chinese investors to buy Taiwan stocks." He has also loosened bans on "Chinese brides," leading to social unrest over Chinese women who marry old veterans but file for divorce after they obtain citizenship.

Ahead of a visit by Chen Yunlin on November 3, 2008, chairman of the Beijing-based the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARAT), the opposition Pan-Green Coalition criticized the visit as "taking steps toward eventual reunification" and damaging Taiwan's sovereignty. Opposition to the visit by the chairman of the ARAT also sparked massive peaceful rallies and protests organised by the opposition DPP party on October 25, 2008. Preliminary estimates place the number of protesters at around 500,000. Protesters accused Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou "of making too many concessions and moving too fast in relaxing restrictions on trade and investment with China." Government's polls have suggested that Chen Yunlin's visit and the government's policy of normalising cross-strait relations have support of 50% to 60% of the Taiwanese population. However, many have questioned the validility of such polls.

Chen's visit was the highest level visit from China to Taiwan that had taken place since the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Chen was expected to meet with his Taipei-based counterpart, Chiang Pin-kung beginning on November 4, 2008. The two sides signed four agreements on November 5, detailing the loosening of restrictions with regards to air, marine, and postal links as well as better regulations on food safety. The Ma government refused to disclose the treaties only until days before they went into effect.

During Chen's visit in Taipei, he was met with a series of strong protests directed at himself and Ma Ying-jeou, some of which were violent, with Molotov cocktails being thrown by the protesters at riot police. A series of arrests were made after the protests, with a secret letter being sent from the police to a member of the media. Local police reported that 149 of its officers were injured during the opposition protests. Chen referred to Ma simply as "Mr. Ma," not as "President". However, this is consistent with the previous convention in 2008, when KMT ex-politician Lien Chan met Hu Jintao in Peru. Lien did not call the PRC President Hu Jintao "President," but instead used his title "General Secretary" as the head of the Chinese Communist Party.

Overall, the Chen visit was seen as a test for Ma's commitment to keep Taiwan a sovereign nation and many critics have reason to believe he failed dismally. First, national flags were ordered to be taken away in all places that Chen set foot on. Footage of an officer violently tearing a flag on a highway overhead was disclosed by the media. Second, Ma allowed Chen to refer to him as "you" or "Mr. Ma," but did not mention the words "president" or "country." Third, Ma ordered massive crackdowns on peaceful protestors, including students, senior citizens, and women, leading to the most violent police assault since Taiwan embraced full democracy.

After the chaos during and after Chen's visit, college students and professors launched a peaceful sitout, known as the Wild Strawberry student movement (Chinese: 野草莓運動), demanding a more reasonable assembly law and a stop to police violence. A few days into the sitout, the prime minister Liu Chao-shiuan accidentally spoke of his opinion during an interview on air that he did not think the movement would last more than three days, angering students, professors, and the general public. In the end, the sitout lasted one month. Then, it moved into an organizational direction. However, the polls in two of Taiwan's biggest newspapers after the visit still reported that about 70% of the Taiwanese public considered Chen's visit to have a positive effect on Taiwan's development, while 22% of the respondents thought the effect would be negative, with the remaining 8% not expressing an opinion. The opposition Pan-Green caucus have continuously claimed this result being a form of media manipulation by the KMT. However, other major polls in Taiwanese newspapers and news websites have shown similar results regardless of political alignment.

Economic woes

One of Ma's promises as presidential candidate was called the "633 Plan", which promised economic growth rate of 6%, unemployment rate of less than 3%, and per capita income of more than US$30,000. However, due to the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression, relatively high unemployment rate (~4.06% in July) and high consumer price index attributed to a high misery index, three months after Ma's inauguration, not seen in 28 years.

In early September, Ma, in an interview with a Mexican newspaper, admitted that he would not be able to achieve his "633 Plan" promises before the end of his first term.

The economic downturn caused about 2,000 companies in Taiwan to go bankrupt in the six months following Ma's inauguration, according to a governmental commercial office in Taipei. The Taiwan Stock Exchange also fell to two-year lows in September 2008., hoping that closer economic cooperation and relationship with the mainland would save Taiwan's economy from moving closer into default.

On September 11, 2008, Ma's cabinet unveiled a $5.6-billion USD ($180-billion TWD) economic stimulus package. Among the items of the package were infrastructure projects, economic incentives to small businesses, and other tax cuts. Stock transaction taxes were also halved for the next six months. Taiwan's economy was projected to grow 4.3% in 2008, down from 5.7 in 2007, according to Fitch Ratings.

Although an economic stimulus plan was introduced, Taiwan stocks still closed lower on September 11, 2008. The Financial Times describes Taiwan's economic downturn as results from "downward pressure driven by global factors." Analysts also point out that, "during its first 100 days in office, the government has made a series of bold steps to deregulate economic ties between Taiwan and China. But as these policies coincided with the global downturn and foreign investors had already bought Taiwan stocks heavily before the election, betting on the reforms, the island's market has seen a sell-off worse than the regional average." Taiwan's government reported that the economy slumped 8.36 percent during the last three months of 2008.

Taiwan's economy has experienced significant growth since then, growing 10% in 2010, due to strong demand from China and tourism from China.

Direct links

On December 15, 2008, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland resumed direct sea, air, and mail links. It ended an almost six-decade-long ban between the two sides on such trips. Previous flights between the two regions required a connections at Hong Kong, and doubled the travel times. As many as 108 flights per week are scheduled, as well as 60 cargo flights per month across the strait, evenly divided between Taiwanese and Mainland airlines.

Shipping companies, because of shorter voyages and time-savings, can also save up to US$120 million (TWD $4 billion) each year. Previously, shipping companies from both sides of the strait were required to reroute their ships into third-country waters. The two sides also agreed that neither the ROC nor the PRC flag will be displayed when a ship enters port.

In July 2009, Ma refused to open airspace of the Taiwan Strait to accommodate higher passenger traffic, citing the Taiwan Strait airspace's importance to Taiwan's security.

Bid for KMT leadership

Ma Ying-jeou registered as the sole candidate for the election of the KMT chairman on June 25, 2009 and won the next day with 93.87% of the vote. Ma inaugurated as the chairman of the Kuomintang on September 12, 2009. This will allow Ma to be able to meet with People's Republic of China (PRC) President Hu Jintao (who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China) and other PRC delegates, as he would be able to represent the KMT as the leader of a Chinese political party, rather than as head-of-state of a political entity unrecognized by the PRC. Ma, however, ruled out meeting his PRC counterpart Hu Jintao in a July 14, 2009 interview with Taiwan's Commercial Times newspaper. In the interview, Ma states, "A meeting in the capacity of a party chairman will not solve the problem because other people would still insist that I meet him as the president."

Typhoon Morakot

Typhoon Morakot, the worst typhoon to strike Taiwan in fifty years, hit Taiwan on August 8, 2009. In the storm's aftermath, President Ma was criticized for his handling of the disaster by both sides of Taiwan's political spectrum. Many news outlets likened Typhoon Morakot to being Ma's "Hurricane Katrina." Editorials and political commentators accused Ma of, among other charges, of poor leadership and poor crisis management. Many critics believe that hundreds of lives could have been spared, had the Ma administration been aware of the typhoon's seriousness. Taiwan's political commentators were most critical of Ma's refusal to declare a state of emergency and fully mobilize the military. Instead, Ma Ying-jeou blamed the local governments and the villagers for not "being evacuated earlier," while repeatedly referring to the villagers as "they." Ma's approval ratings sank from 52% (in May) to 29% in a United Daily News poll. In an August 2009 CNN online poll, 82% of respondents wanted Ma to resign. An editorial piece lambasted Ma, saying, "[Ma] has been distant and arrogant, and he has only made [victims] more angry instead of comforting them...He has not shown decisiveness required in a leader when facing a sudden disaster."

After thorough criticism, Ma was forced to apologize publicly for his government's failure to respond swifter with rescue and recovery efforts. Ma has cancelled 2009's Double Ten Day national celebrations and his state visit to the Solomon Islands for the Third Taiwan-South Pacific summit. A probe was launched to investigate why government response was slow and inadequate, and vice foreign minister Andrew Hsia tendered his resignation to Ma's premier, Liu Chao-shiuan. On September 10, Liu and the rest of cabinet resigned en masse under pressure.

Another scandal in the disaster's aftermath involved a document leaked from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, refusing aid from all foreign nations, while contemplating receiving aid from China. Vice Foreign Minister Andrew Hsia made an unconvincing explanation, saying that it was meant to say "temporarily" refuse aid, but nevertheless took the blame and offered to resign. However, critics are convinced that Hsia's resignation was only part of the cover-up and believe that Ma gave the order.

Political positions

View on independence

In February 2006, while visiting Europe, Ma said that although he and the KMT favor eventual reunification, the KMT respects the opinions of Taiwanese people and independence is a choice for the people of Taiwan. This caused widespread criticism within the party and from mainland China. In a December 2005 Newsweek International interview, when asked about unification, Ma stated that "for our party, the eventual goal is reunification, but we don't have a timetable", explaining that he meant it was a choice for Taiwan, but also a choice for the Chinese KMT. Perhaps to deflect heavy criticism from the Pan-Green Coalition, the KMT later made an advertisement in the Liberty Times recognizing that independence is an option for the Taiwanese people. Wang Jin-pyng praised Ma for the policy shift, since Wang himself made a similar statement during the 2004 election, but James Soong said he was "shocked" and Lien Chan said he was never consulted. This event actually won some welcome voices from Southern Taiwan, where voters customarily favor the Pan-Green Coalition. One top KMT official said "we might as well let the measles out now so that we will be immune to it when election year comes close, because reunification or independence can be a hot topic by then."

Ma clarified later that the current KMT policy of retaining the status quo has not changed and has reiterated this position several times; further, he has also reiterated his party's support of the one-China policy. Ma has defined the status quo as the "Five No's." During a visit to the United States in March 2006, he proposed a "proactive" approach to cross-strait relations which he called the "Five Do's."

On March 17, 2008, Ma threatened to boycott the Beijing Olympics if elected, should the 2008 unrest in Tibet spiral out of control. After he was elected president, he refused to let the Dalai Lama visit Taiwan, citing the timing as inappropriate, but approved a later visit for the Dalai Lama in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot in August 2009.

In April 2009, President Ma made himself the first ROC president to pay homage in person to the legendary Yellow Emperor, believed to have founded China as a nation more than 5,000 years ago. Accompanied by all his government leaders, the president sang the ROC's national anthem as the starter. Ma then burned joss sticks, laid a wreath, and offered fruit, cloth, and wine to the mythological national founder. He read a eulogy before he concluded the rites by bowing three times to the west, where the Chinese mainland is located. Ma's spokesman said the president wanted to pay his respects to the Yellow Emperor on National Tomb-Sweeping Day in person to stress the importance of China's ancestor-worshipping tradition. However, others saw the precedent-making ceremonies at the Martyrs' Shrine as meant to be a show by President Ma of his unprofessed commitment to maintain a close relationship between Taiwan and mainland China.

View on human rights and democracy

In June 2009, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing, a leader of the Chinese democracy movement and then student leader Wang Dan (Chinese: 王丹) visited Taiwan, as in previous years, to meet with Ma about human rights and democracy in China. However, Ma postponed the appointment three times and eventually cancelled the appointment with Wang. In a press meeting with DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, Wang Dan spoke of how it has become more difficult to see "President Ma" in comparison to "Mayor Ma of Taipei City."

View on cross-strait relations

After his success in the presidential election, Ma Ying-jeou said he had no immediate plans to visit mainland China and would work to fulfill his campaign pledge to improve relations with mainland China, starting direct charter flights, allowing mainland Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan and lifting the ROC's legislative restrictions on the financial sector to invest in mainland China.

Since then, Ma Ying-jeou has repeatedly mentioned the "1992 Consensus" as the existing basis for constructive dialogue and exchange between Mainland China and Taiwan. On 12 April 2008, then Vice-President-elect Vincent Siew formally met with Hu Jintao at the Boao Forum in Hainan, China.

On September 2, 2008, Ma declared that the relations between Taiwan and mainland China were "special", but "not between two states", meaning that they are relations based on two areas of one state. Taiwan considers that state as the Republic of China, while mainland China considers that state as the People's Republic of China. While the governing authorities on mainland China and Taiwan cannot recognise each other as a legitimate government due to legal and constitutional reasons, Ma seeks that they would refrain from denying the other side being the ''de facto'' governing authority of one area of the state. On October 18, 2008, Ma said he hoped that a cross-strait peace accord could be reached during his term in office.

Ma has received criticism from the DPP, the opposition party, for praising the PRC on human rights, especially during the 20-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests. Departing from his usual critical view of the mainland China's handling of the 1989 protests, Ma made a statement praising the PRC for its recent improvements in human rights. That same day, he also asked the PRC government to face its history directly and honestly.

Within a week of his remarks on Tiananmen, Ma voiced support for the acceptance of Simplified Chinese for written text and the continued use of Traditional Chinese for printed text. Ma had to clarify his remarks regarding simplified characters at in a 15-minute speech before the sixth International Conference on Internet Chinese Education on June 19, 2009. Ma reiterated his policy of urging the Chinese to learn the traditional system; his previous call was for the ability of Taiwan's population to recognize simplified characters and not for simplified characters to supplant the traditional system in Taiwan.

In 2009, Ma spoke at a leadership conference in Taipei and called for peace with Beijing and for Taiwan's greater participation in international affairs. He said: "The Chinese civil war of the 1940s must never happen again. Peace never comes easily, because over 1,000 missiles deployed by Beijing are still aimed at Taiwan.”

See also

Kuomintang

Politics of the Republic of China

Elections in the Republic of China

Political status of Taiwan

References

External links

Official ROC President's website

Ma Ying-jeou Official Website (Traditional Chinese)

CityMayors article

Kuomintang Official Website

Taipei City Government Official Website

Protesters say measures recall the martial law era

DPP-incited disturbance condemned in Taiwan (Xinhua) 2008-11-06

Taiwan DPP Chair leads the "anti-China" rally to besiege the city and Grand Hotel

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Category:1950 births Category:Presidents of the Republic of China on Taiwan Category:Current national leaders Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Living people Category:Mayors of Taipei Category:Kuomingtang presidential nominees Category:National Taiwan University alumni Category:New York University alumni Category:Taiwanese Hakka people Category:Hong Kong people of Hakka descent Category:Taiwanese Ministers of Justice Category:Chairpersons of the Kuomintang

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Name	Leon Lai BBS, MH
Chinesename	黎明
Pinyinchinesename	Lí Míng
Jyutpingchinesename	Lai4 ming4
Birth name	Lai Chit (黎捷)
Ancestry	Meixian, Guangdong, China
Origin	Hong Kong
Birth date	December 11, 1966
Birth place	Beijing, China
Occupation	Singer, Actor, Record Company Manager
Genre	Cantopop, Mandopop
Instrument	Singing
Label	1990 - 1998 PolyGram1998 - 2004 Sony Music2004 -Amusic
Yearsactive	1986 - Present
Spouse	Gaile Lok
Website	www.amusic.hk
Hongkongfilmwards	Best Original Film Song1999 ''City of Glass''
Goldenhorseawards	Best Original Song1997 ''Eighteen Springs''Best Actor2002 ''Three Going Home''
Ntsawards	1986 Second Runner-Up
Alma mater	}}

Leon Lai is a Hong Kong-based actor and Cantopop singer. The media refer to Aaron Kwok, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王). He uses the stage name "Li Ming" or "Lai Ming" which literally means "dawn."

Biography

Lai was born in Beijing, China as Lai Chit (黎捷) with Meixian, Guangdong ancestry. His family was originally from Meixian. His parents divorced when he was four. He migrated with his Malaysian Chinese father, Lai Xinsheng to Hong Kong during the Cultural Revolution in China. At the age of fifteen, he attended King's Way Princeton College in the United Kingdom and returned to Hong Kong at the age of eighteen in 1984.

Career

Early years

Lai initially worked as a salesperson for a mobile phone company. After being awarded second-runner-up in the 1986 5th New Talent Singing Awards, Lai received vocal coaching from Dai Si Zong (戴思聰). In the same year he also obtained an artist contract from Capital Artists. Lai did not release any albums for four years. As a result, his teacher, Dai, arranged to have him signed a contract with Polygram, later known as Universal Music.

Music

In Polygram, he released his first album "Leon" and subsequent album "Meet In The Rain". His debut album went gold. After several years at Polygram, he then signed a new contract with Sony Music on 23 March 1998.

Together with Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Aaron Kwok, Lai was among the four most popular male singers during the 1990s, when the media referred to them as Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings ().

In the early stages of his career, he mainly sang cantopop, but due to the influence of producer Mark Lui, he expanded his repertoire to include popular electronic songs with compelling music videos. In 1990 he won his first 1990 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1990 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. He also followed up to win the "Most Popular Male Singer" award in 1993 and 1995 for TVB Jade Solid Gold. In 1996, he collaborated with composer-producer Steve Barakatt on his album "Feel". Two years later in 1998, he became the first HK singer to reach the Top 10 K-pop chart with the song "After loving you". In 1999 he announced that he would no longer accept any more awards in Hong Kong.

In 2002 he was selected to sing "Charged up", the 2002 FIFA World Cup theme song for the Greater China region. In 2004 he became the first Hong Kong singer to represent the territory at the first Asia Song Festival held in South Korea.

Lai was selected to be the ambassador of the 6th Winter Asian Games to be held Changchun in 2007. He sang the Games' theme song and took part in the torch relay. He then joined Michael Wong and Janice Vidal held a three day "Magic Live" charity concert at Star Hall, Hong Kong from 9th Nov to 11th Nov, 2008.

Duets

Apart from being a solo artist, Lai has co-operated with other artists. Some of his better known collaborations are "Love Until the End" and "A Happy Family" with Vivian Chow, "Really Wish to Be Like This Forever" and "It's Still You" with Priscilla Chan, "Song of the Star" with Alan Tam, "Never Give Up" with Jacky Cheung, "Why did I let you go?" with Janice Vidal.

Company founder & singer

In 2004, Lai formed a new record production company, "A Music", East Asia Record Production Company Limited, with Peter Lam. The first album produced by the company, "Dawn" was released in September of that year. The album, "Dawn", was released with minimum promotion as Lai went to Mainland China for a movie shoot on the day of the album's release.

In order to bring in new excitements for his music, Lai invited a famous music producer Jonathan Lee from Taiwan in 2005 to produce his new mandarin album "A Story". However, by doing so he had to give up the opportunity for a lead role in a big budget Taiwan movie "Gui Si" due to conflicts in his schedules.

Lai returned to the Hong Kong Coliseum on April 13, 2007 to perform in his one night only ''Leon 4 in Love Concert'' where he performed not only his own hits but also hits of the other three heavenly kings. He performed a total of 18 songs, all of which are newly arranged by Mark Lui. He subsequently released an album titled "4 In Love" on May 3, 2007, comprising 16 of the 18 songs he had performed in the concert.

Actor

In the period before Lai participated in the New Talent Singing Awards, he enrolled in the ATV actor training class, however he didn't complete the training. He then applied for admission to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts but his application was rejected.

After the New Talent Singing Awards, he had some opportunities to star in a few TV series. On one occasion, he went for filming of a romantic serials titled, ''Fengyun era'', in Taiwan. There was a stark contrast in height between Lai and the popular lead actress who is only 160 cm in height. The actress then demanded that Lai squatted while filming so as to make up for the height differences. Lai had to act through all the scenes with the actress while squatting but he had to endure it as he was not popular at the time. Not long afterwards his new TVB series, ''The Breaking Point (1991 TV series)'' turned out to be a resounding success and propelled him to widespread fame in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In 1996 Lai was nominated for the ''Best Actor'' award at the 16th Hong Kong Film Awards for the film ''Comrades: Almost a Love Story''. The next year in 1997, he managed to win the award for ''Best Original Song'' for the film ''Eighteen Springs'' both at the Golden Horse Film Festival and Hong Kong Film Awards. He was again nominated for the ''Best Actor'' and ''Best Original Film Song'' award for the film ''City of Glass'' in 1999, but he only managed to win the award for ''Best Original Film Song'' which he shared with Albert Leung and Dick Lee.

Lai was considered by Lee Ang to act as ''Li Mu Bai'' in the film ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'', however he had to turn down the offer as he had advertising contract and live concert about to start which would not match his shaven head as was required for the role.

He collaborated with Cecilia Cheung in 2001 for the first time in the Wong Jing directed romantic comedy film, ''Everyday Is Valentine''. In the film, Lai played a serial liar.

In 2002 Lai took the spotlight at the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-language version of the Oscars in Taiwan. He won ''Best Actor'' for ''Three: Going Home''. Lai played a minor role as ''Superintendent Yeung Kam Wing'' in ''Infernal Affairs III'' in 2003. In 2004 Lai starred with Faye Wong in the romantic movie ''Leaving Me, Loving You'', the story of which he co-wrote with Wilson Yip and he was also the creative/production controller of the movie. However, the movie was a flop raking in HK$ 10,529,501 in the box office. Still in that same year he was ranked 8th on the China Celebrity 100 list released by the Chinese edition of Forbes.

In 2005 Lai acted as one of the seven warriors in the Tsui Hark directed wuxia film, ''Seven Swords''. In the same year in the film ''Moonlight in Tokyo'', Lai unexpectedly acted as a Chinese retard who pretend to be a Korean gigolo in Japan and thus shedding his idol image. He won the ''Golden Deer Best Actor Award'' from Changchun China Film Festival for his portrayal in ''Leaving Me, Loving You'' in 2005.

In 2006 Lai starred alongside Fan Bingbing and Rene Liu in a love and horror, thriller film titled ''The Matrimony'' where he played a cinematographer ''Shen Junchu'', the love interest of ''Manli'' and ''Sansan''. ''JunChu'' was pressurised into marrying ''Sansan'' after the untimely demise of his true love ''Manli'' in an accident. The film was released on 8 February 2007. In the same year, Lai wrote and directed a musical film titled ''A Melody Looking'' which was shot in New York. It features Lai and the rest of the Amusic family of singers namely Janice, Jill, Emily, Charles and Chapman. This film marks his debut as a director.

In 2007 Lai starred alongside Kelly Chen, Donnie Yen and Guo Xiaodong in the Ching Siu-tung film An Empress and the Warriors. He acted as a woodland medicine man whom have a romantic relationship with a princess. Lai and Kelly Chen sang the theme song, "''Fly With Your Dreams''" written by Albert Leung and composed by Mark Lui.

He underwent training in Peking Opera for playing the lead role as ''Méi Lánfāng'' in the biographical film ''Forever Enthralled'' which was directed by Chen Kaige. He directed the music video for the film where he and Zhang Ziyi sang the theme song, "You Understand My Love". For the first time in his career, Lai played the role of a beggar in the Peter Chan directed film ''Bodyguards and Assassins''. For his success a wax figure of Lai was revealed at Madame Tussauds Hong Kong.

Community

Apart from being an actor and singer, Lai is actively involved in the Community Chest. In the 1990s he began serious charity work when his father was diagnosed with carcinoma of the rectum. The doctors said it was incurable. But after operation, his father survived the miraculous surgery. When the Cancer Research Foundation and the U.N. organization approached him for help, he started getting involved in charity work actively.

Lai's first work with UNICEF in a China polio eradication project in 1993. He managed to raise substantial funds accruing from his supporters, fans and concert ticket sales. In July 1994, he was appointed the International UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and thus becoming the first Hong Kong citizen to be given this position. Since the year 1994, he has been involved in various fund raising activities of The Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (HKCU). These activities include seven charity concerts, three charity chocolate sales and charity walkathon. Lai, along with HKCU representatives, visited Rwanda, Gansu of China and Brazil to study the work of UNICEF and to help promote public awareness to help children". In December 1995, he was appointed as "UNICEF Special Representative to Youth" at in the New York headquarters recognizing his contributions for the welfare of the children.

Lai have also been elected as one of The Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) in 1997, giving him a formal recognition of his professional endeavours and commitment to the community. He bought the first donation ticket, numbered 000001 at a "Children's Education Fund Raising Campaign" launch event at Tsuen Wan PARKnSHOP's Skyline Superstore in 2001 to encourage people to contribute to a meaningful social cause. The funds raised was donated to the Community Chest.

He was awarded the Medal of Honour (M.H.) on 12 October 2003 by Tung Chee-Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

Ever since his decision not to receive any music award in HK, he has not appeared on the TVB Jade Gold Solid Awards ceremony even as a guest, but in order to secure more funds for charity, he agreed to perform in the ceremony as a guest performer on 8 Jan 2005. On 13 May of the same year, Lai co-operated with Mark Lui to compose the song "8858". The song will be used as the promotional song of the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF). The title of song means "Help me (sounded like 'bang bang wo ba' in Putonghua)" and the number "8858" represent the SMS number people can use to donate the money. In a surprising move in Dec 2005, Lai appeared in a Hong Kong government television advertisement requesting the public to support a gradual political reform package tabled by the ruling government rather than asked for rapid political reform. This marks the first time he got himself involved in a politically motivated advertisement.

Incidents

Commercial anthem incident

In 2000, Lai's song ''All Day Love'' (全日愛) got him into trouble with the Chinese authorities for drawing passages from the Chinese National Anthem, March of the Volunteers. The starting tune also sounds similar to the anthem tune. He was warned against using the song for commercial purposes.

Concert

At Hong Kong Coliseum :

16 July - 19 July 13 Apr 10 Oct - 15 Oct 14-16; 21-25; 28-31 Dec 20 Nov - 12 Dec 20 Dec - 8 Jan 2 Nov - 27 Nov 8 Aug - 25 Aug 7 Oct - 14 OctTotal

!Year !!Date!!Title !!Chinese Title !!No. of Shows!!Sponsor
2009	|	Leon Dream Wedding Live		4	Chow Tai Fook
2007	|	Leon 4 in Love Concert		1	3 (telecommunications)>3
2005	|	Leon Crazy Classic Concert		6	Johnnie Walker Black Label
2001	|	Leon Live Is Live Concert		12	CitiBank
1999	|	Leon Live 99		23	AXA
1997-98	|	Leon Lai Live 97		20	G Sushi 元祿壽司
1995	|	Neon Leon Live 95	那一夜我們在霓虹下起舞	26	Hang Seng Bank Credit Card
1993	|	Summer of Love Concert	夏日傾情演唱會	20	Saab
1992	|	Night Devotion Live #	一夜傾情演唱會	10	Kao
	|			122

(Note: # indicate literal translation)

Source:

Advertisement

!Year !

Ads !! Song
2005	Live 3” TV commercial series – “Sharing”
1999	Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited>Hutchison Orange dual band network
1998	Hutchison new line-Tianshan article
1998	Airport Express Line
1998	Hutchison new line-Xueshan article
1998	Hutchison new line
1997	Hutchison GSM Mobile

Music pop chart

Year	Single	Peak positions
		RTHK Chinese Pop	CTHK Ultimate 903	Metro Radio Pop Chart	JSG Billboard	UFO Mandarin Pop
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Year	Album	HMV Sales Chart
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(source:)

Awards

+ IFPI	Year !! Awards !! Albums
	IFPI HK Top 10 Sales Album	Leon Club Sandwich
IFPI HK Top 10 Sales Mandarin Album	The Red Shoes
IFPI HK Top Sales Male Artist
	1998	IFPI HK Platinum Disc
rowspan="4"	1997	IFPI HK Platinum Disc
IFPI HK Platinum Disc	Feel
IFPI HK Gold Disc	Leon's …
IFPI HK Gold Disc	Leon Sound
Total

Source:

+ Commercial Radio !Year !	Awards !! Songs
	Best Male Artist:Silver
Favorite Male Artist
No.3 professional recommendation	Jin Shen Bu Zai
Best Co-operation	Leon Lai and Hutchison Telecom
rowspan="5"	1997	Best Male Artist:Gold
Favorite Male Artist
Top 10 Songs professional recommendation	Only if you love me for a day
Favorite Song	Only if you love me for a day
10th anniversary Top 10 Artists
rowspan="3"	1996	Best Male Artist:Gold
Best Ads Song	Unspoken words of sentiment
Four Media IFPI Top award	Perhaps
rowspan="2"	1995	Best Male Artist:Bronze
Top 10 Songs professional recommendation	Danger tracking
rowspan="5"	1994	Most Played Artist:Bronze
Top 10 Songs	Not one day I don't think of you
Favorite Song	Not one day I don't think of you
Most Favorite Live Performance	Not one day I don't think of you
Top Composed Song	Not one day I don't think of you
rowspan="2"	1993	Best Male Artist:Bronze
Favorite Songs	Not willing to leave you tonight Summer Devotion Summer is burning
rowspan="2"	1992	Most Played Artist:Bronze
Favorite Song	My Love Wish We Are Not Just Friend
1991	Most Played Artist:Bronze
1990	Most Played Artist:Silver
Total

External links

A Music

Leon Lai Family (Hong Kong) 黎明家族 (香港) - fansite

Leon Family (Taiwan) - fansite

Leon Lai Fans Club 黎明之友 - fansite

Leon at UNICEF

References

Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:Hong Kong Buddhists Category:Hong Kong actors Category:Hong Kong male singers Category:Cantopop singers Category:People from Beijing Category:Hong Kong people of Hakka descent Category:Hong Kong people of Malaysian descent Category:Cantonese people Category:New Talent Singing Awards contestants Category:Japanese-language singers Category:Hong Kong Mandopop singers

fr:Leon Lai ko:여명 (1966년) it:Leon Lai ja:レオン・ライ th:หลี่หมิง vi:Lê Minh zh-yue:黎明 zh:黎明

Name	Aaron Kwok
Tradchinesename	郭富城
Pinyinchinesename	Guō Fùchéng
Jyutpingchinesename	Gwok3 Fu3 Sing4
Birth name	Aaron Kwok Fu-shing (郭富城)
Ancestry	Dongguan, Guangdong, China
Origin	Hong Kong
Birth date	October 26, 1965
Birth place	Hong Kong
Othername	Kwok Fu-shing
Occupation	Singer, Actor
Genre	Cantopop, dance
Instrument	Vocals
Label	Warner Music Group; MusicNation-HK
Yearsactive	1987-present
Influences	Michael Jackson
Website	AaronKwokOnline.com
Goldenhorseawards	Best Actor2005 ''Divergence''2006 ''After This Our Exile''
Awards	}}

Aaron Kwok Fu-shing (born 26 October 1965) is a Hong Kong singer, dancer and actor. He has been active since the 1980s to the present. The media refer to him, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王). Kwok's onstage dancing and displays is influenced by Michael Jackson. While most of his songs are in the dance-pop genre, he has experimented numerous times with rock and roll, ballad, rock, R&B;, soul, electronica and traditional Chinese music.

Biography

Kwok graduated from Joseph's College in Hong Kong. After graduating from secondary school, Kwok worked as a junior staff in King Fook Gold & Jewellery Co. Ltd. His father, who owns a small gold retail store, desired that he gain experience in the business with the view of eventually handing the family business over to him. If not for one of Kwok's brothers taking over the gold business, his father would not have allowed him to join the entertainment industry.

Career

Early years

In 1984 at the age of 19, Kwok joined a dancer training course at TVB, where his talent for dancing was immediately recognized. Kwok then performed in music videos and variety shows for other singers. In 1987 he was transferred to the acting department of the talent training course and became a TV actor, where he played minor parts in TVB dramas. In 1990 he did a TV commercial in Taiwan for the Honda motorcycle DJ-1RR. The commercial gained him instant popularity with Taiwanese girls, and he immediately burst onto the music scene.

Music

Kwok then began his music career with three mandopop albums including the famous song "Loving You Forever" (對你愛不完) to accompany his dance moves. After his success in Taiwan, he returned to Hong Kong in 1991 to do Cantopop. The next few years saw his popularity reach fever-pitch, and he was soon ranked as one of the "Four Heavenly Kings". Kwok became one of Hong Kong and Asia's most prominent pop stars. He won his first major awards with the 1991 Jade Solid Gold Top 10 Awards and 1991 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. He would then win a major award every year until 2001. As a solo performer, his sell-out concerts in Hong Kong, mainland China, United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries total over 200 to date. In 1999 he won his first "Asia Pacific most popular artist" award. Aaron Kwok will begin his 2011 tour on 16 April and his first stop is in Shanghai.

Dancer

As soon as Kwok entered the music industry in 1991, he started a fast-dancing trend (勁歌熱舞). Kwok's onstage dancing and displays has been known to be influenced by Michael Jackson. Later in his career, he is known to have won a prestigious "Top ten Hong Kong dance award" (十大舞蹈家年獎). Of all the performing arts at which Kwok excels, stage appearances remain his perennial favorite. His dance accomplishments are also matched with stage displays. On 17 February 2008, he held an "Aaron Kwok De Show Reel Extension Live" concert at the Hong Kong AsiaWorld Arena with the largest revolving stage measured at 10m x 9.44m and created a new entry for the Guinness Book of World Records.

Acting

Over the years, Kwok has also indulged in other mediums such as TV commercials and acting. He began his acting career with the TVB series ''Rise of Genghis Khan'', and the 1988 series ''Twilight of a Nation'' about the Taiping Rebellion. One of his more noticeable role was for the 1996 TVB drama series ''Wars of Bribery'' where he plays an ICAC special-agent with Athena Chu.

He also starred in various movies. At the Taiwan's 42nd Golden Horse Awards ceremony on 13 November 2005, Kwok was the surprise winner of Best Leading Actor award for his role in the film ''Divergence''. It was Kwok's first Golden Horse nomination and beat veteran Hong Kong star Tony Leung Ka-fai to win the honour. He again won the Best Actor Award again at the 43rd Golden Horse Awards on 24 November 2006 for his role in the film ''After This Our Exile''. He became only the second actor in the history of the Golden Horse Awards to win the Best Actor Award consecutively. Jackie Chan first accomplished this back in the 1992-3.

Along with Zhang Ziyi, Kwok stars in an AIDS-themed film ''Love for Life'', which premiered on 10 May 2011.

Style promoter

Among the four heavenly kings in the 1990s, Kwok was generally known to have the best image. He was famous for popularizing a new type of "center-split hair style" that became a crazed trend. Throughout his career he did change his hair style numerous times including styles such as the five-five split or the four-six split.

Community service

Kwok has also taken part in charitable work. Most notable he received the "Ten Most Outstanding Young Persons Award" in 2003.

Car promoter, collector, amateur racer

Kwok has been known as a collector of sports cars as well as an amateur of motor racing. He participated in a Ferrari F355 race at the Macau Grand Prix, a Formula Campus charity race. Other notable participations include the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, where he raced with a Porsche 911 GT3.

He is known as a car fanatic and has a large collection of notable cars. Some of his collection include the Ferrari F50, F512M, F355 GTS, F360 Modena, Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Diablo SE30, Mercedes-Benz SL600, Mercedes CLK DTM, Porsche 911 Turbo. Other cars include the Enzo Ferrari, a Carbon version Pagani Zonda F, Lamborghini Reventon Roadster, Lamborghini Murciélago, Gallardo, Porsche 996 GT3, Nissan GTR.

References

External links

Official Profile @ Warner Music Music Nation 郭富城

AMW168 - 郭富城 Aaron Kwok's lyrics pinyin English translation

Category:Hong Kong film actors Category:Hong Kong male singers Category:Hong Kong singers Category:Cantonese-language singers Category:Cantopop singers Category:Hong Kong Mandopop singers Category:Hong Kong actors Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Hong Kong people from Dongguan

es:Aaron Kwok fr:Aaron Kwok gan:郭富城 ko:곽부성 id:Aaron Kwok it:Aaron Kwok jv:Aaron Kwok ms:Aaron Kwok ja:アーロン・クオック pt:Aaron Kwok simple:Aaron Kwok th:กัว ฟู่เฉิง vi:Quách Phú Thành wuu:郭富城 zh-yue:郭富城 zh:郭富城

name	Chow Yun-fat
tradchinesename	周潤發
simpchinesename	周润发
pinyinchinesename	Zhōu Rùnfā
jyutpingchinesename	Zau1 Jeon6faat3
ancestry	Kaiping, Guangdong
birth date	May 18, 1955
birth place	Lamma Island, Hong Kong
yearsactive	1974–present
occupation	Actor
spouse	Candice Yu (1983-1983) Jasmine Chan (1986-present)
hongkongfilmwards	Best Actor1987 ''A Better Tomorrow''1988 ''City on Fire''1990 ''All About Ah-Long''
goldenhorseawards	Best Actor1985 ''Hong Kong 1941''1987 ''An Autumn's Tale
tvbanniversaryawards	My Most Memorable Male Leading Role1999 ''The Bund''
awards	}}

Chow Yun-fat, SBS (born May 18, 1955) is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films ''A Better Tomorrow'', ''The Killer'', and ''Hard Boiled''; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''. He mainly plays in dramatic films and has won three Hong Kong Film Awards for "Best Actor" and two Golden Horse Awards for "Best Actor" in Taiwan.

Personal life

Chow was born in Hong Kong, to a mother who was a cleaning lady and vegetable farmer, and a father who worked at a Shell Oil Company tanker. Of Hakka origins, he grew up in a farming community on Lamma Island in a house with no electricity. He woke up at dawn each morning to help his mother sell herbal jelly and Hakka tea-pudding on the streets and in the afternoons he went to work in the fields. His family moved to Kowloon when he was ten. At seventeen, he quit school to help support the family by doing odd jobs - bellboy, postman, camera salesman, taxi driver. His life started to change when he responded to a newspaper advertisement and his actor-trainee application was accepted by TVB, the local television station. He signed a three-year contract with the studio and made his acting debut. With his striking good looks and easy-going style, Chow became a heartthrob and a familiar face in soap operas that were exported internationally.

Chow has been married twice; first in 1983 to Candice Yu (), an actress from Asia Television Limited that lasted nine months. In 1986, Chow married Singaporean Jasmine Tan (). Currently, the couple have no children, although Chow has a goddaughter, Celine Ng, a former child model for Chickeeduck and other companies. Chow has acknowledged having cosmetic surgery on his eyelids in 1989 to reverse a drooping effect.

Career

It did not take long for Chow to become a household name in Hong Kong following his role in the hit series ''The Bund'' in TVB in 1980. ''The Bund'', about the rise and fall of a gangster in 1930s Shanghai, made him a star. It was one of the most popular TV series ever made in Hong Kong and was a hit throughout Asia.

Although Chow continued his TV success, his goal was to become a big screen actor. His occasional ventures onto the big screens with low-budget films, however, were disastrous. Success finally came when he teamed up with director John Woo in the 1986 gangster action-melodrama ''A Better Tomorrow'', which swept the box offices in Asia and established Chow and Woo as megastars. ''A Better Tomorrow'' won him his first Best Actor award at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It was the highest grossing film in Hong Kong history at the time, and it set the standard for Hong Kong gangster films to come. Taking the opportunity, Chow quit TV entirely. With his new image from ''A Better Tomorrow'', he made many more 'gun fu' or 'heroic bloodshed' films, such as ''A Better Tomorrow 2'' (1987), ''Prison on Fire'', ''Prison on Fire II'', ''The Killer'' (1989), ''A Better Tomorrow 3'' (1990), ''Hard Boiled'' (1992) and ''City on Fire'' an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's ''Reservoir Dogs''.

Chow may be best known for playing honorable tough guys, whether cops or criminals, but he also starred in comedies like ''Diary of a Big Man'' (1988) and ''Now You See Love, Now You Don't'' (1992) and romantic blockbusters such as ''Love in a Fallen City'' (1984) and ''An Autumn's Tale'' (1987), for which he was named best actor at the Golden Horse Awards. He brought together his disparate personae in the 1989 film ''God of Gamblers'' (''Du Shen''), directed by the prolific Wong Jing, in which he was by turns suave charmer, broad comedian and action hero. The film surprised many, became immensely popular, broke Hong Kong's all-time box office record, and spawned a series of gambling films, as well as several comic sequels starring Andy Lau and Stephen Chow. His character's often tough demeanor and youthful appearance has earned him the nickname "Babyface killer".

The ''Los Angeles Times'' proclaimed Chow Yun-Fat "the coolest actor in the world." Being one of the biggest stars in Hong Kong, Chow moved to Hollywood in the mid '90s in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to duplicate his success in Asia. His first two films, ''The Replacement Killers'' (1998) and ''The Corruptor'' (1999), were box office disappointments. In his next film ''Anna and the King'' (1999), Chow teamed up with Jodie Foster, but the film suffered at the box office. Unable to play down the Asian stereotype, Chow took advantage of it by accepting the role of Li Mu-Bai in the (2000) film ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'' It became a winner at both the international box office and the Oscars. In 2003, Chow came back to Hollywood and starred in ''Bulletproof Monk'' in yet another Asian stereotyped role of a martial art expert. In 2006, he teamed up with Gong Li in the film, ''Curse of the Golden Flower,'' directed by Zhang Yimou.

In 2007, Chow was cast as the pirate captain Sao Feng in ''Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End''. His character, however, was omitted when the movie was shown in mainland China. His character was criticized as demeaning as it "vilifies and humiliates the Chinese." Despite the censorship, the unedited version of the movie was freely sold on the black market without government intervention because viewers wanted to see Chow Yun-Fat.

Chow had often wished to be regarded as a serious dramatic actor in Hollywood. Unfortunately, he often landed in roles that stereotyped him as an Asian action hero.

In the live action version of Dragonball Evolution, which performed poorly in the USA and grossed $57 million worldwide, Chow Yun-fat played Master Roshi.

Book

On June 26, 2008, Chow released his first photo collection in Hong Kong, which includes pictures taken on the sets of his films. Proceeds from sales of the book were donated to Sichuan earthquake victims. Published by Louis Vuitton, the books were sold in Vuitton's Hong Kong and Paris stores.

Filmography

Chow has appeared in over 80 films and 24 television series.

Video games

''Stranglehold''

''Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)''

''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (video game)''

Awards and nominations

Hong Kong Film Awards

Best Actor Nomination for ''Hong Kong 1941''

Best Actor Nomination for ''Women''

Best Supporting Actor Nomination for ''Love Unto Waste''

'''Best Actor for ''A Better Tomorrow''

Best Actor Nomination for ''Prison on Fire''

Best Actor Nomination for ''An Autumn's Tale''

'''Best Actor for ''City on Fire''

Best Original Film Song Nomination for ''The Diary of a Big Man''

Best Original Film Song Nomination for ''Triads: The Inside Story''

Best Actor Nomination for ''God of Gamblers''

'''Best Actor for ''All About Ah-Long''

Best Actor Nomination for ''Once a Thief''

Best Actor Nomination for ''Treasure Hunt''

Best Actor Nomination for ''Peace Hotel''

Best Actor Nomination for ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''

Best Actor Nomination for ''Curse of the Golden Flower''

Best Supporting Actor Nomination for ''The Postmodern Life of My Aunt''

(13 Best Actor Nominations, 2 Best Supporting Actor Nominations, 2 Best Original Film Song Nominations)

References

External links

Chow Yun-Fat: The Undisputed King of Cool - Article

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Hong Kong actors Category:Hakka people Category:Hong Kong people of Hakka descent Category:Indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories in Hong Kong Category:Lamma Island

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