Huang Ta-chou

Huang Ta-chou (Chinese: 黃大洲; pinyin: Huáng Dàzhōu; born 7 February 1936), also known as Thomas Huang, is a Taiwanese politician who served as mayor of Taipei between 1990 and 1994.[1] He chaired the Chinese Taipei Olympic committee from 1998 to 2006.[2]

Huang Ta-chou
黃大洲
Commissioner of the Chinese Professional Baseball League
In office 22 July 1998 – 7 March 2002
Preceded by	Chen Chung-kuang Yang Tien-fa (acting)
Succeeded by	Harvey Tung
Chairman of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee
In office January 1998 – January 2006
Preceded by	Chang Feng-hsu
Succeeded by	Thomas Tsai
Minister of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission
In office June 1996 – September 1997
Preceded by	Wang Jen-huong
Succeeded by	Yung Chaur-shin
Mayor of Taipei
In office 2 June 1990 – 25 December 1994
Preceded by	Wu Po-hsiung
Succeeded by	Chen Shui-bian
Personal details
Born	(1936-02-07) 7 February 1936 Shanhua, Tainan, Taiwan, Empire of Japan
Nationality	Taiwanese
Political party	Kuomintang
Alma mater	National Taiwan University Cornell University
Occupation	Professor

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

Early life

Huang was born in Shanhua, Tainan in Taiwan, Empire of Japan in 1936. He graduated from National Taiwan University, where Lee Teng-hui was once his instructor.[3] He received his PhD in agriculture from Cornell University in the United States in 1971.[4][5] After his return to Taiwan, Huang taught at National Taiwan University.

Political career

Later on, Huang also participated in politics. He was admired by Lee Teng-hui, who was helpful throughout Huang's political career. At 1979, Lee was the Mayor of Taipei and appointed him as the mayoral adviser and the Secretary-General of the Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission, Executive Yuan. Two years later, Lee became the chief executive of Taiwan Province, he followed Lee to Taiwan Provincial Government and was appointed the Deputy Secretary-General. He went back to National Taiwan University in 1984 as a professor, before he was appointed the Secretary-General of Taipei City Government in 1987. He became the acting Mayor of Taipei in May 1990, replacing Wu Poh-hsiung. In October, he was appointed Mayor of Taipei by President Lee Teng-hui. During the final year of Huang's term, under the pressure of democratization, the office of mayor became directly elected and Huang is the last Mayor of Taipei to have served via presidential appointment.

In the 1994 Taipei mayoral election, Huang received a late nomination from the Kuomintang.[6][7] Though he secured the party's endorsement and support from Lee,[8] Huang did not win the election. The loss could be partly ascribed to the split between the Kuomintang and Chinese New Party within the Pan-Blue Coalition. Although the entire Pan-Blue Coalition gained more votes, Huang only received 25.89% of the voter turnout, allowing Democratic Progressive Party candidate Chen Shui-bian to be elected in a traditional pro-Chinese reunification city and Mainlander stronghold.[9][10]

1994 Taipei City Mayoral Election Result
Party		#	Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Independent	1	Ji Rong-zhi (紀榮治)	3,941	0.28%
	New Party	2	Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康)	424,905	30.17%
	Democratic Progressive Party	3	Chen Shui-bian	615,090	43.67%
	Kuomintang	4	Huang Ta-chou	364,618	25.89%
Total				1,408,554	100.00%
Voter turnout

After he lost the mayoral election, Huang was appointed the Minister of the Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission in June 1996, and a Minister without Portfolio in 1997.

He was appointed National Policy Advisor by President Ma Ying-jeou in 2009.

Sports

Apart from politics, Huang also contributed a lot in sports. He was elected the President of Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee in 1997, followed by becoming the commissioner of Chinese Professional Baseball League upon invitation in 1998.

Academics

After his session in the Olympic Committee in 2005, he returned to his academic research in agricultural science. He invented a new method of nurturing strawberry. He is currently a professor of Toko University in Taiwan.

References

1. Copper, John Franklin (1998). Taiwan's mid-1990s elections: taking the final steps to democracy. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-275-96207-4.
2. "Asian Medal Winners In For Bonanza". New Straits Times. 6 September 2000. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
3. Low, Stephanie (22 September 2001). "KMT breaks it off with Lee Teng-hui". Taipei Times. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
4. "Huang takes helm at Grand Hotel". China Post. 24 April 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
5. "A New Team In Place". Taiwan Today. 1 July 1990. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
6. "KMT leaders ask election delay". Taiwan Today/Taiwan Info. 24 June 1994. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
7. Yu, Susan (19 August 1994). "KMT names incumbent officials". Taiwan Info. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
8. Yu, Susan (25 September 1994). "Parties push themes, target the undecided". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
9. Sheng, Virginia (21 February 1997). "Parties exchange barbs in Taoyuan County race". Taiwan Today. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
10. Copper, John F. (1995). "Taiwan's 1994 Gubernatorial and Mayoral Elections". Asian Affairs. 22 (2): 97–118. JSTOR 30172242.

Government offices
Preceded by Wu Po-hsiung	Mayor of Taipei 1990–1994	Succeeded by Chen Shui-bian