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COMPASS MAGAZINE, March 1999. VOL. 6 ISSUE 3

Cover Story Page 1:

Tough love for Taichung A close-up interview with Taichung Mayor Chang Wen-ying by Douglas Habecker Photo: Nicholas Cupaiuolo

Anyone who doesn't think Taichung Mayor Chang Wen-ying is a determined individual should think again. The 49-year-old chief of Taiwan's third-largest city has a record of actions which speak for themselves. A dentist by training, Chang represented the city in the Taiwan Provincial Assembly before decisively defeating her KMT opponent over a year ago to become the city's first female, and non-KMT, mayor.
Both before and after her successful run for mayor, she has gained experiences which have helped forge her tough character. In the early 1980s, she spent two years in jail, for the innocuous act of making DPP leader Shih Ming-teh -- then a fugitive -- a new set of dentures. Since becoming mayor, she has gained nationwide attention, and praise, for her unprecedented, unrelenting crackdown against illegal KTVs, night clubs, pubs and other "special businesses" in the city. Despite the frequent threats against her and city officials that such actions have triggered, she remains undeterred in her efforts to clean up the city and work towards her stated goal of a giving Taichung the best quality of life on the island.
Even as her non-stop work for the city goes on, she continues to balance her public life with her role as wife -- to the son of a former KMT city mayor -- and mother of twin nine-year-old sons. As she notes in the interview below, this can be a daunting challenge. However, Chang seems to be up to the task -- Taichung residents, who recently gave her a 58 percent approval rating in a TVBS poll.
Recently, the mayor took some time away from her very busy schedule to chat with Douglas Habecker about a wide range of topics, including her city development plans, advice to working women, motherhood and her future.

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