Background
Liu was born in Liuyang, Hunan in 1943.
劉兆玄
Liu was born in Liuyang, Hunan in 1943.
He received his bachelor's degree from National Taiwan University in 1965, a master's from Université de Sherbrooke in 1968, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1971.
He is a former president of the National Tsing Hua University (1987–1993) and Soochow University (2004–2008) and a former Premier of the Republic of China (2008–2009). Dr. Liu earned all of his academic degrees in the field of chemistry. Liu started to receive public attention when he was the President of National Tsing-hua University in Hsinchu before 1993.
At that time, he and his school had just successfully hosted the annual unified college-entrance examinations in Taiwan. He became the President of Soochow University in 2004. Liu was subsequently served as Minister of Transportation from 1993 to 1996.
He then served as the Vice Premier from 1997 to 2000. In April 2008, Liu was asked by current President Ma Ying-jeou to serve as the Premier of the Republic of China. He accepted the post and his term as Premier took effect with Ma's incoming administration on May 20, 2008.
Liu and his Cabinet resigned en masse on 10 September 2009, with Wu Den-yih succeeding the post of Premiership. Liu had suffered mounting criticism over the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot, and had initially tendered his resignation to President Ma in mid-August. Liu, however, was asked by President Ma to remain and oversee initial relief efforts as they were carried out.
Liu said, during his resignation announcement, that 90% of subsidies have been distributed and 92% of those displaced have been temporarily relocated.
