Kwoh-Ting Li

Li Kwoh-ting (; 28 January 1910 – 31 May 2001) was a Taiwanese economist and politician best known as the "Father of Taiwan's Economic Miracle" and referred to by the New York Times as the "Godfather of Technology" in Taiwan for his work in transforming Taiwan's economy from an agrarian-based system into one of the world's leading producers of information and telecommunications technology. Biography Li was born in Nanjing, Qing China, on January 28, 1910 and died at the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan on May 31, 2001. He graduated from National Central University (Nanjing University) in 1930 and studied physics at the Cambridge University in 1934. He returned to Mainland China and spent many of his years in politics and economics before he fled from the Chinese Communist Party to Taiwan in July 1948 with the Nationalist Party. He became the president of the China Shipbuilding Corporation in Taiwan in 1951 and was appointed as a member of the Industrial Development Commission responsible for the planning and economic development of Taiwan in 1953. In 1959 he became the head of the Industrial Development and Investment Center under the Council for United States Aid. He held a number of leadership positions in industry and government in Taiwan, including that of economic minister from 1965 to 1969 and finance minister from 1969 to 1976. After 1976 he was appointed "Minister without portfolio" and promoted science and technology in Taiwan. In 1968, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service. He created a policy that helped attract entrepreneurs in the tech industry and helped fund Taiwan's electronics companies, which led to Taiwan's primacy as a producer of computer parts. Li also helped build the Hsinchu Science Park, which later became known as Taiwan's Silicon Valley. The park is one of the world's leading centers for semiconductor manufacturing and industrial and computer technology development. As of 2018 more than 500 high-tech companies reside in the park. Li was also a senior adviser to the President of the Republic of China, Chen Shui-bian.