Chen Ding-nan

Chen Ding-nan, LL.B.
9th Magistrate of Yilan County
In office December 20, 1981 – December 20, 1989
Preceded by	Lee Feng-ming
Succeeded by	Yu Shyi-kun
Personal details
Born	September 29, 1943(1943-09-29) Yilan, Taiwan
Died	November 5, 2006(2006-11-05) (aged 63) Taipei, Taiwan
Nationality	Republic of China (Taiwan)
Political party	Democratic Progressive Party
Alma mater	National Taiwan University
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Lawyer
Signature

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chen.

Chen Ding-nan
Traditional Chinese	陳定南
Simplified Chinese	陈定南
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Chén Dìngnán - Wade–Giles Chén Tìng-nán

Chen Ding-Nan (September 29, 1943 – November 5, 2006) was a Taiwanese politician.

Entry into politics

As a Yilan County native, Chen received a bachelor's degree in Law from the National Taiwan University in 1966. After graduation Chen ran various business in Yilan. After the Kaohsiung incident, Chen became active in politics as he started to participate in the tangwai movement.

Chen was elected as the Magistrate of Yilan County in 1981 and became the first non-Kuomintang Yilan County Magistrate. During his term Chen accumulated accolades for his fine administration and was re-elected again in 1985.

After his second term ended Chen ran for a seat in the Legislative Yuan in the Yilan County electoral district and successfully won for 4 consecutive times (1989, 1992, 1995 and 1998) until appointed as the Minister of Justice on May 20, 2000 by then just-elected President Chen Shui-bian.

Meantime, he also ran unsuccessfully for the Governor of Taiwan Province in 1994 and was defeated by James Soong. Originally an independent, Chen joined the Democratic Progressive Party in 1993 and stayed with the party until his death.

He served as Minister of Justice in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration from 2000 until January 31, 2005. In late 2005 he campaigned for the Yilan County magistrate again but was defeated by the Kuomintang's Lu Kuo-hua (呂國華).

Death and legacy

Since April 2006, Chen's health condition worsened and was frequently hospitalized for advanced lung cancer. He died in the National Taiwan University Hospital on November 5, 2006, aged 63.^[1]

Chen was known as Mr. Clean (陳青天) as he fought against corruption and established the Black Gold Investigation Center.^[2] The Chen Ding-nan Foundation, established to commemorate Chen, proposes to build a memorial hall for him in his hometown Yilan. About 150,000 New Taiwan dollars were raised for the memorial hall. Frank Hsieh, the ROC presidential candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party, also donated 20,000 NTD.^[3]

References

1. ^ "Taiwan News Online: Taiwan's 'Mr. Clean' passes away". http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=301119&lang=eng_news&cate_img=&cate_rss=. Retrieved 2006-11-07. 
2. ^ Chang, Rich "Group remembers late minister Chen", Taipei Times, November 3, 2007
3. ^ "近15萬一元硬幣 拼出陳定南圖像", Liberty Times, November 4, 2007

External links

• Chen Ding-nan at China Times.
• Chen Ding-nan at Yahoo! Kimo Blog.
• Taiwan News report.

Government offices
Preceded by Lee Feng-ming	Magistrate of Yilan County 1981–1989	Succeeded by Yu Shyi-kun
Preceded by Ye Jinfeng	ROC Minister of Justice 2000–2005	Succeeded by Shi Maolin

Persondata
Name	Chen, Ding-nan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 29, 1943
Place of birth	Yilan, Taiwan
Date of death	November 5, 2006
Place of death	Taipei, Taiwan