Tu Cheng-sheng (; born 10 June 1944) is a

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

politician and historian. Tu served as the Minister of Education of the

Republic of China 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 northeast ...

during

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whic ...

's second term as President."Nose-picking lawmaker to shout his last good-bye"

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

, Apr 24, 2008

Education and career

Tu Cheng-sheng graduated from the Provincial Tainan Normal University (present-day

National University of Tainan The National University of Tainan (NUTN; ) is a university in West Central District, Tainan, Taiwan. History NUTN was founded during the Japanese rule as Tainan Normal School in June 1899. In January 1946, after handover to the Republic of Chi ...

) in 1966. He also attended the

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 ...

in 1970 and majored in

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

(bachelor's degree 1970, master's degree 1974). He is a specialist in the history of ancient Chinese society, culture and medicine. In articles of 1986, 1987 and 1992 Tu explored semblance between the

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

s of the ancients Western civilization and the state formations of early China. He served as Director of National Palace Museum from May 2000 to May 2004. He also served as a director of a research center on history and languages of the

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

and a professor at the

National Tsing Hua University National Tsing Hua University (NTHU; ) is a public research university in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. National Tsing Hua University was first founded in Beijing. After the Chinese Civil War, the then-president of the university, Mei Yiqi, and other ...

Personality

Tu gained notoriety for his colorful and abrasive behavior. After being filmed asleep at a 2007 meeting of 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 ...

, he was photographed picking his nose in response to public criticism. Also that year, he grabbed a reporter's microphone and shoved a cameraman into a wall.

Publications

* * , translation
Ilha Formosa: the Emergence of Taiwan on the World Scene in the 17th Century
* *

References

Living people 1944 births Taiwanese educators 20th-century Taiwanese historians Taiwanese Ministers of Education National Taiwan University alumni Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Kaohsiung Members of Academia Sinica Writers from Kaohsiung 21st-century Taiwanese historians {{Taiwan-politician-stub