Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940): Early twentieth-century Chinese intellec-
tual, educated in Germany and France, who transformed Peking Uni-
versity into a serious academic institution and an intellectually alive
environment.
Ch'en Ch'i-li (Chen Qili; 1943-2007): China-born Bamboo Union
gangster in Taiwan. The fascist wing of the Kuomintang chose Ch'en
and his underlings to murder Chinese-American dissident writer
Henry Liu at his home in California in 1984. Ch'en was sentenced to
a prison term in Taiwan for the murder but was soon released by the
Kuomintang. He fled Taiwan in the mid 1990s for Cambodia and died
there in 2007. A high Kuomintang official in Taiwan attended his
funeral that same year.
Chen Duxiu (1879-1942): Early twentieth-century Chinese intellec-
tual educated in Japan and France who lampooned Confucianism in
the pages of his magazine New Youth; cofounder of the Chinese Com-
munist Party.
Chen Shui-bian (1951-): Victorious candidate in Taiwan's March 2000
election, ending 50 years of Nationalist rule over the island; member of
Taiwan's Democratic Progressive party and advocate of Taiwanese
independence; therefore of grave concern to mainland China.
Reelected to the presidency in 2004 after an apparent shooting failed
to kill him. Later disgraced and imprisoned on corruption charges
relating to his terms in office and his family's financial crimes.
Chen Wen-chen (Chen Wencheng; 1950-1981): Taiwanese-
American professor of statistics at Carnegie-Mellon University. Chen
was murdered in Taiwan by rogue elements of the Kuomintang's Gar-
rison Command in 1981, and his body was dumped on the campus of
National Taiwan University. His murderers are still at large, and his
unsolved case symbolizes the White Terror policies the Kuomintang
previously used to rule Taiwan.
Chiang Ching-kuo (1908-1988): Son of Chiang Kai-shek and
president of the Republic of China on Taiwan from the late 1970s
through the late 1980s; lifted martial law, ameliorated many of his
father's excesses, and began the democratization of Taiwan.
Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975): Virulent anti-Communist and virtual
dictator of Nationalist China from 1926 until his death in 1975; the
