Portal:Taiwan/Selected biography/2007
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These biographies have appeared on the Portal:Taiwan page in 2007 since the creation of the portal. They are selected from the list of selected biography.
Contents |
January
Teresa Teng (sometimes spelled Teresa Tang or Teresa Deng; Traditional Chinese: 鄧麗君; Simplified Chinese: 邓丽君; Hanyu Pinyin: Dèng Lìjūn; Wade-Giles: Teng Li-chün, popular in Japan as テレサ・テン or Teresa Ten) (January 29, 1953 - May 8, 1995) was one of the most famous singers in East Asia, from Taipei, Taiwan.
She was born in Tienyang, a village in Yunlin County, Taiwan to a mainlander family originating from Hebei province. She was educated at Ginling Girls High School, and commenced her professional singing career in 1967 with Universal Records.
She recorded several famous songs, including "When Will You Return?" (Simplified Chinese: 何日君再来; pinyin: Hé Rì Jūn Zài Lái). In addition to her Mandarin repertoire, she also recorded songs in the Taiwanese dialect (a variant of Min Nan), Cantonese, Japanese, Indonesian (in 1977) and English.
February
Jen-Hsun Huang (黃仁勳; pinyin: Huáng Rénxūn) (born February 17, 1963) co-founded NVIDIA Corporation in 1993 and is currently the CEO and President.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, he spent several years living in Thailand until he was accidentally sent to Oneida Baptist Institute, a Christian boarding reform school in Kentucky. His uncle and aunt, recent immigrants to Tacoma, Washington who spoke little English, unwittingly thought it was a prep school but soon learned otherwise.
March
Vivian Hsu (Hanzi: 徐若瑄, pinyin: Xú Ruòxuān, Wade-Giles: Hsu Jo-hsuan, Japanese: ビビアン・スー) born March 19, 1975 in Taichung, Taiwan, is a famous singer, actress, and model who has worked mainly in Taiwan and Japan.
The second of three children, Vivian was born 徐淑娟 (py. Xú Shújuān), and used this name until she began modelling nude. Her parents divorced when she was a child. She attended Taipei Jianxing Elementary School and Taipei Shulinguo Junior High School.
She got her start in entertainment after winning first place in a "Talented Beautiful Girl" contest held by Taiwan CTS TV in 1990. At this point, she was working by delivering food on her bicycle, and her customers began to recongise her from her television appearances. The same year she joined a musical duo named 少女隊 (py. Shào nǔ Dùi, en. Girls Team). They released two albums, in 1991 and 1992, then broke up. Following this, Vivian got her start in modelling.
April
Audrey Tang (Traditional chinese: 唐鳳; born April 18, 1981 as 唐宗漢, formerly known as Autrijus) is a Taiwanese free software programmer, best known for initiating and leading the Pugs project, a joint effort from the Haskell and Perl communities to implement the Perl 6 language.
She is also known for internationalization and localization contributions to several Free Software programs, including SVK, Request Tracker and Slash, as well as heading Traditional Chinese translation efforts for various Open Source-related books.
May
Alexander Lee-Hom Wang (Chinese: 王力宏; pinyin: Wáng Lìhóng; born May 17, 1976; also known as Leehom Wang or Wang Leehom) is a Golden Melody Award winning Taiwanese American singer-songwriter who has achieved success in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia.
Lee-hom Wang was born in Rochester, New York on 17 May 1976. He studied music at Williams College and the Berklee College of Music (Jazz Piano & Composition).
Wang comes from a high pedigree of academics; his father is a pediatrician, his older brother, Leo (Lee-De) Wang was a student at Yale University, an MD/PhD student at The University of Chicago, and is presently a doctor residing in Chicago, his younger brother, Lee-Kai Wang is a student at MIT, and many of his relatives are doctors. Like much of his family, Wang had considered pursuing a medical career. However, at the last minute Wang realized his true passion was for music. Despite criticism from his family, Wang decided to attend Williams College to pursue his dream of becoming a musician.
June
Richie Jen (Traditional Chinese: 任賢齊; Simplified Chinese: 任贤齐; pinyin: Rèn Xiánqí, born June 23, 1966 in Changhua County, Taiwan) is a popular singer and actor from Taiwan. As a freshman studying physical education at PCCU, he was a guitarist and vocalist in the band ATP. As a sophomore, he became a DJ on campus. By the time he was a senior in college, he was signed by Sony Music.
His most famous songs are "對面的女孩看過來" ("Girl Across the Way, Look Over Here") and "心太軟" ("Soft Heart").
July
Ma Ying-Jeou (Traditional Chinese: 馬英九; Hanyu Pinyin: Mǎ Yīngjiǔ; Tongyong Pinyin: Ma Yingjiou; Wade-Giles: Ma Ying-chiu) (born July 13, 1950) is a politician in the Republic of China (Taiwan) and a former mayor of Taipei City; he is also the former chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT) . Ma was elected mayor of Taipei, in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. He was elected chairman of the Kuomintang by party members on July 16, 2005. He announced his resignation on February 13, 2007 after being indicted by the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office on charges of alleged misuse of Mayoral funds during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma then announced his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
August
Steve Chen (Simplified Chinese: 陈士骏; Traditional Chinese: 陳士駿; pinyin: Chén Shìjùn; born August 1978 in Taiwan) is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of the popular video sharing website YouTube.
Chen grew up in Taiwan until the age of 15, when his family immigrated to the United States. He attended high school at John Hersey High School as well as the Illinois Math and Science Academy and college from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He was an early employee at PayPal, where he met Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim. The three later founded the YouTube video sharing website in 2005. He currently holds the position of Chief Technology Officer in Youtube.
September
Yo Hitoto (一青窈 Hitoto Yō, born September 20, 1976) is a Japanese popular music singer. Her mother is Japanese and her father is Taiwanese. She can speak three languages: Japanese, English, and standard Mandarin Chinese. Tae Hitoto is her older sister.
She completed kindergarten in Taipei before moving to Japan, and she has lived there ever since. She graduated from the department of Environmental Studies of Keio University and participated in the Keio University a cappella group, K.O.E., during her days as a student. She used to have live concerts on the street with fellow K.O.E. members before she met Youichi Kitayama, a member of the famous Japanese a cappella group the Gospellers. Mr. Kitayama encouraged Yo Hitoto to compose her own music. Before this encounter, she had been a backup singer for many other artists.
October
Takeshi Kaneshiro (Japanese and Traditional Chinese: 金城武, Simplified Chinese: 金城武, Hepburn: Kaneshiro Takeshi, Pinyin: Jīnchéng Wŭ, born October 11, 1973) is a male actor and model. (Takeshi Kaneshiro's Chinese name is Jincheng Wu)
With a Japanese father and a Taiwanese (ethnically Chinese) mother, Kaneshiro was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. He has two brothers. After being bullied at a regular Taiwanese high school, the Gaoxong Preparatory School, over his mixed heritage, he enrolled at English-based Taipei American School, which enabled him to converse in English, making him effectively trilingual considering his fluency in Mandarin and Japanese. It was while he was studying there that he began doing TV commercials, and he decided to quit school in order to pursue a singing and acting career.
November
David Da-i Ho (何大一, pinyin: Hé Dàyī) (born November 3, 1952) is a Taiwanese American AIDS researcher famous for the use of protease inhibitors in treating HIV-infected patients.
Born in Taichung, Taiwan to Paul (an engineer and soldier) and Sonia Ho, David Ho immigrated at the age of twelve to the United States, to unite with his father, who had already been in the USA for nine years at the time. He grew up in Los Angeles and received his BS degree summa cum laude from the California Institute of Technology (1974) and his MD from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (1978). Subsequently, he did his clinical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at UCLA School of Medicine (1978-1982) and Massachusetts General Hospital (1982-1985), respectively. He was a resident in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1981 when he came into contact with some of the first reported cases of what was later identified as AIDS.
December
Chang Fei (Chinese: 張菲; pinyin: Zhāng Fēi; Wade-Giles: Chang-Fei) or Fei Ge (菲哥, literally "Brother Fei") (born December 4, 1951), is a celebrity from Taiwan. His name is homophonous with the legendary hero Zhang Fei of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Chang Fei is the host of the variety show Variety Big Brother, also known as "Zong Yi Da Ge Da" (綜藝大哥大), and is also a singer who has recorded CDs. He is the brother of ballad singer Fei Yu Ching. He also has a sister, who is a buddhist nun, known by the dharma name Heng Shu (恆述法師), who was also a singer. He is associated with long-time friends including Gao Ling Feng and the late comedian Ni Min Jan.
