With passion and sincerity, we would like to demonstrate how to consolidate power within civil society, to raise democracy, and to walk on our own path.

Yu Fan Ying, born in 1944, has been engaged in the movement for democracy, environmental protection, and reconciliation of ethnic groups in Taiwan for 40 years. As executive director of the China Times Culture and Education Foundation, she has promoted sustainable development. During the 2004 presidential election, there were serious rifts in society due to political opposition, and Yu organized “Action Alliance for Ethnic Equality” to alleviate social tensions.

Yu Fung Ying was born in Chongqing City, Sichuan Province, China. She received her bachelor’s degree in business from Japan, and her master’s degrees in sciences and business management from Stanford University. Yu is now the chief executive of the China Times Culture and Education Foundation that owns and operates newspapers, magazines, book publishing, websites, television stations and related databases, as well as three non-profit foundations. Yu also serves as a director for many private organizations and is head of the Water and Land Resources Working Group, National Council for Sustainable Development, Taiwan. She has been engaged in the movement of democracy, environmental protection, and reconciliation of ethnic groups in Taiwan for 40 years. As a member of the family owning one of the most important newspapers in Taiwan, the China Times, Yu provided protection for the liberalists and those who participated in the anti-Nationalist-Party movement when Taiwan was still under martial law. After the lifting of the martial law in the early 1980s, Yu was very involved in the protection of rivers in Taiwan. She has helped to organize many seminars and public hearings on sustainable development. In 2004, when the presidential election triggered a deep division among social groups because of the differences in political affiliation, intellectuals who cared for the political ecology in Taiwan like Yu started to doubt whether ethnic conflicts could be solved by political means. They turned to the civil society to seek power, and together they organized an alliance for ethnic equality and demanded that politicians stop dividing people. They also asked the government to take care of the problems faced by brides and their children coming from the Mainland, and to guarantee that there is no action or speech that violates ethnic equality in the education system.

China Times Culture and Education Foundation