Sheu Yuan-dong

{{short description|Taiwanese politician (b. 1927, d. 1998)}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{More citations needed|date=October 2018}}{{More footnotes needed|date=October 2018}}{{Rough translation|zh|date=August 2022}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Sheu Yuan-dong

| native_name = {{no bold|{{lang|zh-hans|許遠東}}}}

| image = 央行總裁 許遠東先生.jpg

| office = Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of China

| president =

| deputy =

| predecessor = Liang Kuo-shu

| successor = Perng Fai-nan

| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|5|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Shinchiku, Shinchiku Prefecture, Japanese Taiwan

| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|02|16|1927|5|22|df=y}}

| death_place = Chiang Kai-Shek Int'l Airport, Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City), Taiwan

| nationality = Empire of Japan {{small|1927–1945)}}
Republic of China {{small|(1945–1998)}}

| spouse = Huang Mian-mei

| party =

| children = Sheu Chiu-chen

| native_name_lang = zh

| termstart = 20 March 1995

| order =

| bodyclass =

| termend = 16 February 1998

| education = National Taiwan University (BA)

}}

Sheu Yuan-dong (traditional Chinese: 許遠東; 22 May 1927 – 16 February 1998) was a Taiwanese politician who was the 15th governor of Taiwan's central bank from 1995 until his death in 1998. Born in then-Japanese-occupied Taiwan, Sheu attended Taipei City Success High School and graduated from the Department of Political Science at the National Taiwan University. He held senior positions in Taiwan's financial sector. On 16 February 1998, he was killed in the crash of China Airlines Flight 676 along with his wife, Huang Mian-mei, and three other officials of the central bank.{{Cite news|last=Gargan|first=Edward A.|date=1998-02-17|title=Over 200 Die as Taiwan Jet Crashes in Bad Weather|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/17/world/over-200-die-as-taiwan-jet-crashes-in-bad-weather.html|access-date=2018-10-14|issn=0362-4331}}

Life and career

Sheu Yuan-dong was born on 22 May 1927 in Shinchiku Prefecture. Four months after his birth, he and his family moved to Taipei to make a living. In 1935, he attended Longshang public School No. In 1941, he attended the Taipei State Second Middle School. In October 1945, he was admitted to the National Taiwan University. In October 1946 he enrolled in the Political Department of the Taiwan University Law School. In January 1947, in response to the Shen Chong case, students from Taiwan University and Peking University held anti-American demonstrations in Taipei, which Sheu participated in. After the outbreak of the February 28 incident the same year, the Secrecy Bureau arrested college students and intellectuals, while Sheu took refuge in Yilan City and Yingge District. Sheu attended the reading club during the political department of the National Taiwan University. He was involved in the {{ill|Keelung City Work Committee case|lt=Keelung City Work Committee case|zh|基隆市工作委員會案|WD=}} and was arrested by the Secrecy Bureau on the night of 2 September 1949. In May 1950, he was sent to the freshman corps in present-day Neihu District and was released in March 1951. In October of the same year, Sheu was re-educated at Taiwan University and graduated in June 1952.{{Cite book|last=Qiuzhen|first=Xu|title=臺灣紳士許遠東|last2=Shixiang|first2=Li|publisher=Yunchen Cultural Industry Co., Ltd.|year=2010|isbn=9789866274237|location=Taiwan|language=zh|trans-title=Taiwanese gentleman Sheu Yuan-dong}}{{Rp|pages=50–55}}

In 1954, Sheu, future Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui, future member of the Judicial Yuan {{ill|Hung Hsun-hsin|zh|洪遜欣}}, future writer and businessman {{ill|Chiu Yung-han|zh|邱永漢}}, and other Taiwanese elites were hired to teach at the Taipei Private Yan Ping High School.{{Cite web|title=活動報導|trans-title=Activity report|url=http://www.taahouston.org/2003news/0305_news/actv_rep.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090106225922/http://www.taahouston.org/2003news/0305_news/actv_rep.htm|archive-date=2009-01-06|location=Houston, Texas|language=zh}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.yphs.tp.edu.tw/introduction/new_page_9.htm|title=校長|website=www.yphs.tp.edu.tw|language=zh|trans-title=principal|access-date=2018-10-15|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304205724/http://www.yphs.tp.edu.tw/introduction/new_page_9.htm|url-status=dead}}

Sheu entered the Taiwan Provincial Cooperation Treasury Hualien Branch in 1953 as a clerk. In 1954, he was a clerk in the Research Office of the Cooperative Treasury Head Office. In 1959, he was the Planning Director of the Cooperative Treasury Savings Department. In 1968, he was the assistant manager of the treasury and the Ministry of Agriculture and Credit. In 1974, he cooperated. Deputy General Manager of Jinku, the general manager of the Land Bank in 1979 and the general manager of the First Bank in 1980. In 1982, he was the Finance Director of the Ministry of Finance. In 1984, he was Chairman of the Land Bank. In 1989, he was Chairman of the Banking Association. In January 1990, he was a member of the Central Bank and became Chairman of the Bank of Taiwan in July 1995.{{Rp|pages=316–323}}

Sheu became the governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of China on 20 March 1995, succeeding Liang Kuo-shu, who resigned due to health problems and died later the same year.{{Cite news|date=1994-11-03|title=梁國樹跨出央行新步|language=zh|trans-title=Liang Guoshu stepped out of the central bank's new step|work=Commonwealth Magazine|url=https://www.cw.com.tw/article/5034535}} The 1997 Asian financial crisis affected many Asian countries, but did not seriously affect Taiwan. The financial community believed that it was the president's operator.{{Cite news|url=http://nrch.cca.gov.tw/ccahome/website/site20/contents/011/cca220003-li-wpkbhisdict002714-0809-u.xml|title=許遠東|date=2004-05-18|publisher=台灣歷史辭典 (Taiwan History Dictionary)|language=zh|trans-title=Xu Yuandong}}{{Dead link|date=October 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}

Death

In February 1998, Sheu, Chen Huang and other senior officials of the central bank's foreign exchange bureau flew to Bali, Indonesia to attend the annual meeting of the Presidents Association of the Central Bank of Southeast Asia. After the end of conference on February 16, they boarded China Airlines Flight 676 for their return trip to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. The Airbus A300-600 crashed during final approach due to pilot error, killing all 196 people on board including Sheu, as well as six people on the ground. Lee Teng-hui, the president of Taiwan at the time, instructed Perng Fai-nan to take over as governor of the central bank.

During Sheu Yuan-dong's tenure as governor of the central bank, Paul Chiu was the vice president of the central bank.{{Cite news|url=http://news.chinatimes.com/CMoney/News/News-Page/0,4442,content+110601+112008051500612,00.html|title=十年了 邱正雄沒忘記許遠東|date=2008-05-15|publisher=中時電子報(Zhongshi News)|language=zh|trans-title=Ten years, Qiu Zhengxiong has not forgotten Sheu Yuan-dong.}}{{Dead link|date=October 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}

Legacy

On February 16, 2008, the tenth anniversary of Sheu Yuan-dong's death, many Taiwanese financial leaders invited the Alban Berg Quartet, who had a good relationship with Sheu, to Taiwan.{{Cite news|date=2008-05-15|title=許遠東逝世十週年 張正傑獻曲懷念|language=zh|trans-title=The 10th Anniversary of Xu Yuandong's Death Zhang Zhengjie's Songs|work=Liberty Times|url=http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2008/new/may/15/today-art4.htm}} A remembrance concert was held for Sheu on 14 May 2008.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

Biographical publishing

On 3 October 2010, Sheu Yuan-dong's biography was published. It was written by Sheu's daughter Sheu Chiu-chen and senior journalist Lu Shih-hsiang. The book reveals his resentment of a "foreign regime" and his belief in Taiwanese independence, saying:

{{Blockquote|text=Why are Taiwanese destined to live under the rule of "foreign regime?" Can this be a colonial life? Is this Taiwan? Is it true that I will not accept this sentence? Taiwanese people have strengthened their conscious ability day by day. One day, [when] the time is ripe, and I believe that without a bloodshed, Taiwan must establish a completely independent democracy.|author=Sheu Yuan-dong|title=|source=}}

In addition, Sheu also criticized Vincent Siew, the then-president of the Executive Yuan, for his handling of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He also expressed concern when finance minister Wang Chien-shien opened a private bank in 1990.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ltn.com.tw/2010/new/oct/4/today-p2.htm|title=許遠東傳記 透露台獨建國信念|language=zh|trans-title=Biography of Xu Yuandong, revealing the belief of Taiwan independence}}

References

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