Profile of Chen Shui-bian

October 12, 1950, but officially it's February 18, 1951 in southern Taiwan's Tainan County, in the rural town of Guantian. Supposedly, Chen was born months before his parents registered his birth because he was sickly and they weren't sure he would survive - hence the differing birth dates.

Chen grew up relatively poor as the child of tenant farmers. He has said that he recognized early on that education was the key to a better life. He became the top student in his county and earned a place at National Taiwan University, where he graduated with a law degree in 1974. He became Taiwan's youngest lawyer when he passed the national bar examination as a junior in college. In 1975, he married Wu Shu-chen, whom he had known in high school.

In 1976, Chen joined the law firm, Formosan International Marine and Commercial Law Office, where he would become a senior partner. Three years later, he took a case where he unsuccessfully defended pro-Taiwan independence activists against sedition charges in a riot in the southern port of Kaohsiung. One of those he defended, Annette Lu, would later become his vice president.

In 1981, Chen ran for and won a Taipei City Council seat, where he served for four years. During that time, he founded the magazine, Neo-Formosa, in 1984 which was critical of the ruling Kuomintang Party. He was later tried and sentenced to a year in prison for libel for an article that criticized a Kuomintang leader. During his appeal of the ruling, he campaigned for the Tainan County magistrate position in 1985, but lost the election.

Chen lost his appeal and served eight months in jail. While in prison, his wife was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1986. In 1987, Chen joined the Democratic Progressive Party, the first opposition party legalized after martial law was lifted in Taiwan. Two years later, he was elected to the Legislative Yuan where he helped to shape the DPP's position on Taiwan independence. Chen was re-elected in 1992, but resigned two years later when he was elected mayor of Taipei. As mayor, Chen was praised for cracking down on illegal gambling and prostitution, but lost re-election in 1998 to the Kuomintang's Ma Ying-jeou.

Chen won the office the President of Taiwan in 2000, ending more than 50 years of Kuomintang rule. As president, Chen got rid of images of Kuomintang leaders Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo from public offices. He also changed the country's name on the passport from "Republic of China" to Taiwan. He also traveled to the United States and visited New York City, despite the unwritten agreement between the United States and China that no Taiwan leader would visit New York City or Washington D.C. To opposition party members, Chen's policies seemed to veer Taiwan closer and closer to independence.

Chen's 2004 re-election campaign was a tight race against the Kuomintang's Lien Chan. A day before polls opened, Chen was shot in the stomach while campaigning in a motorcade. Chen received 14 stitches and was released the same day. The next day, Chen won the election by a margin of less than 30,000 votes out of 12.9 million cast. Many felt the shooting was staged and protesters flocked the capitol. In 2006, Chen's wife faced corruption allegations of embezzling millions in campaign funds. The Taiwan constitution prevents a sitting president to face prosecution. His term ended on May 20, 2008.

An hour after he left office, Taiwan's Supreme Prosecutor's Office announced that a formal investigation into Chen's finances had begun. In August 2008, Chen announced that he falsified his finances and had funds leftover from his campaigns for mayor and president sent to overseas bank accounts. He apologized to the Taiwan people and both he and his wife resigned from the Democratic Progressive Party.

Chen was arrested on November 12, 2008. Prosecutors are currently preparing a formal indictment. He could face five years in prison for money-laundering. Meanwhile, Chen claims his arrest is political persecution and is on a hunger strike. He is the first former president of Taiwan to be jailed. It is the same jail that Chen was detained for 8 months in 1984.