Social Relations

Written by Peter Li-Chang Kuo

An old saying goes, “People are valued for their longstanding bonds; tools are valued for their newness.” It means that human relationships are treasured for enduring friendship, while objects are prized for continual renewal.

In real life, people often befriend others because of shared interests. As interests increase, feelings develop; as feelings deepen, trust is established; as trust accumulates, one comes to recognize the other’s ability. When one genuinely respects a capable person, closeness and praise naturally follow. Conversely, when interests disappear, distance arises; prolonged distance breeds aversion; deepened aversion leads to criticism; and excessive criticism turns into hatred. Thus, the friends of the wealthy grow ever closer, while the friends of the poor drift further away. This is why those of humble means find it difficult to contend with the powerful.

Confucius said: “The gentleman settles himself before he acts, steadies his mind before he speaks, and confirms his associations before he seeks help. By cultivating these three, the gentleman attains completeness.”

This means that a gentleman should first establish inner stability and firm footing before taking action; next, he should calm his mind before speaking, so that his words are appropriate; then he should ensure that his social relationships are reliable before making requests for assistance. If one acts rashly, others will not follow; if one speaks out of fear, no one will respond; if one seeks help without having built relationships, no help will be given. Without assistance, one becomes isolated, and adversaries will seize the opportunity to cause harm.

Fig 1: Gilded bronze statue of Confucius

Confucius also said:

“When the gentleman dwells in his room and speaks good words, they are answered even from a thousand miles away — how much more so by those nearby. When he dwells in his room and speaks bad words, they are rejected even from a thousand miles away — how much more so by those nearby.”

This means that when a leader’s inner thoughts are expressed through speech, they influence the people; actions that occur nearby can still be seen from afar. Words and deeds are the pivotal mechanisms of a gentleman; once set in motion, they determine honor or disgrace, success or failure. Words and deeds are the forces by which a gentleman can move Heaven and Earth and influence the world — how could one not be cautious?

Confucius further said: “The Way of the gentleman is sometimes to advance and sometimes to withdraw, sometimes to remain silent and sometimes to speak. When two people are of one mind, their strength can cut through metal; words spoken with one heart are as fragrant as orchids.”

This means that a gentleman knows when to act and when to remain still, when to speak and when to keep silent. When two people share the same purpose, their combined strength becomes extraordinarily powerful; and the words they speak together are like the fragrance of orchids. In short, with mutual support, endeavors are more easily accomplished.

In ancient times, great thinkers were able to harmonize with the nature of Heaven and Earth, resonate with the brilliance of the sun and moon, align with the rhythms of the four seasons, and correspond with the auspicious and inauspicious movements attributed to spirits. Without showing irreverence, they possessed a complete cosmological vision. By adhering to fundamental principles and following the Mandate of Heaven, Heaven itself would not oppose them; thus, within the flow of time, they could gather the strength of the people and accumulate extraordinary power.

Sun Yat-Sen’s Success

Eric Hoffer (1902–1983), author of The True Believer, attributed Sun Yat-Sen’s (1866–1925) success to his ability “to draw around him a large body of loyal and capable men, to fire their imagination with his vision of a new China, and thereby to win their loyalty and devotion.”

Fig 2: The book “The True Believer”

Hoffer believed that Chiang Kai-Shek (1887–1975) was the opposite. In his view, Chiang lacked virtually every quality required of a mass-movement leader — “those around him consistently went against him”—and the number of defectors was beyond counting.

With the revolutionary vision of “expelling the Manchus, restoring China, and establishing a republican government,” Sun Yat-Sen ignited the imagination and spirit of dedication among intellectuals, secret societies, and overseas Chinese communities. In his early years at the Hong Kong College of Medicine, he met Zheng Shiliang (courtesy name Bichen), who showed strong interest and helped raise funds and organize uprisings such as the 1895 Guangzhou Uprising and the San Zhou Tian incident in Huizhou, sparking the flames of revolution and attracting figures like Huang Xing and Chen Shaobai from all directions. This "charisma" accords with Hoffer’s view in The True Believer that a leader must unite “true believers” through a grand hope. Sun Yat-Sen achieved the revolutionary cause through openness, inclusiveness, and practice.

Zhuangzi said: “The friendship of the gentleman is light as water; the petty man unites by profit and parts by profit.” (Shanmu)

This emphasizes that the gentleman’s friendships are pure and enduring, like clear water without impurities, whereas petty men gather for gain and disperse when the gain is gone. Applied to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and to Sun Yat-Sen, this metaphor highlights how the method of leadership and unity determines success or failure: the former collapsed quickly through internal strife, while the latter endured through a gentlemanly alliance.

The leadership of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom appeared united on the surface but was in fact consumed by power struggles. During the Tianjing Incident, the Eastern King Yang Xiuqing was killed; the Northern King Wei Changhui and others followed in internal conflicts. Tens of thousands of elite troops slaughtered one another, and the organization disintegrated. Hong Xiuquan’s excessive enfeoffment of kings, corruption among the upper ranks, and plundering of wealth alienated the people. Supplies were cut off, and the million-strong army was eventually defeated by Zeng Guofan’s Xiang Army — an exact illustration of the calamity of “uniting by profit and parting by profit.”

Sun Yat-Sen, a frail scholar by origin, founded the Revive China Society and the Tongmenghui, and promoted the "Three Principles of the People" to unite gentry, soldiers, and revolutionaries of the Han people. Free from selfish rivalry, those who shared his ideals remained together like flowing water — “the friendship of the gentleman is plain as water.” After the Wuchang Uprising, constitutionalists responded widely, Yuan Shikai defected, and within just four months the Qing court collapsed. The revolutionary forces did not disperse for lack of profit; instead, they displayed the phenomenon described as “treading on frost, firm ice is to come,” revealing the cohesive power of water.

Looking back to the success of the “Wuchang Uprising” on October 10, 1911, the Qing court still existed, sovereignty was undecided, and the provinces held divergent positions. On the surface, the realm appeared unsettled. Yet once the uprising succeeded, the New Army defected, the provinces declared independence one after another, and the Qing dynasty’s military authority, finances, and legitimacy rapidly disintegrated. The situation was no longer reversible by human effort. The founding of the “Republic of China” in 1912 and the abdication of the Qing emperor were not the result of a single battle, but the manifestation of long-accumulated weakness.

Viewed through " the Book of Changes," this historical process can aptly be described by the initial line of the "Kun" (Earth) hexagram: “Treading on frost, firm ice is to come.” Frost marks the beginning of cold; ice represents its extreme. Though frost appears slight, once the cold has entered the earth, the formation of ice becomes inevitable. The Wuchang Uprising was precisely the moment of “treading on frost.” The Qing dynasty’s institutional failures, loss of popular support, fiscal collapse, and fragmentation of military power had accumulated over many years; the uprising merely revealed an irreversible trend.

On December 4, U.S. President Donald Trump, in releasing the “National Security Strategy” white paper, referred to “deadly failures,” warning that if a state lacks good governance, it may disintegrate and disappear from the earth, much as the Qing dynasty once did.

Therefore, the success of the Xinhai Revolution was not an accidental rupture, but the outcome of a "structural" collapse; and the founding of the Republic of China was not created in an instant, but rather the succession of a new order after the old one had frozen and fractured. This was a transformation in accordance with "the Way of Kun" — formed gradually beneath the surface and brought forth when circumstances ripened — the result of Sun Yat-Sen’s unrelenting perseverance.

Chiang Kai-Shek's Failures

However, Chiang Kai-Shek, who enjoyed the fruits of the revolution, lacked the inclusiveness and inspirational qualities required of a leader. Betrayals surrounded him: Wang Jingwei, who drafted Sun Yat-Sen’s political testament, later collaborated with Japan as a traitor; Guo Rugui and other senior Communist spies leaked intelligence that led to the catastrophic defeat in the Huaihai Campaign. Chiang admired Hitler-style authoritarianism, feared mass movements, and promoted the “New Life Movement,” which amounted to moral instruction imposed from above. Military discipline deteriorated, excessive centralization constrained frontline command, and collapse came swiftly in 1948. Even Mao Zedong remarked in astonishment: “Had the facts not been presented, it would be hard to believe that the Nationalist army could be so utterly ineffective!”

In November 1946, relying on military control and concentrated party power, Chiang Kai-Shek forcibly convened a "National Assembly," marking the formal launch of "Constitutional Procedures." By then, relations between the Nationalists and Communists had irreparably broken down, and Chiang adopted an all-out suppression strategy. Perhaps he had never read the Book of "Great Yu’s Counsel," which speaks of “rectifying virtue, utilize resources, benefiting the people, and achieving harmony.” After the failure of U.S. General George Marshall’s mediation, Chiang still prolonged the battle lines, thereby laying the groundwork for eventual defeat.

Following the collapse of Nationalist–Communist negotiations in November 1946, the Kuomintang sought to accelerate constitution-making to consolidate power and forcibly convened a "Constituent National Assembly." The assembly met in Nanjing from November 15 to December 25, passing the "Constitution of the Republic of China." It stipulated that the Constitution would take effect on December 25, 1947, and that elections for National Assembly delegates, legislators, and control commissioners were to be held in advance in preparation for constitutional government.

On March 29, 1948, the First National Assembly convened, and on April 19–20 it elected Chiang Kai-Shek as president (with 2,430 votes) and Li Zongren as vice president. They were sworn in on May 20 at the Presidential Palace in Nanjing. At that very time, the three decisive campaigns of the Chinese Civil War were raging: the Central China Campaign (July–August 1948) ended in defeat, allowing the People’s Liberation Army to advance with unstoppable momentum; the Liaoshen Campaign (September–November 1948) resulted in the loss of the Northeast; and the Huaihai Campaign (November 1948–January 1949) saw the collapse of the Nationalist main forces.

On January 21, 1949, less than a year after taking office, Chiang Kai-Shek announced his resignation, primarily due to consecutive military defeats that shattered morale and intensified pressure within the Kuomintang. Under the Constitution, the vice president was to act in the president’s stead; accordingly, Li Zongren assumed the role of acting president on March 8, until February 1, 1950, when he was removed from office for remaining in the United States and failing to return. The National Assembly Delegates’ Association petitioned Chiang Kai-Shek to continue exercising presidential authority.

On March 1, 1950, Chiang Kai-shek announced in Taipei that he was resuming presidential duties. By then, the mainland had already been lost. He declared the fortification of Taiwan’s defenses and initiated the mechanisms of the “White Terror.” My late father was astonishingly drawn into thirteen years of litigation simply for attempting to rescue a suspected spy—my entire childhood was destroyed. In short, my family was a deeply traumatized victim of the White Terror.

In 1962, however, I rose from a pool of blood after a failed assassination attempt, a light from the Most High shone in my heart and began a hardship of self-training in craftsmanship. Relying solely on talent and refusing even to learn Mandarin, “A-Kun” eventually lost his case. He ordered me to abandon my municipal junior high school backpack and flee with him to Kaohsiung, yet he was still arrested and imprisoned during the Lunar New Year of February 1966.

After fleeing to Kaohsiung, A-Kun and the A-Jin couple remained as "unproductive" as they had been in Tainan, leaving me to shoulder all responsibilities. Fortunately, within a one-kilometer radius of the "Kuo-Min Market" there were many who needed my products. The “Cheng Kuang Metal Works” I established at No. 16 Chong Hsing Street thrived, generating at least NT$3,000 to NT$5,000 a month for A-Jin to squander. Thus, A-Kun’s absence did not affect my operations.

Moreover, every hardware store from Youth Road south to Park Road and north to Jianguo Road in Lingya District, Kaohsiung, knew of me — the teenager capable of crafting "ultra-fine eyelets" clasps that even hands could barely hold. So even after I moved back to Tainan to care for my grandmother and other family members, Americans still found me at No. 45 Chong An Street. The outcome was that in December 1966, just after turning thirteen, I defeated strong competitors from Europe, America, and Japan, and secured business with the U.S. firm “Transworld Electronics” (Avnet Inc.), contributing components that helped Apollo 4 reach space.

From the Spring Festival of 1967 onward, I earned an average of NT$100,000 per month for A-Jin to squander. Yet this did nothing to restore the family’s standing. Thus, beside a fetid drainage ditch in a narrow alley off Lane 451, Park Road, I quickly filled in land and built “the Kuo family’s first house” since our downfall in 1937, moving my grandmother away from the humiliation she had endured for thirty-two years on Chong An Street.

Hsieh Tung-Min’s “Cheng Tong He Kuang” Plaque

Most astonishingly, when we moved in around 1969, Mr. Hsieh Tung-Min unexpectedly sent us a plaque inscribed “Cheng Tong He Kuang.” From then on, we interacted closely. The “precision industry” I established seemed protected by some unseen force; even summons from the Garrison Command were remarkably courteous. Indeed, Mr. Hsieh was the sole pillar on which Chiang Ching-Kuo dared to announce — and successfully carry out—the “Ten Major Construction Projects.”

Upon reflection, one cannot help but feel that the authorities of that era possessed intelligence capabilities of a frighteningly thorough nature.

Chiang Kai-shek was elected the first president of the Republic of China in Nanjing, yet resigned only months later. After losing the mainland, he announced on March 1, 1950, in Taipei that he was resuming his duties — continuing his first presidential term.

Article 47 of the Constitution of the Republic of China provides that the president may be re-elected once. In 1960, Chiang Kai-shek had the National Assembly amend the “Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of National Mobilization for Suppression of the Communist Rebellion,” abolishing the presidential term limit and allowing himself to remain president indefinitely, until his death in office in 1975. These provisions were not repealed until 1991, by President Lee Teng-hui.

Hsieh Tung-Min’s Good Governance

When Chiang Kai-shek was elected to his fifth presidential term in 1972, he appointed Mr. Hsieh Tung-Min (1908–2001) as Governor of Taiwan Province — arguably the single most correct decision Chiang made during his period of high-pressure rule after relocating to Taiwan.

In 1996, while we were living in Taipei, we visited Mr. Hsieh to celebrate his birthday. He spoke of the “Moderately Prosperous Society” policy implemented from 1972 to 1977. Beyond having clear steps and methods, its key lay in “serious implementation and strict enforcement,” which reduced the number of impoverished households from 470,000 to just a few thousand within five years.

The “Moderate Prosperity Program” required no special government budget. The state merely provided a mechanism, akin to offering tools to citizens willing to use them. Encouraged by the government, Taiwanese society awakened almost overnight from lethargy. Families "turned their ground-floor living rooms into workshops;" enterprises were eager to cultivate this pool of inexpensive yet high-quality subcontractors. Mr. Hsieh concluded: “A good government needs only proper guidance; the people will naturally live well. The Moderate Prosperity Program was nation-building that cost the state nothing.”

When the mood struck, the old gentleman — Mr. Hsieh would recite the "Liyun Tatung Chapter" on the Ideal of Great Unity:

“When the Great Way prevails, the world is shared by all. The worthy and the capable are chosen; trust is upheld and harmony cultivated. Thus people care not only for their own parents, nor raise only their own children. The aged are provided for to the end of their days; the able-bodied are put to use; the young are nurtured to grow; and the widowed, the orphaned, the solitary, the disabled, and the infirm are all cared for. Men have their proper roles; women have their proper homes. Goods are not loathed for being left unused on the ground, yet need not be hoarded for oneself; strength is not resented for being unspent, yet need not be expended solely for oneself. Hence schemes of selfish gain do not arise; theft, disorder, and rebellion do not occur. This is called Great Unity (Tatung).”

The motto of Shih Chien University, “Self-cultivation, family harmony, good governance, and peace under Heaven,” was established by its founder, Mr. Hsieh Tung-Min, when he founded the university through his own efforts in 1958. He drew it from The Great Learning’s sequence of governance —“cultivate the self, regulate the family, govern the state, bring peace to the world.” Through this vision, the university nurtured many outstanding talents for the nation. One of his most distinguished protégés (student), Linda Din, went on to create a new "Technology Economic System" (TES) for the world—a cross-generational intelligent industry benefiting those who followed.

Fig 3: Hsieh Tung-Min and his distinguished student Linda Din

When Chiang Ching-kuo announced the “Ten Major Construction Projects,” the first to oppose them was Finance Minister K. T. Li, who publicly declared: “The Ten Major Construction Projects are grandstanding — because the state has no money!”

Long before that, while serving in the "Provincial Assembly," Mr. Hsieh Tung-Min had maintained close ties with local gentry. For example, when so-called “government officials” came to harass people under various pretexts, they would immediately change their attitude upon seeing the plaque inscribed “Cheng Tong He Kuang.” In fact, temples and physicians had also received plaques from him.

In 1974, when I was rushing to complete the construction of "Cheng Kuang Precision Industrial Co., Ltd." beside Taiping Bridge, Mr. Chiang Ching-Kuo paid a visit. Within days, we received an invitation from Mr. Hsieh to attend the “Premier Chiang Breakfast Meeting” at the Tainan Hotel.

Confucius said, “Confirm one’s associations before making requests; thus one achieves completeness.” From the receipt of the “Cheng Tong He Kuang” plaque to the breakfast-meeting invitation, five years had passed. Enterprises that had survived without closing in 1969 were by then developing steadily—for example, Mr. Chen Yong-Tien of "Yong Fu Electric Co." had built a factory of more than ten thousand ping near the Yong Kang interchange; physicians who had been in practice for five years were already financially comfortable. This, in fact, is where the funding for the "Ten Major Construction Projects" came from.

I believe that even Minister Li, who managed the nation’s finances, did not fully grasp this underlying dynamic.

By contrast, when the Whampoa Military Academy was founded in 1924, Chiang Kai-shek served as its first commandant, while Zhou Enlai (1898–1976) was director of the Political Department. Eric Hoffer, author of The True Believer, wrote: “Every mass movement that actively recruits followers regards the members of hostile movements as its potential converts.” Ernst Röhm, head of Hitler’s youth organization, once boasted that he could turn an extreme leftist communist into a fanatical Nazi within four weeks. Although Chiang Kai-shek personally wrote the academy’s motto, “Intimacy, Sincerity,” he clearly underestimated Zhou Enlai.

When Zhou Enlai served concurrently as Premier of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Minister of Foreign Affairs, he pioneered the policy of “negotiation first, diplomatic recognition later.” Under this approach, countries were required to sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China before establishing ties with Beijing, thereby diplomatically isolating Taiwan.

In 1971, with Zhou Enlai’s global lobbying and the support of the “Anti–Two Chinas” campaign, the United Nations adopted "Resolution 2758." At that critical moment, Chiang Kai-Shek — who had long advocated “trading time for space” — nevertheless chose, against prevailing advice, to withdraw from the United Nations on the principle that “the Han and the traitors cannot coexist.” This decision nearly severed the political lifeline of the Republic of China.

In May 1972, Chiang Kai-Shek nominated Chiang Ching-Kuo (1910–1988) as Premier of the Executive Yuan, and the Legislative Yuan approved the nomination with a record 381 votes. At the time, Chiang Ching-Kuo was widely known among the public as “the executioner of the White Terror,” and the news caused widespread anxiety. Yet constitutional drafter Mr. Tao Bai-Chuan stated to the media:

“Mr. Chiang Ching-Kuo’s assumption of the premiership at this time and place can be said to be a mandate received at 'a moment of grave national peril.' He must not only stabilize the interior and resist external threats, but almost needs to turn the tide of destiny itself. The difficulty of this task is beyond ordinary imagination. But if he can truly strengthen the resolve for integrity and competence, and magnify ‘the spirit of dedicated patriots,’ then the foundations of the state will be secure, the hearts of all under Heaven will return, and in the future, by using benevolence to overcome violence, with the Way on his side and many to assist him, great national achievements will indeed be possible.”

Hsieh Tung-Min was precisely such a “patriot of integrity and competence.” When he personally invited local opinion leaders to participate, the results were far more effective than if Premier Chiang had done so himself. I believe that even with Zhou Enlai’s extraordinary brilliance, he could never fully understand why the Republic of China, having turned calamity into fortune, continued to survive in Taiwan.

The diplomatic isolation of the Republic of China stemmed from Zhou Enlai’s formidable strategic intelligence. He thoroughly understood “Chiang Kai-Shek’s stubborn and autocratic character,” and he took advantage of the Cold War realignment as President Nixon moved to ease relations between the United States and the Chinese Communists. Yet human calculations, however many, cannot outweigh a single stroke of Heaven. I believe that Mr. Hsieh Tung-Min had already been "deeply cultivating local support well before 1969;" otherwise, given the reputation of the Chiang father and son, they would surely have fallen into the trap Zhou had laid.

When many people were fleeing Taiwan in 1972, I instead built a factory in Yong Kang. This led to a flood of anonymous denunciations and even alarmed Dr. Mei Ko-Wang (1918–2016), Secretary-General of the “National Youth Commission” (NYC), who came to visit me. From that encounter, we became closed friends across generations.

Fig 4: Linda Din and Dr. Mei Ko-Wang

Dr. Mei Ko-Wang once spoke of the fierce struggles at the February 1990 “Extraordinary Central Committee Plenum,” saying: “Fortunately, Hsieh Tung-Min served as chairman of the meeting; otherwise Lee Teng-Hui would not have been elected the eighth President of the Republic of China.” Only then did Taiwan achieve its major accomplishments of the 1990s. Hsieh’s distinguished student, Linda Din, created a new "Tech-Economic System" (TES) for the world — a cross-generational intelligent industry benefiting future generations — with at least three major outcomes:

1. It rekindled hope for rebirth among countries devastated by the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis;

2. It mitigated the aftershocks of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis;

3. During the COVID-19 pandemic, TES enabled cashless transactions totaling US$36 trillion, allowing 1.5 billion people to earn income from home in the global economy.

In 1998, on the occasion of Mr. Hsieh Tung-Min’s ninetieth birthday, we visited him at Waishuangxi to offer our congratulations. Upon entering, we saw a calligraphy scroll that read:

“To pass on a family legacy, there is but one way—preserve generosity; to conduct oneself in the world, there is no trick—only sincerity.”

The elder venerable principal Hsieh Tung-Min encouraged us with these words: “Though the path of doing good may be long, diligent effort will surely bring one to the destination.”

Fig 5: Linda Din offering birthday wishes to her venerable principal

I composed the following poem in commemoration:

Mr. Hsieh’s resolve in self-cultivation and governance ran deep,

Upholding "Shih Chien’s Motto" to implement universal concern;

At the extraordinary Central Committee, he upheld the rising light,

Preserving generosity at home, sincerity in dealings with the world.

“Cheng Tong He Kuang” shields from harm to lay the miracle,

The long road ahead demands steadfast diligence;

An intelligent industry benefits all under Heaven,

“The world for the common good”—a benevolent refrain resounds.

Some believe that Taiwan’s remarkable achievements were closely tied to Chiang Ching-kuo. His economic decision-making can be summarized along three guiding principles:

1. A Free System: Economic society should be built upon a free-market system—respecting the will of the people, safeguarding lawful rights and interests, upholding free trade, and recognizing both government and the private sector as coequal actors and contributors.

2. Integrated Balance: Strategies for economic development should emphasize balanced growth between agriculture and industry, a rational division of labor between state-owned and private enterprises, parallel advancement of large corporations and small- and medium-sized enterprises, and the appropriate allocation and utilization of capital formation and resource supply.

3. Equality and Transparency: Fiscal and economic policies should not be judged solely by their contribution to economic growth rates, but also by whether they widen or narrow the gap between rich and poor. Accordingly, future policies must aim at a more equitable distribution of income; henceforth, the central government’s general budget — except for defense and foreign affairs—should be subject to open review by the Legislative Yuan.

In short, a free economy was the means, while shared prosperity was the end. Two concrete approaches implemented these ideas: "rural development" and "nine major industrial projects" — collectively known as the "Ten Major Construction Projects." With Mr. Hsieh Tung-Min’s effective mobilization of civil energies, Chiang Ching-Kuo laid a fifty-year foundation for Taiwan’s development.

In "The Great Master" (Da Zong Shi), Zhuangzi told a story about “friendship without contrivance” (mo ni zhi jiao):

Zisang Hu, Mengzi Fan, and Ziqin Zhang became friends and asked, “Who can associate together without conscious association, act together without deliberate action? Who can ascend to Heaven, roam the mists, stir the infinite, and forget one another in life—without end or limit?” The three looked at one another and smiled; their hearts were perfectly attuned, and thus they became true friends.

Hsieh Tung-Min (1908–2001) went to the mainland for his studies in his youth. After the promulgation of the Republic of China Constitution in 1946, he became "a delegate to the First National Assembly" and participated in the presidential election. Mei Ko-Wang (1918–2016) was sent to the United States to study policing; upon returning, he served in the Ministry of the Interior. After the Nationalist army’s defeats in the three major campaigns of 1948, he submitted a memorial advocating “relocating the capital to Taiwan.” Later, under Chiang Ching-Kuo’s direction, Mei founded the “National Youth Commission” (NYC) in 1965, benefiting countless young entrepreneurs and giving special assistance to his Hunan compatriot Ma He-Ling’s livelihood.

PS: Ma He-ling (1920-2005) served as the director of the National Youth Commission (NYC). His son, Ma Ying-jeou, later served as the 12th and 13th president of the Republic of China.

Hsieh Tung-Min and Mei Ko-Wang were classmates at the "National Defense Research Institute" and shared a deep bond. Together with Chiang Ching-Kuo, the three resembled the “friendship without contrivance” depicted by Zhuangzi — and together they composed an enduring chapter in the Republic of China’s history in Taiwan.

In April 2001, Mr. Hsieh Tung-Min passed away. His distinguished protégé (student), Linda Din—nurtured under the motto “self-cultivation, family harmony, good governance, and peace under Heaven” — had earlier served as a lecturer at APEC in 1998. Drawing on her invention, the "TES" New Technology Economic System, she helped bring about the "Electronic Commerce legislation" that benefited the world. As the alumni representative at the memorial service, she delivered a eulogy recounting Mr. Hsieh’s many acts of kindness and beneficence. Across from her, Former Premier of the Executive Yuan Mr. Hau Pei-Tsun wiped away tears repeatedly, bearing witness to the breadth and depth of Mr. Hsieh’s moral legacy.

Fig 6: Linda Din delivering remarks at the memorial service

Peter Li-Chang Kuo, the author created Taiwan's Precision Industry in his early years. Peter was a representative of the APEC CEO Summit and an expert in the third sector. He advocated "anti-corruption (AC)/cashless/e-commerce (E-Com)/ICT/IPR/IIA-TES / Micro-Business (MB)…and etc." to win the international bills and regulations.