Chen Shui-bian, male, was born in Guantian Township, Tainan County, Taiwan Province in 1951. He graduated from the Law Department of National Taiwan University, an honorary doctorate in law from Kyungnam University in South Korea, and an honorary doctorate in economics from the Russian Academy of Economics. Main experience: 1976--1989 Chief lawyer of Hua Xia Maritime Law Firm, 1981--1985 Taipei City Council member, 1987--1989 & 1991--1996 Democratic Progressive Party Central Executive Committee, 1987--1989 & 1996 present Democratic Progressive Party Member of the Central Standing Committee, 1989--1994 "Legislative Member", 1993 "Legislative Yuan Procedural Committee" Convener, 1994--1998 "Mayor" of Taipei City, and took office as "President" on May 20, 2000.
From the son of a sharecropper to a lawyer
On February 18, 1951, Chen Shui-bian was born in Xizhuang Village, Guantian Township, Tainan County, Taiwan Province, into a peasant family that had been poor for generations. His father, Chen Songgen, was a tenant farmer and long-term laborer, and his mother, Li Shen, was an illiterate housewife. Chen was the eldest of four children in the family.
When Chen Shui-bian was growing up, his family's financial situation was always poor, and he often struggled to make ends meet. According to Chen's recollection, when she was a child, the family's rice money, vegetable money, and children's school registration fees were borrowed from relatives and friends. The debts owed by the family always took many years to be paid off. Chen's mother used chalk to write down the debts and Interest rates are written on the wall, but they are often filled up immediately after being wiped off, so the walls at home are always covered with dense Arabic numerals. The most unforgettable thing was the lunch box his mother prepared for him, which only contained a few "sweet potato picks" or preserved vegetable dumplings without eggs. He had to hide the lunch box in front of his classmates to avoid being seen. It wasn't until his junior year of college that Chen used the full scholarship of 12,000 yuan he received from law school to buy a black-and-white TV for his family. But this difficult life did not end even after Chen graduated from university. According to Chen's wife Wu Shuzhen's recollection, it was because the Chen family's financial situation was so poor that Wu's father, who came from a family of doctors, initially disagreed with the marriage. For many years after getting married, Chen Du has been making money to pay off his family's debts.
However, the poverty of his family did not hinder Chen Shui-bian's studies, and his grades have been excellent from elementary school to university. In June 1963, Chen Shui-bian graduated from Longtian Primary School with first place, won the "County Magistrate's Award", and was recommended to the junior high school of Zengwen Middle School (now Madou Junior High School). In June 1966, Chen Shui-bian graduated first in junior high school and was directly promoted to the high school of Zengwen Middle School and Tainan No. 1 Middle School the following year. In June 1969, Chen graduated with the first place in high school, and in August of the same year, he was admitted to the Business Administration Section of the Department of Commerce of National Taiwan University with his first choice.
At the end of 1969, Taiwan held the "First Central Democratic Representative" co-election. Influenced by the famous "non-party" figure and the late former Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Huang Xijie's campaign speech, Chen Shui-bian decided to abandon business and study law. Despite the opposition from his family, he dropped out of school. In August of the following year, Chen Shui-bian was admitted to the Judicial Section of the Department of Law of National Taiwan University as his only choice and with the highest score in the department. During his college years, Chen Shui-bian was very active. He served successively as the editor-in-chief of the National Taiwan University Law Journal "Fa Xun" and the president of the law school publication "National Taiwan University Fa Yan". In his third year of college, Chen passed the bar qualification examination with the first score in Taiwan, becoming the youngest lawyer at the time. In June 1974, Chen Shui-bian graduated with first place from the Law Department of National Taiwan University.
In February 1975, Chen married Wu Shuzhen, a high school alumnus and fellow villager. From 1977 until the "Beautiful Island" incident in 1979, Chen worked at Taipei Hua Xia Maritime Business Law Firm, dedicated to representing maritime law cases, and became one of the well-known lawyers in Taiwan's maritime business community. He once served as Yang Ming Shipping Legal counsel of other companies, litigation attorney of Evergreen Marine Corporation, and fought in court with Dr. Chen Changwen, who once served as vice chairman of the "Straits Exchange Foundation". After the "Beautiful Island" incident, Zhang Junxiong approached Chen Shui-bian and asked him to serve as Huang Xinjie's defense lawyer. It was not until this time that Chen's life took a major turn and he plunged into the political circle.