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Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou (Chinese: 馬英九; pinyin: Mǎ Yīngjiǔ; // ⓘ Ma-ING-gee-oh; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT), he was previously the mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006 and the chairman of the Kuomintang for two terms (2005–2007; 2009–2014).
Ma was born in British Hong Kong to a prominent waishengren family that moved to Taiwan in 1952. After graduating from National Taiwan University, he joined the Republic of China Marine Corps and attained the rank of lieutenant. He then studied law in the United States, earning a master's degree from New York University in 1976 and his doctorate from Harvard University in 1981.
After practicing law in the United States, Ma became a bureau director and English translator for President Chiang Ching-kuo. From 1988 to 1996, he held office first as chair of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, becoming the youngest cabinet member at age 38, and then as head of the Ministry of Justice, where he launched anti-corruption and anti-drug campaigns. In the 1998 Taipei mayoral election, he successfully ran against incumbent Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). During his mayoralty, he was elected as KMT chairman in 2005 and announced his candidacy in the 2008 Taiwanese presidential election, eventually defeating DPP nominee Frank Hsieh in a landslide majority.
Ma's presidency was defined by closer cross-strait relations with mainland China. He initiated a series of cross-strait summits (2008–2015), was elected again as party chairman in 2009, and signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 2010. After defeating Tsai Ing-wen and being reelected in 2012, his second term saw the September 2013 power struggle and the Sunflower Student Movement protests damage party reputation in the 2014 elections, leading to his resignation as KMT chair. Subsequently, he held the 2015 Ma–Xi meeting in Singapore, marking the first meeting between the leaders of the PRC and ROC since the Chinese Civil War. After leaving the presidency in 2016, Ma became a law professor at Soochow University and has remained active in KMT politics.
Ma was born in Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon (then part of British Hong Kong), on 13 July 1950. In a family of five children, he was the fourth child and the only son. They were an upper-class, prominent political family in Taiwan. Their ancestral home was in Fufeng, Shaanxi Province, and Ma's ancestors had migrated from Shaanxi to Jiangxi and then finally to Hunan. His early ancestor was the Chinese general Ma Chao (176–222), who rose to fame in the Three Kingdoms period and was immortalized in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Ma's mother, Chin Hou-hsiu (1922–2014), was a well-known civil servant who came from a highly educated Chinese family, attended a prestigious school in Changsha, and graduated from National Chengchi University. His father, Ma Ho-ling, was born in Xiangtan and joined the Kuomintang and its youth army in 1941. Ho-ling moved to Taiwan in 1949 during the Great Retreat but briefly returned to mainland China, where he eventually moved from Chongqing to Hong Kong. In October 1951, Ho-ling moved his family to Taiwan, where he worked as a mid-rank Kuomintang official.
Ma is of Hakka ancestry and speaks Hakka Chinese. He was a one year old infant when the family moved to Taiwan. Since the family was Catholic, he was raised in the Catholic faith. While growing up in Taiwan in the 1950s, Ma attended Catholic services and went with his grandmother every Sunday to Catholic mass and confession. At age eight, he was reportedly baptised a Catholic at a Catholic church in Hong Kong. He also received a baptism at Resurrection church on Dali Street in Taipei near the Huaxi Street Night Market, and remains the only Taiwanese president to have been a member of the Catholic Church.
Because he was the family's only son, Ma was pressured to succeed academically by his father, who insisted that he study the Chinese classics, master Chinese calligraphy, and practice track and field. In 1966, while a high school student, Ma decided to study law in college after being advised by his father to pursue a career similar to that of diplomat Wellington Koo. After graduating from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School, he joined the KMT in June 1968 and became a young activist for the party. He passed with high marks on the General Scholastic Ability Test and was admitted to National Taiwan University (NTU) to study law, enrolling in September 1968.
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Ma Ying-jeou
Ma Ying-jeou (Chinese: 馬英九; pinyin: Mǎ Yīngjiǔ; // ⓘ Ma-ING-gee-oh; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT), he was previously the mayor of Taipei from 1998 to 2006 and the chairman of the Kuomintang for two terms (2005–2007; 2009–2014).
Ma was born in British Hong Kong to a prominent waishengren family that moved to Taiwan in 1952. After graduating from National Taiwan University, he joined the Republic of China Marine Corps and attained the rank of lieutenant. He then studied law in the United States, earning a master's degree from New York University in 1976 and his doctorate from Harvard University in 1981.
After practicing law in the United States, Ma became a bureau director and English translator for President Chiang Ching-kuo. From 1988 to 1996, he held office first as chair of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, becoming the youngest cabinet member at age 38, and then as head of the Ministry of Justice, where he launched anti-corruption and anti-drug campaigns. In the 1998 Taipei mayoral election, he successfully ran against incumbent Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). During his mayoralty, he was elected as KMT chairman in 2005 and announced his candidacy in the 2008 Taiwanese presidential election, eventually defeating DPP nominee Frank Hsieh in a landslide majority.
Ma's presidency was defined by closer cross-strait relations with mainland China. He initiated a series of cross-strait summits (2008–2015), was elected again as party chairman in 2009, and signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 2010. After defeating Tsai Ing-wen and being reelected in 2012, his second term saw the September 2013 power struggle and the Sunflower Student Movement protests damage party reputation in the 2014 elections, leading to his resignation as KMT chair. Subsequently, he held the 2015 Ma–Xi meeting in Singapore, marking the first meeting between the leaders of the PRC and ROC since the Chinese Civil War. After leaving the presidency in 2016, Ma became a law professor at Soochow University and has remained active in KMT politics.
Ma was born in Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon (then part of British Hong Kong), on 13 July 1950. In a family of five children, he was the fourth child and the only son. They were an upper-class, prominent political family in Taiwan. Their ancestral home was in Fufeng, Shaanxi Province, and Ma's ancestors had migrated from Shaanxi to Jiangxi and then finally to Hunan. His early ancestor was the Chinese general Ma Chao (176–222), who rose to fame in the Three Kingdoms period and was immortalized in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Ma's mother, Chin Hou-hsiu (1922–2014), was a well-known civil servant who came from a highly educated Chinese family, attended a prestigious school in Changsha, and graduated from National Chengchi University. His father, Ma Ho-ling, was born in Xiangtan and joined the Kuomintang and its youth army in 1941. Ho-ling moved to Taiwan in 1949 during the Great Retreat but briefly returned to mainland China, where he eventually moved from Chongqing to Hong Kong. In October 1951, Ho-ling moved his family to Taiwan, where he worked as a mid-rank Kuomintang official.
Ma is of Hakka ancestry and speaks Hakka Chinese. He was a one year old infant when the family moved to Taiwan. Since the family was Catholic, he was raised in the Catholic faith. While growing up in Taiwan in the 1950s, Ma attended Catholic services and went with his grandmother every Sunday to Catholic mass and confession. At age eight, he was reportedly baptised a Catholic at a Catholic church in Hong Kong. He also received a baptism at Resurrection church on Dali Street in Taipei near the Huaxi Street Night Market, and remains the only Taiwanese president to have been a member of the Catholic Church.
Because he was the family's only son, Ma was pressured to succeed academically by his father, who insisted that he study the Chinese classics, master Chinese calligraphy, and practice track and field. In 1966, while a high school student, Ma decided to study law in college after being advised by his father to pursue a career similar to that of diplomat Wellington Koo. After graduating from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School, he joined the KMT in June 1968 and became a young activist for the party. He passed with high marks on the General Scholastic Ability Test and was admitted to National Taiwan University (NTU) to study law, enrolling in September 1968.
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