Lien Chen-Tung
Script error: No such module "AfC submission catcheck". Lien Chen-Tung(Chinese: 連震東; pinyin: Lián Zhèn Dōn; born April 23, 1904, died December 1, 1986) was born inZhongxi District, Tainan City, Taiwan. He was the son of the famous writer Lien Heng (連橫). His son Lien Chan(連戰)is the former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang. Lien Chen-Tung dedicated his life for restoring Taiwaneseeconomy after the Second World War by resuming the operation of railway facilities, promoting land reform, localautonomy, and military work. He was one of the representatives of the political figures of the "half-mountain(半山)"faction of the 1950s.
Contents[edit]
Life
Pre-war
Post-war
Death
Family
References
Life[edit]
Pre-war[edit]
Lien Chen-Tung was born in Tainan Hall in 1904, he graduated from the Economics Department of Keio University inJapan in 1929 and joined the Showa New Newspaper after returning Taiwan. In April 1931, Lien Chen-Tung took a letter written by his father Lien Heng to Senate President Zhang Ji (Chen Rou,1999) (Zheng Xifu, 1992: 166; Lien Heng, 1992a: 8). On June 18, Lien Chen-Tung visited Zhang Ji in NanjingXihuamen (Wutiecheng, 1888-1953). After Zhang Ji read the letter of Lien Heng, he felt “sincerely painful, profoundand upright, deeply moved”, which remained a long time. Zhang Ji then took Chen-Tung to Beijing and urged him tolearn Mandarin. (Zheng Xifu, 1992: 167). He then introduced Lien Chen-Tung to Kuomintang party.
On 11 July 1933, Lien Chen-Tung’s father Lien Heng brought his family to stay in Shanghai. [1] In 1934, Lien Chen-Tung and Chao Lan-Kun(趙蘭坤) married in Beijing. Chao Lan-Kun was born in a famous family in Shenyang, she graduated from Beijing Yanjing University.
On 28 June 1936, Lien Heng died of liver cancer in Shanghai at the age of 58, while Lien Chen-Tung was 32 years old. On August 27, Lien Chen-Tung’s wife Chao Lan-Kun gave birth to Lien Chan in Xi'an.
During the War of Chinese People’s Resistance against Japanese Invasion, Lien Chen-Tung was appointed as the leader of the Chongqing National Government Institute of International Studies and a special member of the Xijing Preparatory Committee. The National Government intended to appoint him to be the first mayor after there organization of Xi’an in Xi’jing, but was put on hold after the Sino-Japanese War broke out.
Post-war[edit]
After the Second World War, Taiwan was recovered from Japan. In November 1945, Taiwanese Chief Executive Chen Yi appointed Lien Chen-Tung as the first chairman of the Taipei State Reception Management Committee to take over the military affairs of Taipei formally.
In January 1946, Lien Chen-Tung was the acting Taipei County Magistrate and Director of the Construction Bureau. On 27 January, the "Taiwan Province Township Organization Regulations" was passed, and the Taipei State Takeover Committee was abolished. Although it was only a short period, under the planning by Lien Chen-Tung, roads and railways were quickly repaired and opened to public traffic, while municipal facilities resumed regular operations, as well as factories started to go into production. In result, Lien Chen-Tung’s work "avoided the phenomenon of administrative disconnection during the reception period". [2]
In February 1946, Lien Chen-Tung’s wife Chao Lan-Kun brought his 8-year-old son Lien Chan to Taiwan for reunion.
At the end of February 1946, Lien Chen-Tung was transferred to the Taiwan Provincial Chief Executive's Office and was in charge of organizing the Provincial Senate. Same year in May, the Taiwan Provincial Senate was formally established, and Lien Chen-Tung was appointed as the Secretary General of the Taiwan Provincial Assembly.
In November 1947, Lien Chen-Tung ran for the first National Assembly in his hometown Tainan, and was successfully elected. [3][2]
In 1948, Lien Chen-Tung was appointed as a member of the Constitutional Supervision Committee. In 1949, he served as the land director of the Southeast Military and Political Affairs Office and the drafting committee of the Taiwan Provincial Local Autonomy Program, which he had great contribution to the implementation of local autonomy and land reform. After the National Government moved to Taiwan in 1950, Lien Chen-Tung was appointed as a member of the Central Reconstruction Committee, he was the only Taiwanese person among the 16 members. He was also the president of the China Daily, which he was later reassigned as the chairman of the board of directors. [3]
In 1953, Lien Chen-Tung served as the fifth group director of the Kuomintang Central Party Department and was appointed as the member of Taiwan Provincial Government and the director of Construction. Since 1954, he was transferred to the Minister of Civil Affairs of the Taiwan Provincial Government, which he actively encouraged local self-government, He also served as the Secretary-General of the Taiwan Provincial Government. In 1955, the government held the first census of Taiwan Province, and Lien Chen-Tung was also the Deputy Director of the Census Department.
In 1958, Lien Chen-Tung was elected to the supervisor of the Provincial Police People's Association. [4]
On 25 March 1960, Lien Chen-Tung was appointed as the Deputy Secretary-General of the Kuomintang and resigned as a member of the Taiwan Provincial Government and Minister of Civil Affairs. In May, due to the reformation of the Executive Yuan, he was served as the new Minister of the Interior of the Executive Yuan promoting Taiwan’s economic construction, land reform, the establishment of military service system, and the implementation of local election government policy.
In 1961, Lien Chen-Tung’s son Lien Chan obtained a master's degree in international public law and diplomacy from the University of Chicago with the paper “Taiwan's Land Reform”. In 1965, Lien Chen-Tung’s only son Lien Chan was under the guidance of Professor Zou Dang (the son of Lien Chen-Tung’s family friend Zou Lu), and obtained a doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago with the title of " Chinese Communism versus Pragmatism: The Criticism of Hu Shih's Philosophy". On September 5, Lien Chan married Fang Yu, at the University of Chicago, Pound Church.
In 1963, Chen-Tung was elected as the Standing Committee member of the Central Committee during the ninth National Congress of Kuomintang Conference. In 1966, he was appointed as the Director of the Census Department of the Executive Yuan, he then resigned the Minister of the Interior and served as a member of the Executive Council in the same year. In 1967, Lien Chen-Tung was appointed as a member of the National Security Council and the convener of the political group of the National Construction and Design Committee. In 1969, during the Tenth National Congress of Kuomintang Conference, Lien Chen-Tung was assigned as a member of the Central Review Committee. In 1976, he was appointed as the National Policy Adviser of the Presidential Office. In 1980, he was appointed as the Senior Advisors to the Office of the President of the Republic of China.
Death[edit]
In 1986, Lien Chen-Tung died at the National Taiwan University Hospital at the age of 82 [3][2][5], and was buried in Yangmingshan No.1 Public Cemetery.
Mr. Lien Chen-Tung returned to Taiwan as the first chairman of the Taipei State Takeover Committee in 1945. During those 41 years until his death in 1986, he served as the first Taipei County Magistrate, the Chief Executive of the Taiwan Provincial Chief Executive, the Secretary General of the Taiwan Provincial Council, the Representative of the First National Congress, the land director of the Southeast Military and Political Affairs Office and the drafting committee of the Taiwan Provincial Local Autonomy Program, the Director of the Taiwan Provincial Government, Secretary general of the Taiwan Provincial Government, the Minister of the Interior of the Executive Yuan, the Standing Committee member of the Central Committee Administrative Council, the Member of the Executive Yuan, the chairman of the presidium of the Chinese KMT Central Review Committee, the National Policy Adviser of the Presidential Palace, and the Senior Advisors to the Office of the President of the Republic of China. He had a great contribution to the reconstruction of Taipei, as well as local self-government and the development of the country.
On 23 Dec 1986, President Chiang Ching Kuo issued a “Posthumous Presidential Citation” to praise Lien Chen-Tung, the wordings are of which are as follows:
“Lien Chen-Tung, who was the representative of the National Assembly, and the Senior Advisor to the Office of the President of the Republic of China, determined his ambition at young and had inherited his family customs to serve the country. He profoundly understood the interest of the nation, and had entirely devoted himself to motherland after graduation to protect the country from foreign countries’ attacks. After the War of Chinese People’s Resistance against Japanese Invasion, while Taiwan was recovered from Japan, Lien was elected as the member of constitution committee and the representative of the First National Assembly. Lien served respectively as the Taipei County Magistrate, the Secretary General of the Taiwan Provincial Council, the Director of the Construction Department of the Taiwan Provincial Government, the Director of the Civil Affairs Department, and the Minister of the Interior. Lien had a great contribution in land reform, the development of economic, military service, and the household administration and so on. Especially in the aspect of local self-government, his contribution was evident and profound. Since Lien was engaged as the Senior Advisor to the Office of the President of the Republic of China, he had made outstanding contributions to the country and was public-spirited to the society, which had been long praised by the public. I deeply mourn for his passing and feel that a citation should be given to praise his loyalty and contributions for the country.”
Family[edit]
Lien Chen-Tung was the only son of Lien Heng. He had three sisters. His wife was Chao Lan-Kun. His son was Lien Chan, the ninth vice president of the Republic of China and the honorary chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party. Lien’s family lived in the Ma Bing Battalion of Ningnan Square in Tainan. During the Japanese occupation period, properties of Lien’s family were confiscated by the Japanese due to Lien’s family were supporting the Liu Yongfu black flag army. After Taiwan’s recovery, Lien’s family moved to Taipei, so Chen-Tung’s wife Chao Lan-Kun sold all the properties left in Miaoli. She used the money to invest in construction, real estate and finance. By long-term holding of the investments and the economic takeoff in Asia, Lien’s family gained wealth after decades.
References[edit]
1. 陳柔縉, 總統的親戚:揭開台灣權貴家族的臍帶與裙帶關係. 時報文化. 1999. ISBN 978-957-13-2970-3 Search this book on 
..
2. 《連戰家族》，馬騏、馬曉梅著，東方出版社出版發行
3. 《連故資政震東年譜初稿》，鄭喜夫編撰，台灣省文獻委員會編印
4. 〈省警民協會選出新任理監事〉，1958年11月21日《聯合報》第5版
5. 《元老政治家連震東的主計經歷》，韋端撰，行政院主計處主計故事 (http://www.dgbas.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1541
&ctNode=99)
References[edit]
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