Lin Cheng-chih (; born 17 February 1939) or Helen Lin is a Taiwanese politician.

Personal life

Lin Cheng-chih is the daughter-in-law of

Hsieh Tung-min Hsieh Tung-min (; 25 January 1908 – 9 April 2001) was the ninth Governor of Taiwan Province (1972–1978), the sixth and first local Taiwanese Vice President of the Republic of China (1978–1984) under president Chiang Ching-kuo. Family ...

, and is also known by the English name Helen Lin.

Career

Lin attended the Shih Chien College of Home Economics and served as the institution's president. She also worked within the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

Department of Women’s Affairs. On 10 June 1996, she was appointed minister of the

Council of Cultural Affairs The Ministry of Culture (MOC, ) is the ministry of the Republic of China (Taiwan) that promotes cultural and creative industries. The ministry also maintains thNational Repository of Cultural Heritage History Established in 1981 by Executive Yu ...

. She cancelled a visit to China when the

1999 Jiji earthquake The Chi-Chi earthquake (later also known as the Jiji earthquake) (), also known as the great earthquake of September 21 (), was a 7.3 ML or 7.7 Mw earthquake which occurred in Jiji (Chi-Chi), Nantou County, Taiwan on Tuesday, 21 Sep ...

hit Taiwan, and began planning renovations to a number of cultural sites damaged by the quake. Lin was succeeded at the Council for Cultural Affairs by Tchen Yu-chiou in May 2000, when the

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian (; born 12 October 1950) is a retired Taiwanese politician and lawyer who served as the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whi ...

presidential administration took office.

Lien Chan Lien Chan (; born 27 August 1936) is a Taiwanese politician. He was the Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government from 1990 to 1993, Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to ...

appointed Helen Lin vice chair of the Kuomintang in June 2000. She became the first woman to take the position. In April 2001, the Kuomintang nominated Lin for an open position on a committee convened to oversee

Public Television Service Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation (PTS Foundation/Public Television Service Foundation, ), also called Public Television Service (PTS, ), is the first independent public broadcasting institution in Taiwan, which broadcasts the Public Te ...

. Following the first direct election for Kuomintang leadership in July 2001, Lin was retained as a vice chair of the party. During the

2003 SARS outbreak 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societies ...

, Lin led the Kuomintang's epidemic prevention task force. Lin retained her post as a vice chairwoman when

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, 馬英九, born 13 July 1950) is a Hong Kong-born Taiwanese politician who served as president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. Previously, he served as justice minister from 1993 to 1996 and mayor of Taipei from 1 ...

was elected Kuomintang chairman in 2005. In 2006, she co-chaired a Kuomintang committee to vet candidates for the

Control Yuan The Control Yuan is the supervisory and auditory branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Prior to constitutional reforms in the 1990s, the Control Yuan, along with National Assembly (electoral college) and the Legislativ ...

. Following the

Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum Cross-Strait relations (sometimes called Mainland–Taiwan relations, or Taiwan-China relations) are the relations between China (officially the People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (officially the Republic of China). The relationship ...

in April 2006, Lin resigned as vice chair of the Kuomintang and was succeeded by .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Helen 1939 births Living people Ministers of culture of Taiwan Women government ministers of Taiwan Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan Presidents of universities and colleges in Taiwan Women heads of universities and colleges Shih Chien University alumni Academic staff of Shih Chien University 20th-century Taiwanese politicians 21st-century Taiwanese politicians