Chris Fan (范清亮)
Chris Fan (范清亮; also Fan Qingliang on the 2023 roster) is a Taiwanese American biotech entrepreneur known for co-founding Pacific Biotech (太平洋生物科技公司), a company that started with rabbit serum and grew into a successful biotechnology enterprise. His full biography appears on |Dr. Chris Fan (范清亮博士) (TAH Who’s Who entry for the same person).
Identity Snapshot
- English: Chris Fan
- Also seen: Fan Qingliang — pinyin on the 2023 TAHS publication roster. Who’s Who and this page’s biography use Chris Fan. Same person as Dr. Chris Fan (范清亮博士).
- Chinese: 范清亮
- Core roles: Biotech entrepreneur, co-founder of Pacific Biotech
- Geography: San Diego, California
- Education: National Taiwan University, Chemistry Department; Purdue University, Ph.D. Biochemistry (1973)
- Hobbies: Basketball, card games, violin
Overview
Fan Qingliang is one of four Taiwanese American entrepreneurs who co-founded Pacific Biotech in San Diego. Their story — 黃金白兔：生物科技創業家的故事, by 楊遠薰, in the 2023 TAHS Publication (台美人菁英錄第二輯) — begins with raising New Zealand white rabbits and grew into a chain of three successful biotechnology companies that contributed to the Taiwanese American community.
Early Life and Education
Fan is a Hakka descendant from Guanxi, Hsinchu, raised in Taipei. The 2023 TAHS profile states his secondary schooling was at 建國中學 (the earlier “National Revolutionary High School” note on this page conflicts with the source and needs verification). He studied chemistry at National Taiwan University. Academically gifted, he also excelled at basketball, card games, and violin, and was known as a natural leader with a friendly personality.
Career
After graduating from university, while his peers were serving in the military, Fan was assigned to Songshan Airport as a cadet instructor. He taught violin in the evenings to earn extra income.
At NTU he met violinist 陳淑雲 at the Toucheng (頭城) music camp that 廖年賦 organized the summer Fan graduated; she followed him to the U.S. in 1971 and continued her studies at Purdue. Fan won a Purdue scholarship while still in military service and arrived in Indiana in summer 1969 for graduate work in biochemistry; he earned the Ph.D. in 1973 (same year Chen Shuyun earned her Master of Fine Arts). At Purdue he was active in the 1971 保衛釣魚台 movement circle and Midwest Taiwanese softball tournaments. In Boston he did four years of postdoctoral research at MIT with former president Gene Brown on folic acid research; as president of the Formosan Association for Human Rights (台灣人權協會) he ran the overseas rescue hotline after the 1979 美麗島 crackdown, forwarding appeals (recorded overnight by his wife) via 台灣之音 to Senator Ted Kennedy’s office.
In late 1981, Fan, |Dr. Chiu-Shan Chen (陳秋山), |M.S. Wu (吳銘賢) and |Shu-ching Cheng (賴淑卿) — three couples — began building rabbit hutches in Chen’s San Diego backyard (adjacent to a canyon) and raising New Zealand white rabbits, the foundation of Pacific Biotech and two later biotech companies.
Fan and his wife also sheltered 林奐均, the sole surviving daughter of 林義雄, in San Diego after the 1980 Lin family tragedy, later adopting her as their goddaughter; their son |Felix Fan (范雅志) was her playmate.
- Chairman, Pacific Biotech (1982–); Chairman, Wyntek Corporation (2005–) — see dr-chris-fan
- President, Formosan Association For Human Rights (台灣人權協會)
- President, Taiwanese American Foundation of San Diego (聖地牙哥台美基金會), 1999
Family
- Wife: 陳淑雲 (Chen Shuyun), 1973 MFA (per 2023 TAHS Publication / TAH Who’s Who)
- Son: |Felix Fan (范雅志)
Legacy
Fan Qingliang’s entrepreneurial journey from rabbit farming to biotechnology represents the innovative spirit of Taiwanese American immigrants. His story, as documented in the 2023 TAHS Publication, highlights the intersection of scientific innovation, community building, and cultural identity.
Quotes
- 范清亮自述創業機緣（楊遠薰訪談報導轉述）：「我當初到美國，是要唸書，不是要創業的。但我的運氣實在好，許多事情發生時，都正好在場。當機會掉下來時，我就用雙手托住，並且加以發揮。」（sourced — 逐字複核於 2023 TAHS Publication 存檔原文：段落以「人群中要找范清亮……見到了另位養兔人范清亮」引入，引號內緊接「他」即范清亮本人；署名作者楊遠薰，刊於《台美人菁英錄》第二輯 2023年5月，頁 115–116）（09）
From the record
- 2014-09-05 — TAH.org 書目「16. 黃金白兔─生物科技創業家范清亮等人的故事／楊遠薰／2014/09」刊出（value band B、all-rights；Echopedia 視為台美社區歷史紀錄存檔）。書目標題以全名「范清亮」點名，為全名相符，非僅姓氏命中。書目紀錄僅載出版事實，全文存於 vault（
knowledge/web-archives/2023-tahs-publication-part2.md，傳主自述引文即逐字核對自此存檔）— sourced（本輪逐字複核）— [[works/taiwaneseamericanhistory-org/16-e9-bb-83-e9-87-91-e7-99-bd-e5-85-94-e2-94-80-e7-94-9f-e7-89-a9-e7-a7-91-e6-8a|TAH #16 黃金白兔]]
Source Notes and Confidence
- Content priority B: 2023 TAHS Publication (profile 黃金白兔 by 楊遠薰, Section 3, ~2760 lines)
- Hub: |2023 TAHS Publication
- Archive:
knowledge/web-archives/2023-tahs-publication-part2.md - Duplicate entry: |Dr. Chris Fan (TAH Who’s Who harvest of the same person; candidates for merge review)