Shen Chun-shan

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Shen Chun-shan
Chinese:	沈君山
Transliterations Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin: Shěn Jūnshān - Wade-Giles: Shen3 Chun1-shan1

Shen Chun-shan (born 29 August 1932 in Yuyao, Zhejiang) is a retired academic in Taiwan, most noted for his position as the former head of National Tsing Hua University.^[1][2] He is known as one of the "four princes of the Kuomintang" along with Chen Li-an, Fredrick Chien (錢復), and Lien Chan, all of whose fathers attained prominent positions in the Kuomintang prior to their sons' successes.^[3]

Shen's parents were both highly educated and had previously studied in the United States; his maternal grandfather also went to France as an exchange student. A propensity to strokes runs in his family; his maternal grandfather died of a stroke in his 30s while in France, and his mother died of the same cause when the young Shen himself was only 9. He followed his father to Taiwan a few years later in 1949.^[4] He graduated from National Taiwan University's physics department in 1955.^[5] In 1957, he left Taiwan for the United States, where he received a doctorate in physics from the University of Maryland in 1961 before going on to teach at Princeton University and Purdue University as well as taking up a position at NASA.^[2] He returned to Taiwan in 1973 to take up a post as the head of National Tsing Hua University's sciences faculty, at a salary only one-eighth that which he received in the United States, earning him praise as a "model of patriotism" for his actions.^[4]

Shen entered into politics in 1988, with his appointment to the Executive Yuan's Governmental Affairs Commission; he later served as a member of the Central Election Committee, an arbitrator of the Academia Sinica, and most prominently with the National Unification Council, as a member of which he made three visits to Zhongnanhai to meet with People's Republic of China leaders.^[3][4][5] He took up his post as the president of National Tsing Hua University in 1993; he retired from that position and from academic life in 1997.^[1]

Outside of his academic and political work, Shen enjoys playing Go.^[6] He also started the first international chapter of the University of Maryland's alumni association, and was a member of the first group elected to their Alumni Hall of Fame when it was established in 1995.^[2][7] His health deteriorated further after his retirement; he suffered his first stroke in June 1999. In September 2005, a year and a half after the 2004 publication of the first portion of his memoirs, he suffered his second stroke.^[4][8] However, even after his second stroke, he continued writing; his series of biographies of five Go masters Go Seigen, Minoru Kitani, Rin Kaiho, Cho Hunhyun, and Nie Weiping was published in June 2006.^[9] His third stroke, which left him in a coma, came on 6 July 2007; he was hospitalised at Hsinchu's Mackay Memorial Hospital.^[10]

[edit] Publications

• Shen, Chun-shan (March 2004). 浮生後記 (Memoirs of a Floating Life) (in Chinese). Bookzone. ISBN 9864171526. 
• Shen, Chun-shan (September 2005). 浮生再記 (Memoirs of a Floating Life 2) (in Chinese). Bookzone. ISBN 9574442578. 
• Shen, Chun-shan (September 2005). 浮生三記 (Memoirs of a Floating Life 3) (in Chinese). Bookzone. ISBN 9575607494. 
• Shen, Chun-shan (June 2006). 沈君山說棋王故事１吳清源 (Shen Chun-shan Tells the Stories of Kings of Go 1: Go Seigen) (in Chinese). Boss. ISBN 9575884930. 
• Shen, Chun-shan (June 2006). 沈君山說棋王故事２木谷實 (Shen Chun-shan Tells the Stories of Kings of Go 2: Kitani Minoru) (in Chinese). Boss. ISBN 9575884973. 
• Shen, Chun-shan (June 2006). 沈君山說棋王故事３林海峰 (Shen Chun-shan Tells the Stories of Kings of Go 3: Rin Kaiho) (in Chinese). Boss. ISBN 9575884949. 
• Shen, Chun-shan (June 2006). 沈君山說棋王故事４曹薰鉉 (Shen Chun-shan Tells the Stories of Kings of Go 4: Cho Hunhyun) (in Chinese). Boss. ISBN 9575884957. 
• Shen, Chun-shan (June 2006). 沈君山說棋王故事５聶衛平 (Shen Chun-shan Tells the Stories of Kings of Go 5: Nie Weiping) (in Chinese). Boss. ISBN 9575884965. 

[edit] References