Dr. Ming Cheng Liau (廖明徵博士)
Identity Snapshot
- English: Dr. Ming Cheng Liau
- Chinese: 廖明徵博士
- Era: 1935
- Geography: Taiwan
- Core roles: entrepreneur, scientist
- Source: TAH Foundation Who’s Who
Education
- National Taiwan Univ. — 1954-1958 — B.S., Pharmacy
- Rice Univ., Baylor College of Medicine — 1962 — Ph.D., Biochemistry
Employment
- Burzynski Company — Director of Biochemistry Research Office — (1986-1994) — Taiwan Biotech Co., LTD. — Director of Anticancer Drug Development — (1994-) — Community — TAA Houston Chapter, TX — President — FAPA Houston Chapter, TX — President — Houston Taiwanese School of Language & Culture — Principal of Taiwan
Family
- Wife: Grace (郭珠貞)
- Daughter: Linda, Christine
Role in the Community
- UFAI founding (1966): Listed as a Houston delegate at the 1966-07-04 founding of the United Formosans in America for Independence (全美台灣獨立聯盟), per the movement memoir ourjourneys81; the parallel account ourjourneys234 names him among the Houston delegates (with 張燦鍙) at the 1966-06-18 Philadelphia UFI–FASG merger talks that resolved to found UFAI on 7/4, whose members were sworn secret members except those who had to appear publicly.
- 望春風 editor: Part of the Houston team (with 林振榮、吳維煌、郭鐘樑、陳淮崇) that edited 《望春風》 issues 29–47 (1971-12 – 1973-06), per ourjourneys307.
- Houston community center: One of the five Taiwanese Language School principals (with 郭珠貞 — his wife Grace — 沈郁芳、謝清實、林秋成) who filed the 1988-09 application that made the Taiwanese Heritage Society of Houston (THSH) a tax-exempt non-profit, a prerequisite for buying the Taiwanese Community Center (IRS approval came mid-January 1991). He joined the language-school side (with 吳連山) in inspecting the candidate building’s interior on 5/18. At the founding general meeting on 1991-06-01 the purchase motion passed and he was elected secretary (秘書) of the seven-director board — 莊勝義理事長、楊朝諭副理事長、莊承業財務 — formally empowered to negotiate the purchase, per ourjourneys233 (EN: ourjourneys233-eng).
- Houston 同鄉會 founding & charter (per his own memoir): His 2017/08 memoir 《記休士頓台灣同鄉會起源》(ourjourneys308; EN: ourjourneys308-eng) recounts meeting 林振榮 at 林榮長’s home on Christmas 1969 — 林振榮 had been sent by 張燦鍙 to organize Houston’s Taiwanese — and convening with 林榮長 and 林振榮 the friends 莊勝義、黃和義、郭鐘樑、郭嘉明、余文貴、何通雲、陳懷崇 to found the Formosan Club in the lunar second month of 1970, deliberately non-political on paper under White Terror, with 廖明徵 drafting the charter and bylaws and 闕文榮醫師 as first president; renamed 台灣同鄉會 in 1975 under president 莊承業. He recalls “25 years” of endurance to the 2017 writing.
- KMT blacklisting: The “休城出土黑名單” roster in ourjourneys106 lists him (as 廖明微, variant spelling) as a 台大藥學系 / 貝勒醫學院生化博士, then 德大醫學院 (UTMB) professor then cancer-research institute, who served as 同鄉會會長 in the late 1970s (“七八年” — likely 1977–78) and was blacklisted for supporting the independence movement, with the blacklist extending to his wife 郭珠貞. He later published a self-account, 《一個黑名單的自白》(2019-12, my-stories-712; bibliographic record only, full text in vault).
- 1988 school-building prep team (per his wife’s memoir): 郭珠貞’s school memoir 《休士頓台灣語文學校十年》(ourjourneys263) records that in 1988 the school affairs committee recommended 沈郁芳、謝清實、林秋成、廖明徴 (variant form of 廖明徵) and the author herself as the prep team (籌備小組) to settle the school-building question — the same five who filed the THSH tax-exempt application that September. The English edition of the community-center memoir (ourjourneys233-eng) adds that the first committee meeting on 6/2 initially elected 楊朝諭 president and 莊勝義 vice-president, with the two switching roles after a few months — consistent with the 理事長/副理事長 order recorded above.
Sources
- TAH encyclopedia entries (corpus copies): [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/senior-taiwanese-american-34|TAH #34: Dr. Ming Cheng Liau 廖明徵博士]] · [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/whos-who-2216-ming-cheng-liau|TAH #2216: Dr. Ming Cheng Liau 廖明徵博士]] · TAH Who’s Who
Disambiguation (corpus re-grep 2026-09-16)
Grep hits for “Ming-Cheng/Ching-Ming” on [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/85-ching-ming-cheng-e9-84-ad-e9-9d-9c-e6-97-bb|TAH #85]] and [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/49-ching-ming-cheng-e9-84-ad-e9-9d-9c-e6-97-bb-piano|TAH #49]] are Ching-Ming Cheng 鄭靜旻, a different person — do not merge. Surname sweeps also hit 廖明惠 — author of 2018 and wife of 許財源 (Dr. Tsaiyuan “Terry” Hsu) per [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/collection-of-dr-tsaiyuan-terry-and-emily-hsu|TAH #68]] — a different person, do not merge.
Corpus re-grep (slice 09160316-12, 2026-09-16)
Hit set unchanged — ourjourneys81, ourjourneys233 (+eng), ourjourneys307, mystories460-eng, my-stories-712 — every fact (UFAI founding delegate, 《望春風》29–47 Houston editorial team, THSH five-principals 1988-09 non-profit filing, 1991-06-01 board election as 秘書, own memoirs) already absorbed in Role in the Community. No new material, no conflicts.
Corpus re-grep (slice 10101322-19, 2026-10-11)
Fresh 5-dir grep (廖明徵 / variant 廖明徴 / Ming Cheng Liau / surname 廖明) added one new source: ourjourneys263 (郭珠貞’s 休士頓台灣語文學校十年 memoir) — the 1988 籌備小組 recommendation, absorbed above. ourjourneys233-eng yielded the president/vice-president switch detail. mystories644 and the collection-of-dr-tsaiyuan-terry-and-emily-hsu hits are 廖明惠 (see Disambiguation), not this page’s subject. No date/age conflicts found.
Corpus re-grep (slice 10120400-28, 2026-10-12)
Fresh 5-dir grep surfaced two previously unabsorbed sources: his own 2017 memoir ourjourneys308 (+eng) — Formosan Club founding, charter drafter, 闕文榮 first president, 1975 rename — and the 休城出土黑名單 roster in ourjourneys106 naming him (as 廖明微) as a late-1970s 同鄉會會長 blacklisted alongside his wife. Both absorbed into Role in the Community. Consistent with the TAH table’s “TAA Houston Chapter — President”; the exact presidency year is hedged (“七八年” = likely 1977–78), not asserted. mystories460/462 hits are his own essays / his wife’s profile — no new facts. No conflicts found.