Background
Chen Li-An was born on June 22, 1937 in Qingtian, Chekiang, China. He was the son of former Vice President Chen Tsyr-shiou.
陳履安
engineer mathematician politician
Chen Li-An was born on June 22, 1937 in Qingtian, Chekiang, China. He was the son of former Vice President Chen Tsyr-shiou.
Chen Li-An earned his masters' and Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics from New York University. He had a close friendship with Wang Yung-ching, a respected businessman. Wang later appointed Chen the headmaster of the private Ming-chi Technology College which Wang owned; Chen held the position from July 1970 to February 1972.
Chen Li-An served as Minister of Economic Affairs from 1988 to 1991, Minister of National Defense from 1991 to 1993, and President of the Control Yuan from 1993 to 1995. He resigned his post, left the Kuomintang, and declared his candidacy for the presidency in September 1995 to express his open criticism of Lee Teng-hui's Mainland policy.
Lin Yang-kang originally considered Chen as his vice-presidential running-mate in the 1996 ROC presidential election. However, Chen chose to run for president himself (with Wang Ching-feng as his vice-presidential candidate). As Chen is a devoted convert to Tibetan Buddhism (he is ethnically Han), his campaign tour of the island featured a strong spiritual theme, projecting an image that some commented to be like an "ascetic monk". After losing his bid in the presidential election with the lowest vote among the four candidates, Chen announced that he would retire from politics.
In January 2001, Chen re-joined the Kuomintang, because he thought both the party and Taiwan needed him. Since 2002 Chen and his family have been investing and running various business in mainland China, Nepal and Macau. Chen's last public appearance was in the Pan-Blue Coalition's protests shortly after the 2004 ROC presidential election. He showed his support for Lien Chan and James Soong.
Later, as part of his efforts to promote Tibetan Buddhism, he founded the Hwa-yu Foundation (化育基金會), of which he serves as president and his eldest son, Chen Yu-ting (陳宇廷), serves as director. Chen also organized charities to financially assist ethnic minorities in mainland China and Nepal. From 1996 to 1998, he visited the Mainland China three times, meeting once with Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
Chen Li-An is married to Tsao Chin (曹倩). His daughter, Chen Yu-hui, is a businesswoman (director of ABN AMRO) and wuxia novelist ("Duō qíng làng zǐ chī qíng xiá";多情浪子痴情侠).