Hsu Tain-tsair

Hsu Tain-tsair, Ph.D.
12th Mayor of Tainan
Incumbent
Assumed office December 20, 2001
Preceded by	George Chang
Personal details
Born	(1951-01-23) January 23, 1951 Guantian, Tainan, Taiwan
Nationality	Republic of China (Taiwan)
Political party	Template:DPP
Spouse	Hung Shu-chen
Alma mater	Chinese Culture University Rutgers University New School for Social Research
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Manager

Hsu Tain-tsair (Chinese: 許添財), a Taiwanese politician, is the mayor of Tainan City since 2001. He is formerly a member of the Legislative Yuan. He is considered a privy councilor to the Democratic Progressive Party in the field of economics. In 1987, Hsu wrote a book criticizing the Kuomintang's economic policies. The book was called Taiwanese Economic Shock (「台灣經濟大震憾」), and was part of the Liberty Era Weekly Series (自由時代系列叢書). Hsu was also rated "top ten legislator" three times.

Early years

After graduating from Duba Elementary School (渡拔國小) in Tainan County, Hsu attended Tsengwen Junior High School (曾文中學; now the Madou Junior High School), where he was a classmate of the current Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian for four years. He also attended Cheng Kung Senior High School, which is one of the top senior high schools in Taipei. In 1976, Hsu got his Master of Economics degree from the Chinese Culture University and started teaching banking the next year at the same school.

In 1982, Hsu went to the United States as a Columbia University exchange scholar. As a result, he was placed on the Kuomintang's black list, and was unable to return to Taiwan. In the same year, he joined the World United Formosans for Independence. He also served as the literary editor for the Taiwan Tribune (台灣公論報). He got his Ph.D. from Rutgers University. In 1990, Hsu returned to Taiwan with the membership of North America Taiwanese Professors' Association (北美洲台灣人教授協會). With the influence of then-legislators Chen Shui-bian, Peng Pai-hsien (彭百顯), Hung Chi-chang (洪奇昌), and Lu Hsiou-yi (盧修一), the government relented and removed the restriction for Hsu to exit and enter the country, finally issuing him a new passport.

Entry into politics

Hsu started helping members of the World United Formosans for Independence return to Taiwan in 1991. In 1992, after being nominated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Hsu was elected to become a member of the Legislative Yuan. In 1995, he was not nominated by the DPP, but was still elected as an independent candidate. He lost the election for the office of mayor of Tainan in 1997, and instead became the secretary-general of the New National Coalition (新國家連線) shortly after the establishment of the organization. He was re-elected legislator in the 1998 legislative election. Hsu stepped out of the New National Coalition and rejoined the DPP shortly after his re-election to the Legislative Yuan. He was nominated by the DPP Central Executive Committee (中執委) as the party's candidate for the Tainan mayoral race. In September 2001, Hsu was elected the mayor of Tainan.

Tainan mayoralty

Hsu was elected mayor of Tainan in 2001 and was re-elected to that post in 2004. In his terms as mayor, he focused on projects to beautify the city, to set up cultural parks, and to strive for major constructions. He worked to help the city profit from historical assets and restore Tainan's former splendor. He made 2007 Tainan's "year of culture and tourism" to promote Tainan's tourism attractions.

His major mayoral achievements were the renovation of the city transportation system and overseeing the city's successful bids for the 2005 and 2006 Taiwan Lantern Festivals (台灣燈會) and the 2007 National Games of Taiwan (全國運動會). One of his major goals - the renovation of the Tainan Railway Station and National Cheng Kung University are scheduled to be completed during his term in office, and have earned him high compliments. During his second term in office, Tainan City became the first Taiwanese city to enter the Alliance for Healthy Cities of the World Health Organization. Nearly 80 percent of the city's residents approved of the efforts of Hsu and his administration in turning the southern city into a clean and beautiful metropolitan area. In addition, Tainan also became the first Taiwanese city to enter the Global Cities Dialogue. Hsu also believes that Tainan should become a city of international tourism and culture, and is working towards that purpose. In September 2007, he spoke to the 2007 Asia-Pacific Cities Summit (亞太城市高峰會) participants and stated that Tainan is blessed with natural, historic, cultural, and humanistic characteristics, and that Tainan also possesses great conditions for high-tech, trade and investment development.

Under his term, the environment of the city greatly improved. Hsu started a program of having the city's garbage trucks ring out brief English lessons in 2002. He promoted the use of eco-friendly chopsticks by requiring government officials and teachers to use their own reusable chopsticks when dining, expressing that the goal of the campaign is to reduce the use of disposable chopsticks by 100,000 pairs per day.

During the DPP primary election for the nomination of presidential candidate, Hsu expressed that he "will not support the candidate that opposes the construction of a underground railway system in Tainan." Then-Premier Su Tseng-chang promised that the construction would be financially supported by the federal government if he were elected. As a result, Hsu openly supported Su in the primary election.

He also believes that in order to improve the competitive advantage of Taiwan, the government should review the distribution of resources between Northern and Southern Taiwan, with the purpose of balancing their development. Hsu thinks that the United Nations membership referendum is an important step for democracy. He participated in the "UN for Taiwan" rally on September 15, 2007.