Engineer who became Taiwan's first nonpartisan premier and later mayor of Taoyuan
Born in Taipei in 1954, he is the son of a father from Tianjin who came to Taiwan in 1948 to work for the Chinese Petroleum Corporation and a mother from Tainan. He studied civil engineering at National Taiwan University, took a master's at Stanford and a doctorate at Cornell, taught at NTU and was the first director of the National Center for High-Performance Computing. After running data-centre businesses at Acer and Google he entered government in 2012 as a minister without portfolio, then became the first minister of science and technology and vice premier. In February 2016 he succeeded Mao Chi-kuo for the four months before the transfer of power, becoming Taiwan's first nonpartisan premier. He lost the 2020 election as the Kuomintang candidate Han Kuo-yu's running mate, joined the Kuomintang in 2022 and was elected mayor of Taoyuan.
Also known as: Simon Chang · Zhang Shanzheng
Activities and affiliations
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2014
Republic of China state institutionsMinister of Science and Technology
Science and technology -
2014–2016
Republic of China state institutionsVice Premier
Government and administration -
2016
Republic of China state institutionsPresident of the Executive YuanHeads of state, government and party of ChinaMain
Political and party leadership -
2022–
Political and party leadership
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2022–
Republic of China state institutionsMayor of Taoyuan
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1981–1990Lecturer, associate professor and professor of civil engineering at NTU
- 1991–1997Director of the National Center for High-Performance Computing
- 1998–2000Director of the NSC Department of Planning and Evaluation
- 2000–2010Vice president of Acer's e-Enabling Services Business Group
- 2010–2012Google regional director of hardware operations in Asia
- 2012.02–2014.03.03Minister without portfolio
- 2014.03.03–12.08Minister of Science and Technology
- 2014.12.08–2016.02.01Vice Premier
- 2016.02.01–05.20President of the Executive Yuan
- 2020.01Lost the election as the Kuomintang vice-presidential candidate
- 2022.12–presentMayor of Taoyuan