Lei Chen (; 8 July 1897 – 7 March 1979) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

politician and dissident who was the early leading figure in the movement to bring fuller democracy to the government of the Republic of China. Born in

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

in 1897, Lei was educated at

Kyoto Imperial University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff = 3,978 (Total Staff) , students = ...

in Japan. His early political career included posts as the secretary-general of the and . He also served on the

Control Yuan The Control Yuan is the supervisory and auditory branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Prior to constitutional reforms in the 1990s, the Control Yuan, along with National Assembly (electoral college) and the Legislati ...

, as minister without portfolio, and presidential adviser. Lei Chen helped found and produce the periodical '' Free China'', published beginning in 1950. Lei was expelled from the

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 ...

in 1954. Six years later, he founded the China Democratic Party with Hsu Shih-hsien and

Huang Hua Huang Hua (; ; January 25, 1913 – November 24, 2010) was a senior Communist Chinese revolutionary, politician, and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister of China from 1976 to 1982, and concurrently as Vice Premier from 1980 to 1982. He was i ...

, among others. Shortly thereafter, Lei was charged with sedition and jailed. The charges are widely regarded as having been falsified by the Taiwan government and its then-ruling party the

in response to Lei Chen's criticisms. He was released in 1970 and died on 7 March 1979, aged 82. He was married to Sung Ying, who had also served on the Control Yuan. Lei was posthumously exonerated by the

Transitional Justice Commission The Transitional Justice Commission (TJC; ) was an independent government agency of the Republic of China (Taiwan) active from 31 May 2018 to 30 May 2022 based on the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice. The commission is responsible for the i ...

in May 2019.

References

External links

Lei Zhen Papers Acquired by Hoover Institution Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lei, Chen 1897 births 1979 deaths Taiwanese activists Taiwanese prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Taiwan Politicians from Huzhou Taiwanese journalists Writers from Huzhou Taiwanese people from Zhejiang Expelled members of the Kuomintang Taiwanese Members of the Control Yuan Government ministers of Taiwan Senior Advisors to President Chiang Kai-shek Taiwanese political party founders Republic of China politicians from Zhejiang 20th-century Taiwanese politicians 20th-century journalists Taiwanese politicians convicted of crimes People convicted of sedition