Chen Chu

30-second overview:
Chen Chu's life is a microcosm of Taiwan's democracy moving from darkness toward light. She joined the dangwai (outside-the-party) movement at 19, was sentenced to the sole death penalty among defendants at the Meilidao Incident trial at age 29 and wrote her last will, yet miraculously survived. She governed Kaohsiung for 12 years, transforming the industrial city into a waterfront garden, and in early 2026 stepped down as President of the Control Yuan. She is one of the rare figures in Taiwan's political arena to span the dangwai era, local government, and the central government.

In April 1980, in a narrow cell at the Jingmei Military Detention Center, the 29-year-old Chen Chu awaited a trial that might lead to death. As the sole defendant sentenced to death in the Meilidao Incident, she held her pen and wrote a final message to the people of Taiwan: "May the people of my deeply beloved homeland — Taiwan — soon enjoy a life of true fairness, equality, freedom, and democracy."¹ She probably hadn't imagined then that this last will would not become an ending, but the starting line for her subsequent nearly fifty years of political career.

From "Little Sister of the Dangwai Movement" to Death-Row Prisoner

Chen Chu was born into a farming family in Sanxing, Yilan. At age 19 she became secretary to dangwai (outside-the-party) democracy pioneer Kuo Yu-hsin, and began threading through the gaps of the martial law system.² At the time, she was a key hub connecting domestic and international human rights organizations, frequently bringing foreign human rights groups to secretly visit the families of political prisoners and passing out lists of those imprisoned.³

On December 10, 1979, the Meilidao Incident erupted. As an editorial committee member of "Formosa" magazine, Chen Chu was swept up in the subsequent mass arrests. In the military trial, she was the youngest female defendant. In prison, she faced humiliation and abuse, yet wrote in her last will: "In thirty years I am not the first victim, but I hope the last."⁴ In the end, under international public pressure, she escaped the death penalty and was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment; after serving over 6 years she was paroled in 1986.⁵

Governing Kaohsiung: A Glorious Transformation for an Industrial City

After her release, Chen Chu's role shifted from one who resists to one who governs. In 2006, she won the Kaohsiung mayoral election by a narrow margin, opening the 12-year "Mama Mayor" era. Under her governance, the most visible change in Kaohsiung was its transition from a city of smokestacks to one emphasizing waterfront scenery and cultural creativity.

She promoted the "Asia New Bay Area" plan, constructed the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center and the City Library, and transformed abandoned port warehouses into today's "Pier-2 Art Center."⁶ The 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung were an important stage for her to show the international community the results of Kaohsiung's transformation. However, governance was not without setbacks. The "Kaohsiung Gas Explosion" that occurred on the night of July 31, 2014, caused 32 deaths and 321 injuries — the heaviest blow of her tenure.⁷ Facing post-disaster compensation and pipeline remediation, Chen Chu completed the reconstruction under pressure; this experience became both an indelible controversy and a badge of honor in her governance record.

📝 Curatorial perspective:

Chen Chu's 12 years in Kaohsiung were not only hardware renewal but also a reshaping of the city's identity. She returned to citizens the port that had previously been hidden behind walls, trying to prove that this industrial city that had created Taiwan's economic miracle could also possess poetry and dignity.

Control Yuan President and the Last Mile of Human Rights

In 2020, Chen Chu was appointed President of the Control Yuan and also served as the inaugural chair of the National Human Rights Commission. This appointment at the time sparked considerable political controversy; opponents questioned whether her strong political coloring made it difficult to maintain the neutrality of the supervisory organ.⁸ But for Chen Chu, this seemed like a fulfillment of fate — from the "little sister" who passed on lists of political prisoners, to the highest official now safeguarding the national human rights institution.

During her time at the Control Yuan, she promoted multiple human rights investigations and connected with international human rights organizations. However, the accumulated effects of long-term high-pressure work and the passage of years also sent signals from her body. In late 2024, she was hospitalized after a cold triggered a cerebrovascular blockage.⁹ On January 28, 2026, the Presidential Office issued a presidential decree accepting Chen Chu's resignation as President of the Control Yuan, effective February 1.¹⁰

Epilogue: The Fight Not Yet Finished

In early 2026, as Chen Chu slowly walked out through the gates of the Control Yuan, Taiwan was completely different from when she had entered politics at age 19. In prison she had quoted the words of the Apostle Paul: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race."¹¹ For this woman who had witnessed a death sentence and governed a city of millions, the path she ran has long since been paved into the asphalt road on which those who follow walk freely.

"I am not the first victim, but I hope the last." This sentence in 1980 was a heroic, mournful final note; in 2026 Taiwan, it has become a quiet and resolute promise.

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