Peng, Ming-min, 1923-

Education:
B.A., National Taiwan University
M.A., McGill University
J.D., University of Paris, 1954
 
 
 

Prof. Peng Ming-min (from Taiwan Communique)

Prof. Peng Ming-min, born in 1923, was the former chairman of the department of political science of National Taiwan University before he was arrested in 1964 for drafting a manifesto calling for a new democratic constitution and Taiwan independence. In 1970 while under surveillance he eluded the secret police and escaped abroad.

He returned to Taiwan in 1992 after two decades of exile in the United States. Prof. Peng's has significant support in the academic community. Many of his former students are now prominent university professors. He has gained some name recognition from speaking in political rallies and frequent press interviews. Prof. Peng appeared to be a front runner in Taipei and Kaohsiung among DPP members according to some unofficial opinion polls.

Many supporters pointed out that he could be the most eloquent spokesman for Taiwan in the international arena because of his knowledge and experience in international affairs and his fluency in both the Japanese and English languages. Prof. Peng's weakness is that he does not belong to any faction in the DPP. The lack of factional support could be a problem in the first stage of the primary when he might not be able to gain enough votes to move on to the second stage of the primary.
 
 

Blurb for A Taste of Freedom
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/3307/pengbook.htm

    The three worlds in which I had lived in the past decades came distinctively and simultaneously into my thoughts:  the Chinese world of my ethnic heritage; the Japanese world in which I spent most of my youth, and which was once politically dominant over Formosa; and the Western world to which I had been closely linked ideologically and intellectually and to which I was returning.
    I was now heading toward a blank and uncertain future, but I was certain of one thing: the life ahead would never be the same as the life I had lived.
     A sharp awareness came to my mind that my experience symbolized the destiny of a whole generation of Formosans--their life and tragedy.

    The man who wrote these lines after fleeing his homeland and whose autobiography this is, is one of the leaders of the Formosan independence movement.  Although at one time a legal adviser to the Chinese Nationalist Delegation at the United Nations, he was seized by Chiang Kai-shek's police in 1964, charged with sedition, and held first in prison and then in his own home, from which he dramatically escaped in 1970.

    Born into a well-to-do Formosan family in 1923, Peng went to school first in Formosa, which was part of the Japanese Empire from 1895 to 1945, and then during World War II in Japan, where he was seriously wounded during an American bombing raid and witnessed the atomic explosion at Nagasaki.  After completing his education at National Taiwan University he went on to pursue a Masters degree from  McGill University in Canada.  He received a doctoral degree in Law from the University of Paris in 1954.  After returning to Taiwan, Peng became Professor and Chairman of the Political Science Department at Taiwan National University from 1961-62.

    However, Peng's growing awareness that Chiang Kai-shek's repressive regime had no intention of allowing his more than fourteen million countrymen to control their own destines drove him into political opposition.  He was arrested in the fall of 1964, while preparing his manifesto, "Declaration of Formosans", calling for a new democratic constitution and Formosan independence.

    Peng Ming-min taught at the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan (1970-72) when he wrote this book  He then taught at Wright State University in Ohio until 1974.  He was President of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) from 1986-89.

    After 22 years of exile in the United States, he finally returned to his beloved homeland of Taiwan in November 1992.  He received a heroic welcome from the people of Taiwan.  Peng is now considered the spiritual leader of the Taiwanese People both in the USA and in Taiwan.  After returning to Taiwan, Peng continued to devote his efforts to speak out for the right to self-determination of the Taiwanese people and the democratization of Taiwan.  He was the presidential candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the 1996 presidential elections in Taiwan.
 

A Taste of Freedom (e-book)
Second edition published in 1994 by
Taiwan Publishing Co.
1182 N. Monte Vista Ave., Unit #18
Upland, CA  91786
U.S.A.
Tel: 909-949-1003
Fax: 909-949-8833
(C) 1994 by Peng Ming-min

First edition published in the United States of America 1972 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.  Copyright (C) 1972 by Peng Ming-min.

Electronic version prepared by The Nation Building Union of Taiwan