Chiang Wan-an

Chiang was born in Taipei, Taiwan, on December 26, 1978. He has two older sisters, Chiang Hui-lan (蔣蕙蘭) and Chiang Hui-yun (蔣蕙筠), who graduated from Boston University and Emerson College, respectively. He is the only son of Kuomintang politician Chiang Hsiao-yen and his wife Helen Huang (). If true, Wan-an would be a great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Wan-an's contested familial relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, who ruled Taiwan after the Great Retreat, has been controversial due to Kai-shek's divisive legacy as either a symbol of anti-communism or dictatorship. At age six, Wan-an was introduced to Soong Mei-ling, though he remained unaware of his familial relation to Chiang Kai-shek until high school, when his father made his claims public. The family changed their surname from Chang to Chiang in 2005. Education Chiang graduated from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School, where he was classmates with Huang Shih-chieh. Because he ranked at the top of his high school class, he was guaranteed admission to National Chengchi University, where he enrolled to study international relations. In his sophomore year, he began pursuing a dual degree in diplomacy and law. He graduated in 2000 with two bachelor's degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in international studies and a Bachelor of Laws in public international law. , pictured with classmate Huang Shih-chieh (center) After graduation, Chiang spent a year and a half working as an attorney for Lee and Li, the largest law firm in Taiwan, and became a legislative aide in the National Assembly, where he wrote a petition to legalize flights between Taiwan and mainland China. In 2001, he was named a "young leader of Taiwan" and was introduced to U.S. president Bill Clinton. from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. During his time as a law student, he frequently traveled between New York City and Philadelphia, and was classmates with future legislator Su Chiao-hui. == Legal career (2006–2015) ==

After receiving his J.D. degree, Chiang became an associate attorney at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, California, starting in the fall of 2006. Chiang later moved to the Crone Law Group, a law firm in Silicon Valley, and worked as an associate specializing in venture capital, corporate law, and securities law from 2009 to 2011. He was soon made a partner of the firm. After practicing for several years, he founded his own law firm, the Wan-tse International Law Firm (萬澤國際法務事務所), which specialized in commercial law. == Legislative Yuan (2016–2022) ==

Chiang was inspired to enter politics after witnessing the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014. and resigned from his law practice. First term , in October 2015On March 29, 2015, Chiang announced his bid to represent Taipei City Constituency 3 as a member of the Kuomintang. In the party primaries, he ran against KMT legislator Luo Shu-lei, who previously held the constituency seat, and Wang Hung-wei, a KMT member of the Taipei City Council. After Luo failed to build a minimum lead majority of five percent in the April 2015 party primary, Chiang advanced to a second primary. After winning the KMT nomination for Taipei's third constituency, Chiang ran for the seat in the 2016 legislative election. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) originally nominated Liang Wen-chieh to challenge Chiang in the race, but Liang withdrew; , a psychiatrist and independent candidate, joined the DPP and received the party's nomination to run against Chiang instead. On election day January 16, 2016, Chiang defeated Pan with a majority of 83,476 votes, compared to Pan's 66,998 share. He announced his victory at 7:40 p.m. that same day. Chiang's successful campaign to represent the third constituency of Taipei in the 9th Legislative Yuan came in contrast to the results of other KMT lawmakers in the 2016 legislative election, which saw the DPP flip traditionally KMT constituencies to win a clear majority. Chiang attributed the Kuomintang's losses in the elections to "ineffective governance". portrait In November 2015, Pan filed a legal motion to invalidate the results of the election, alleging that Chiang used a lottery to bribe voters during his campaign. On March 23, 2016, the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office concluded that there was insufficient evidence of vote buying, and thus would not press charges against Chiang, though Pan also filed a civil lawsuit to invalidate the election results which were heard in court in April 2016. In May 2016, the Taipei District Court ruled in favor of Chiang and dismissed Pan's lawsuit. The case ended on December 27, 2016, when the Taipei high court rejected an appeal by Pan to review the dismissal. On February 1, 2016, Chiang was sworn in as a member of the 9th Legislative Yuan. As a legislator, he was a member of the Legislative Yuan's Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee responsible for proposing motions regarding elderly care, child welfare, and food safety. During his tenure, he became known for his opposition to proposed amendments to the and, during a 2019 protest in the legislature, drew widespread online attention after an image of legislator Chen Yu-jen embracing him during the protest went viral on social media. Second term Chiang ran for re-election in the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election. DPP spokeswoman was initially considered to contest Chiang's seat in the Taipei third constituency, but she declined the party's nomination. On August 27, 2019, the DPP nominated former investment banker Enoch Wu to challenge Chiang instead. The race drew media attention as a "battle of two handsome men," both of whom came from prominent backgrounds and had a strong presence on social media. Chiang's campaign emphasized his grassroots initiatives in Taipei, such as the establishment of citywide legal clinics, while Wu, an advocate of Taiwan independence, campaigned on pro-democracy issues and cross-strait sovereignty. On January 11, 2020, Chiang received a majority of 95,559 votes (51.1%)—compared to Wu's 82,453 (45.75%) share—and was re-elected for a second legislative term. His victory in that year's legislative election made him a leading KMT candidate for the Taipei mayoralty. He was sworn into the 10th Legislative Yuan on February 1, 2020. During his second term, Chiang presided over the founding of new legal clinics in Shilin District and Beitou District. In January 2021, he proposed a legislative amendment expanding compensation to White Terror victims. According to the South China Morning Post, Chiang was "rated as one of the best and most attentive lawmakers by local political monitoring groups" throughout his tenure in the Legislative Yuan. == Mayor of Taipei (2022–) ==

By January 2022, Chiang was widely expected to announce his bid for the Taipei mayoralty after the Chinese New Year. On May 25, 2022, he was officially named the Kuomintang candidate for the Taipei mayoralty in the 2022 local elections. The next day, he announced that legislators Li Gui-min, , and Hung Mong-kai would serve as his campaign spokespersons, while legislators , Lai Shyh-bao, Fai Hrong-tai, and Alex Tsai would serve as campaign advisors. Chiang was expected to face DPP health minister Chen Shih-chung, who led the Ministry of Health and Welfare during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan, and Huang Shan-shan, the incumbent deputy mayor affiliated with the Taiwan People's Party (TPP), in the mayoral race. Chen was nominated by the DPP on February 13, 2022. On July 15, Chen resigned from the health ministry to concentrate on the race, and announced on July 19 that his campaign advisors would include Chen Chien-jen, Rosalia Wu, Michelle Lin, and Kuan Bi-ling. Chiang did the same on November 10, resigning from his legislative seat to focus on his campaign. Chiang ran on a platform centered on modernization and reform, including support for lowering the voting age from 20 to 18, same-sex marriage, improving health insurance coverage, and expanding public transportation programs. His campaign also promoted developing Taipei into an equivalent of Silicon Valley. Chiang's relative youth as a candidate was described as a generational shift for the KMT, a party historically associated with an older political base with only a small minority of youth members. The two-hour debate also saw Chiang reject a suggestion by Elon Musk recommending that Taiwan be a special administrative region of China. On November 26, 2022, Chiang won the Taipei mayoral election with 42.29 percent of the vote, defeating both Chen (31.93%) and Huang (25.14%). Voter turnout in the election was high, averaging 67.7 percent. Chiang achieved landslide victories in 11 out of 12 of the city's administrative districts. His support was strongest in Wenshan District, a KMT stronghold; by contrast, Chen won only Datong District, a traditional DPP stronghold. On December 13, 2022, Chiang released his mayoral cabinet, with former Kaohsiung deputy mayor Lee Shu-chuan appointed as his deputy mayor. On December 25, 2022, Chiang was sworn into office. During his inauguration speech, Chiang promised "four windows of opportunity" for Taipei, including prosperity, fostering creative talent, environmental sustainability, and tourism. == Personal life ==

Chiang met his wife, Shih Fang-heng (石舫亘), while they both were students at National Chengchi University. Shih earned a master's degree in finance from the City University of New York and was a management analyst in San Francisco. She is a former eBay executive. and their second son, Chiang Te-yu (蔣得宇), was born on 23 July 2021. They had a third son, Chiang Te-cheng (蔣得正), born in January 2023. In September 2023, Chiang was included on Time's Time 100 Next list, == Family tree ==