Tseng Wen-hui (; (born 31 March 1926) is a Taiwanese public figure,

First Lady of the Republic of China The First Lady of the Republic of China refers to the wife of the President of the Republic of China. Since 1949, the position has been based in Taiwan, where they are often called by the title of First Lady of Taiwan, in addition to First Lady ...

(

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

) from 1988 to 2000, and widow of former Taiwanese

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

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 ...

Biography

Tseng was born on 31 March 1926 in Sanshi Village,

Taihoku Prefecture Taihoku Prefecture (台北州; ''Taihoku-shū'') was an administrative division of Taiwan created in 1920, during Japanese rule. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Keelung, New Taipei City, Taipei and Yilan County. Its government office, ...

, now known as present-day

New Taipei City 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 ...

. Tseng married Lee on 9 February 1949, when he was a teaching assistant in the Faculty of Agriculture and Economics at

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

. The couple had three children. Their eldest son, Lee Hsien-wen, (c. 1950 – 21 March 1982) died of sinus cancer. Daughters Anna and Annie, were born c. 1952 and c. 1954, respectively. Politically, Tseng stated that she preferred to keep a low profile for her husband's sake. However, she became the subject of controversy in 2000 when New Party politicians Elmer Fung,

Hsieh Chi-ta Hsieh Chi-ta (; born 10 February 1949) is a retired Taiwanese politician who served in the Legislative Yuan from 1993 to 2002. Early life and legal career Hsieh was born in Shangrao on 10 February 1949. At the age of eighteen, she became a sc ...

, and

Tai Chi Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an neijia, internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and medita ...

accused her of attempting to flee to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with a suitcase containing NT$85 million. In response, she filed a defamation suit against them on 29 March 2000, making her the only first lady in Taiwan's history to become involved in a lawsuit. The case involved the testimony of Wang Kuang-yu, which marked the first time that any Investigation Bureau director testified in a case under Investigation Bureau jurisdiction. The three were cleared of charges, but Tseng appealed the verdict to the

Taiwan High Court The high courts () are the intermediate appellate courts under the law of Taiwan. The modern court system of Taiwan was founded in 1896, under the Japanese era. Currently there are six high courts and branches in Taiwan. History In 1896, the H ...

. The appeal was submitted in April 2002, and the High Court began its own investigation in November. In December 2003, the High Court reversed the Taipei District Court's decision. All three accusers were fined NT$81,000. Hsieh refused to pay, and was sentenced to three months imprisonment.

References

1926 births Living people First ladies of the Republic of China Second ladies of the Republic of China Taiwanese Christians People from New Taipei Lee Teng-hui {{Taiwan-bio-stub