Hsieh Tung-min (; 25 January 1908 – 9 April 2001) was the ninth Governor of

Taiwan Province Taiwan Province (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ, PFS: ''Thòi-vàn-sén'' or ''Thòi-vân-sén'') is a nominal Administrative divisions of Taiwan, administrative division of the Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). Its definition has remained part of the Constit ...

(1972–1978), the sixth and first local Taiwanese

Vice President of the Republic of China The vice president of the Republic of China, commonly referred to as the vice president of Taiwan, is the second-highest constitutional office of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Powers Under Article 49 the Constitution of the Republic of Chin ...

(1978–1984) under president

Chiang Ching-kuo Chiang Ching-kuo (27 April 1910 – 13 January 1988) was a politician of the Republic of China after its retreat to Taiwan. The eldest and only biological son of former president Chiang Kai-shek, he held numerous posts in the government ...

Family and early life

Hsieh was born to an ordinary farming family in

Taichū Prefecture was one of the administrative divisions of Japanese Taiwan. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Taichung City, Changhua County and Nantou County. It is also the origin of the name of modern-day Taichung. The Taichū Prefecture was the scene ...

Japanese Taiwan The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The sho ...

. He was educated at Taichung County Taichung Middle School, graduating in 1922. He went to Shanghai for tertiary education and later graduated from

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. Afterwards, he became a columnist in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and Guangzhou.

Road into politics

Hsieh joined the Kuomintang in 1930. In 1942, Hsieh was invited to plan the Taiwan office of

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

. From 1943 to 1945, he worked for anti-Japan activities in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. In 1945, after 20 and half years in the mainland, he went back to Taiwan as a KMT official. He became the first

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

Kaohsiung County Kaohsiung County was a county in southern Taiwan between 1945 and 2010. The county seat was located in Fongshan City. History Kaohsiung County was established on 6 December 1945 on the territory of Takao Prefecture () shortly after the end of W ...

in 1948, later Vice-director of Education of Taiwan Province, chancellor of

National Taiwan Normal University National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU; ), or ''Shīdà'' is an institution of higher education and normal school operating out of three campuses in Taipei, Taiwan. NTNU is the leading research institute in such disciplines as Education and Lin ...

, Secretary of Taiwan Province and Chief Councillor of

Taiwan Provincial Council The Taiwan Provincial Consultative Council (TPCC) was the council of the streamlined Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. In July 2018, all duties of the Taiwan Provincial Government and TPCC were transferred to the National Development Co ...

Governor of Taiwan Province

Hsieh became the ninth governor of Taiwan Province in 1972. On 10 October 1976, he received a parcel bomb from

Wang Sing-nan Wang Sing-nan (; born 27 June 1941) is the caucus whip for the Democratic Progressive Party in the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China on Taiwan. He has represented the electoral district of Tainan City since February 2005. On 10 Octo ...

, at the time a Taiwanese businessman based in the United States. The bomb injured Hsieh's left hand. To prevent

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

, the hospital decided to amputate his left hand and gave him an prosthetic hand.

Later political career and death

Hsieh became vice president on 20 May 1978. He was replaced by another Taiwanese,

Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui (; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese statesman and economist who served as President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) under the 1947 Constitution and chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) from 1988 to 2000. He was the fir ...

, on 20 May 1984. Afterwards Hsieh became senior secretary of the Presidential Office. Hsieh sought treatment from

Taipei Veterans General Hospital Taipei Veterans General Hospital () is a national first-class medical center and a teaching hospital that provides tertiary patient care, undergraduate medical education programs and residency programs in Taiwan. It was founded in 1958 and admin ...

for a heart attack on 23 January 2001. He later returned to his home in Taipei and died on 9 April 2001. His funeral was held on 22 April 2001.

Contributions to education in Taiwan

On 26 March 1958, Hsieh set up the first private university, the

Shih Chien University Shih Chien University (USC; ) is a private university in Taiwan. It is considered one of the top schools in the field of Art & Design in Taiwan and the world and ranked no. 7 for internationalization in the 2018 Taiwan university ranking by Globa ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

. During his governorship and vice-presidency, he worked hard on educational affairs and success to make all people of the new generations of Taiwan to be educated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hsieh, Tung-Min 1908 births 2001 deaths Vice presidents of the Republic of China on Taiwan Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Changhua County Politicians with disabilities Senior Advisors to President Lee Teng-hui Senior Advisors to President Chiang Ching-kuo National Sun Yat-sen University alumni Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan 20th-century Taiwanese educators Chairpersons of the Taiwan Provincial Government Magistrates of Kaohsiung County Presidents of universities and colleges in Taiwan Shih Chien University faculty National Taiwan Normal University faculty