Tsay Ting-kuei

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Tsay Ting-kuei
蔡丁貴
Tsay Ting-kuei in May 2014
Personal details
Born (1949-03-24) March 24, 1949 (age 75)
Zihguan, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China
Citizenship
  • Republic of China
  • United States (1990–2002)
Political partyFree Taiwan Party (2015–)
Alma mater
Chinese name
Hanyu Pinyin
Cài Dīngguì
Gwoyeu RomatzyhTsay Dingguey
Wade–GilesTs'ai4 Ting1-kwei4
Southern Min
Hokkien POJChhòa Teng-kùi

Tsay Ting-kuei (Chinese: 蔡丁貴; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhòa Teng-kùi; born 24 March 1949) is a Taiwanese civil engineering professor, political activist, and former government official. A professor at National Taiwan University in Taipei, he has conducted research in areas including coastal engineering and computational hydraulics. In politics, he served in various positions in the Chen Shui-bian administration in the mid-2000s, and rose to greater prominence for his protests in support of the Taiwan independence movement.

Early life and academic career

Tsay was born in

Ziguan District, Kaohsiung on Taiwan's southwestern coast.[1] He attended National Cheng Kung University, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1971 and a master's degree in 1973. From 1975 to 1978, he was a lecturer in National Chung Hsing University's Civil Engineering Department.[2] He then moved to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. at Cornell University, where he defended his doctoral dissertation on numerical solutions to certain hydraulics problems in 1982.[1]

Because of Tsay's support for the

postdoctoral research at Cornell University from 1982 to 1983, he took up a position as an assistant professor at Syracuse University, and was promoted to associate professor in 1986.[2] He returned to Taiwan in 1990, a few years after the end of martial law on the island, to take up a new position as a professor at National Taiwan University.[1]

In government

In 2002, Tsay was named vice-chairman of the

Chang Kuo-long.[2]

Political protests

In October 2008, Tsay led the Taiwan Association of University Professors in a hunger strike outside the Legislative Yuan building in support of relaxation of the procedures for public referendums.[4] Since the passage of the 2003 Referendum Law, the government would only review referendum proposals supported by the signatures of at least 0.5% of the voter turnout in the most recent presidential election; whether or not to hold the referendum remained the decision of a government-appointed board.[4][5] Tsay's goal was to make it easier for a Taiwan independence referendum to be proposed and conducted.[5] He eventually created the Taiwan Referendum Alliance in support of this goal.

What was initially intended to be a 24-hour protest ended up turning into a years-long event.

coins; Tsay and his fellow protestors spent nine hours in the police station counting the reported three hundred and sixty thousand coins.[7] In 2012, Tsay and the TRA also initiated a walking protest in support of clemency for former president Chen Shui-bian, who had been imprisoned after a conviction for corruption charges.[8]

In late February 2014, about a week before the 67th anniversary of the

Tang De-jhang Memorial Park in Tainan, a park named for a local lawyer executed during the military crackdown which followed the February 28 Incident. Kuomintang politicians including Fan Chiang Tai-chi condemned the TRA's actions.[9] During the March and April 2014 Sunflower Student Movement, Tsay and the TRA also led sympathy protests outside of the Legislative Yuan.[10][11] After the removal of protestors from the square in front of the Legislative Yuan, Tsay led further protests outside the Zhongzheng First Police Precinct station.[12]

Selected works

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "蔡丁貴立院旁紮營1988天" [Tsay Ting-kuei camps outside Legislative Yuan building for 1988 days]. Sing Tao Daily Canada Edition. 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
  2. ^ a b c d "蔡丁貴教授 「自己的國家自己救」 巡迴演講" [Professor Tsay Ting-kuei holds 'Save Your Own Country' lecture tour]. Taiwan E-News. 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  3. Central News Agency. 2009-01-12. Archived from the original
    on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  4. ^ a b Wang, Flora (2008-10-27). "Hunger strike continues at the Legislative Yuan". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  5. ^ a b "Democracy activist seeking people power in Taiwan". BBC News. 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  6. ^ Loa Iok-sin (2010-01-30). "Activist criticizes police for fining him for 'walking'". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  7. ^ "36萬硬幣繳罰款 教授折磨警9小時" [360,000 coins to pay a fine; professor torments police for nine hours]. Apple Daily Taiwan Edition. 2010-01-28. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  8. ^ "Long walk for Chen's freedom starts in Taipei". Taipei Times. 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  9. ^ "KMT condemns toppling of Sun Yat-sen statue". The China Post. 2014-02-24. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  10. ^ "Protesters demonstrate outside police precinct in Taipei". Focus Taiwan. 2014-04-11. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  11. ^ "TRA leader in frequent run-ins with police". Taiwan News. 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2014-04-15.
  12. ^ Hsiao, Alison (2014-04-15). "Officials pass the buck on removal of ART protesters". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2014-04-15.

External links

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