Lai Pin-yu (; born 2 March 1992) is a Taiwanese politician of the

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist and centre-left political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). Controlling both the Republic of China presidency and the unicameral Legislative Yuan, it is the majori ...

who was elected to the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel v ...

in 2020. She is also a

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

er.

Education and early activism

Lai was born on 2 March 1992 in Zhonghe,

Taipei County New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, be ...

, Taiwan. She is the daughter of the

politician Lai Chin-lin and his wife Wu Ju-ping (吳如萍), a media worker. Lai obtained her bachelor's degree in law from

National Taipei University National Taipei University (NTPU; ), founded in 1949, is a national university in Taiwan which specializes in law, business, humanities, and social sciences. Before 2000, the university was named the College of Law and Business, National Chung ...

in 2013. After the appearance of the and the in 2012 caused by the death of Hung Chung-chiu, Lai began to participate in many social movements in person. During

Chen Deming Chen Deming (; born 1949) is a former the President of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits of the People's Republic of China. Early life Chen was born in Shanghai in 1949. He went on to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Economics, a ...

's 26 November 2013 visit with Chairman of

Straits Exchange Foundation The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF; ; often abbreviated as 海基會) is a semiofficial organization set up by the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to handle technical and/or business matters with the People's Republic of China (P ...

Lin Join-sane Lin Join-sane (; born 17 December 1944) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation from 27 September 2012 until 20 May 2016. KMT Secretary-General Yu Chang Biologics Co. Case In August 2012, commenting on ...

, more than 20 students from the Black Island Youth Front, dissatisfied with Chen's pressure on the

Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement The Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, commonly abbreviated CSSTA and sometimes alternatively translated Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services, is a treaty between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) tha ...

, planned to hold a placard to protest near the foundation headquarters. They immediately clashed with the police there; Lai was surrounded alongside two other female students by ten female police officers, and was dragged by the police all the way to the headquarters before letting go. In an interview on the same day, she said that the effects of relative cheapness of Chinese labor and the easing of environmental laws will cause Taiwan's industry to stagnate the salary level of Taiwan's labor in comparison with mainland China. Since Lai Pin-yu is an anime fan herself and also likes

selfies A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as Face ...

and

, she received a lot of followers on Facebook. In the demolition of the triggered by the in December 2013, Lai Pin-yu decided to combine the issue of destruction with cosplay, and cosplay as

Rei Ayanami is a fictional character from the anime ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'', created by Gainax. She is the First Child and pilot of a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit 00. At the beginning of the series, Rei is an enigmatic figure whose unusual behav ...

, a character in the ''

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known simply as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. ''Evangelion' ...

'' franchise, in the hopes that the image work left by taking pictures of the architectural remains of the Huaguang community will attract more attention. In January 2014, during the , she pointed out that in the new draft syllabus proposed by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, only the

1943 Cairo Declaration The Cairo Declaration was the outcome of the Cairo Conference in Cairo, Egypt, on 27 November 1943. President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of t ...

is mentioned in the process of determining the status of international law, but it downplays the content of the

Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...

and the

Taiwan Relations Act The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA; ; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Thôi-van Kwan-hè-fap''; ) is an act of the United States Congress. Since the formal recognition of the People's Republic of China, the Act has defined the officially substantial but non-diplom ...

enacted by the

96th United States Congress The 96th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 1979 ...

. Lai participated in

Sunflower Student Movement The Sunflower Student Movement is associated with a protest movement driven by a coalition of students and civic groups that came to a head between March 18 and April 10, 2014, in the Legislative Yuan and, later, also the Executive Yuan of T ...

in 2014 where she was arrested for blocking traffic with other protesters.

Political career

Lai entered politics in September 2019 when she became a

candidate for the

in the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election. As a cosplayer, Lai was seen dressed up as

Asuka Langley Soryu is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion (franchise), ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' franchise created by Gainax. She first appears in the Neon Genesis Evangelion, original anime series, and also appears in the franchise's animate ...

from the Japanese ''

'' anime franchise and

Sailor Mars , better known as , is a fictional character in the ''Sailor Moon'' manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. In the series, Rei is her sailor form's alternative human identity as part of the Sailor Soldiers, female supernatural fi ...

from the ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

'' franchise in her campaign advertisement. On 11 January 2020, Lai won the election to become the member of Legislative Yuan representing New Taipei City Constituency XII. Similarly, in 2022, Lai cosplayed as Yor Forger from ''

Spy × Family ''Spy × Family'' (stylized as ''SPY×FAMILY'' and pronounced "Spy Family") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo. The story follows a spy who has to "build a family" to execute a mission, not realizing that th ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lai, Pin-yu 1992 births Living people Cosplayers Democratic Progressive Party Members of the Legislative Yuan National Taipei University alumni Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan Members of the 10th Legislative Yuan 21st-century Taiwanese women politicians