Chiang Wei-shui

Chiang Wei-shui (Courtesy of PTS)

Chiang Wei-shui led the way for the first political movement in Taiwan, during the time of colonial Japanese rule. Chiang was born February 8, 1891 in Ilan, which is the capital of Yilan County in the Taiwan Province. As a young child he worked as a diviner, where he attempted to gain information through interpretations of omens and other supernatural phenomena. He graduated from Taiwan Medical College in 1915.

Dr. Chiang then founded the Daan Hospital in the Dadaocheng district of Taipei. While he practiced medicine at this hospital he decided to diagnose Taiwan itself, and concluded the people of the country were inflicted with "knowledge malnutrition," so he began to devote himself to the nationalist movement. He also donated all of his income to the reform movement.

Dr. Chiang

In 1920 he was involved in the movement to found the Taiwan Assembly. Then in 1921 he became a cofounder of the Taiwan Cultural Association. In founding the Taiwan Cultural Association, Chiang had started the nation's first large-scale cultural enlightenment movement. He was also involved in the Taiwan Worker's League, and the Taiwan Farmer's Association.

When the Taiwan Cultural Association split in 1926, Chiang founded the Taiwan People's Party. He was one of the first people who tried to lift the status of the Taiwanese during Japanese rule through the formation of democratic political movements. It was the first legal party that had ever been established in Taiwan. His Party's political philosophy was based on Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People. The Principle of Minzu: government of the people (freedom), The Principle of Minquan: government by the people (democracy), and The Principle of Minsheng: government for the people (social welfare). Chiang Wei-shui has been called the Sun Yat-sen of Taiwan.

In 1931 the Japanese colonial government forced the Taiwan People's Party to dissolve. Chiang later died of typhoid that same year; he was 41 years old. Throughout his life he was imprisoned more than ten times for his opposition to the colonial Japanese government. Chiang is important to me because he fought for what he believed in and gave everything, including all of his material wealth, so that Taiwan could become a democratic state, free from colonial rule.