Wang Tuoh

Infobox_Politician
name=Wang Tuoh
honorific-suffix=


order=
term_start=
term_end=
predecessor=
successor=
birth_date= birth date and age|1944|1|9
birth_place= Keelung, Taiwan
death_date=
death_place=
spouse=
party=DPP
alma_mater= National Taiwan Normal University
National Chengchi University
occupation= Politician
profession= Writer
Philologist

Wang Tuoh (zh-tp|t=王拓|p=Wáng Tuo; born Jan 9, 1944) is a Taiwanese writer, intellectual, literary critic and politician. He was born in Badouzi (八斗子) , then a small fishing village near the northern port city of Keelung. His name was originally Wang Hung-chiu (王紘久).

Writing career

Wang Tuoh published his first short story, "The Hanging Tree" in 1970, and went on to write a series of stories set in his home village of Badouzi that drew heavily on his own experiences in a small, insular village where everyone is part of a larger family that has been there for five generations. The most well-known of these stories is the novella "Auntie Jinshui" (金水嬸; published September 1976) which describes the story of the eponymous Auntie Jinshui. Auntie Jinshui is a street peddler who has successfully raised and educated six sons, but falls upon especially hard times after being swindled by a priest introduced to her by one of her sons. She then falls behind on her payments to her Hui (會), an informal village credit network, and finds herself gradually ostracized from her friends and family. This novella was also later made into a movie.

His novels are "The Story of Cowbelly Harbor",(牛肚港的故事; published 1982) and "Taipei, Taipei!",(台北，台北!; published 1983), both written while he was in jail as a political prisoner.

Political career

After being freed from prison in 1984, he joined the political opposition to the ruling Kuomintang and in 1991 was elected to Taiwan's Legislative Yuan as a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member for Keelung City.

Wang was nominated by the DPP to run for Keelung City mayor in 2005. The Pan-Green Coalition had two candidates in the election, with both the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan Solidarity Union nominating their own candidate. Wang lost the election, getting only 2,771 votes. He got the least votes out of all four candidates.

In May 2008, Wang was appointed by chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen to serve as the Secretary General of the DPP.