Fang-Ming Chen (陳芳明博士)
Identity Snapshot
- English: Fang-Ming Chen
- Chinese: 陳芳明博士
- Era: 1947
- Geography: Kao-Hsiung, Taiwan
- Core roles: professor, educator
- Source: TAH Foundation Who’s Who
Fang-Ming Chen (陳芳明博士) is the author of numerous publications on Taiwanese history and literature, including works on the 228 Incident, Yang Kui’s literary career, and a biography of Hsieh Hsueh-hung.
Education
- 輔仁大學 — 1969 — B.S., History
- 台灣大學 — 1973 — M.S., History
- Washington State University — 1978 — Ph.D., History
Employment
- 民主進步黨 — 1988 — 文宣部主任
- 國立政治大學 — 2005-present — 台灣文學研究所所長
Role in the Community
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Editor-in-Chief of《台灣文化》Taiwan Culture — the bimonthly was started by Yung-hsin Chen, and President Maysing Huang (黃美幸) invited Chen to serve as Editor-in-Chief. The memoirs credit him directly: his talent and hard work made it an extremely high-quality pure literary-arts magazine, “the pride of the overseas Taiwanese people,” deliberately unlike ordinary association newsletters (it was not used as a newsletter for association communications). Stephen Lin (林俊提) and Li-fa Hsieh (謝裡法) also contributed much to the project. Taiwan Culture recorded historical facts about the 228 Incident in its early issues. See Our Journeys 8 (EN), its Chinese counterpart Our Journeys 76, and Our Journeys 76 (EN).
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Own TAH literary work — 461. 荊棘的閘門 (文學, 1992/09), archived in the TAH corpus: 荊棘的閘門.
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Speaker at Midwest Taiwanese Summer Conference — the 1992 conference speeches were published as a volume credited to Li Hung-hsi, Lung-Chi Chen, Fang-Ming Chen and others: Our Journeys 123 (EN).
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TAH corpus author entry — his own TAH work record “190. Fang-Ming Chen 陳芳明” (2015/01): TAH work 190.
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His TAH-held political/writing works — 397. 台灣人的歷史與意識 (1998/08): 397; 398. 在時代分合的路口 (1989/07): 398; 399. 二二八事件學術論文集 (1989/07): 399; 400. 謝雪紅評傳 (1991/07): 400; 401. 楊淕的文學生涯 (1988/09): 401.
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First book in 新潮叢書 — 林衡哲’s memoir records Chen’s first published book 《鏡子與影子》 appearing in the 新潮叢書 series he co-edited with 楊牧 at 志文出版社, before Chen turned to 台灣文學; the same memoir recalls 1975: through 許常惠 and the 鄉土文學論戰, Chen co-founded「台灣文藝沙龍」 with 陳錦芳, 洪銘水 and 林衡哲 (Our Journeys 70 (林衡哲, 股東同仁平安)).
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Blacklisted by the ROC — listed among Bay Area Taiwanese community leaders who were on the KMT government’s blacklist (Our Journeys 106, 中華民國的黑名單); 協志會’s alumni roster separately credits him as 民進黨文宣部主任 (Our Journeys 238, 台灣學生報, consistent with the Employment table’s 1988 role).
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228 Incident Academic Symposium convener — convened the 228學術討論會 organized by the Taiwanese Alliance for Interculture (台灣協志會, TAI), with the papers presented Feb 28 at Syntek Hall Center, Palo Alto, alongside scholars 彭明敏、林宗義、林宗光、張旭成、蕭欽義、簡烟仁、謝善元、林衡哲、張富美 — a landmark in breaking the 228 taboo through overseas scholarship (Our Journeys 37, 台灣協志會, English counterpart Our Journeys 37 (EN)).
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Summer-conference voice of the movement generation — keynote speaker (主題演講) at the 7th 美東南區台灣人夏令會 in 1985, the largest international-student gathering in twenty years that helped give birth to 全美台灣同學會 (Our Journeys 245, 美東南夏令會簡史); also among the 陳芳明、林衡哲、謝里法、黃美惠 visitors at the culture-heavy 1985 seminar recalled in Our Journeys 379, 十年東南夏令憶感.
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Featured at overseas cultural events — headliner alongside 陳永興、謝里法、呂秀蓮 at the first 《台灣文化之夜》 in Los Angeles, May 1986, which drew 500+ and seeded 太平洋時報 (Our Journeys 301, 南加州台灣人聯合基金會); invited to the 鄉情座談會 with 張富美、艾琳達 at the 1994 北加州台灣同鄉會聯合會 (Our Journeys 142).
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Public-education lecturer on 台灣新文學史 / 台灣政治運動史 — the taiwanjustice-net archive preserves listings for his recurring 民視台灣學堂 lecture series: 《台灣新文學史》 episodes 2017–2019 (e.g. 20171130 「人文精神發揚：靜態知識思維轉為具體國家關懷」, 20181115 「台灣新文學先行者賴和」, 20190627 「國際局勢變化影響台灣70年代文壇風景」) and 《台灣政治運動史》 20180823 「翁澤生假第三國際之名 跨海指導台共方針」 (民視台灣學堂 20171130, 20190627 listing); the 10th anniversary of 《台灣新文學史》 (2020) is quoted with his line 「文學讓人和解」 — the anniversary piece itself is archived: 「台灣新文學史」10週年，陳芳明：文學讓人和解 (taiwan-news listing).
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Founding member of the LA 「美國美麗島週報社」 circle — 陳昭南’s 2022 memoir on the overseas “職業革命家” turn after 美麗島 lists 陳芳明 among the few dozen LA-based members (alongside 許信良、許丕龍、羅慕義、胡忠信) who founded 「美國美麗島週報社」 and published 美麗島週報 to wage full-time (“職業”) anti-KMT organizing, the era that also fed the 「遷黨回台」 strategy debate (陳昭南, 籌謀台灣「不流血革命」).
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Public intellectual on China/ROC issues — 2017: condemned the PRC’s secret detention of 李明哲 as 「毫無文明水準的審判」 and demanded an open trial (定罪李明哲「毫無文明水準」 陳芳明); 2016: published 「(台灣) 和平改革與民進黨」 in 蘋果日報 (link listing); his 美麗島事件 framing — 「一個歷史的終結，也預告着一個歷史的開端」 — is quoted in 龍應台’s 2019 essay on China’s 「黑色星期五」 (龍應台 essay listing).
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2017: defending historical truth against fabrication — denounced the 田中實加 fake-Bayborn memoir scandal as 「最險惡」 and a desecration of 台灣史 (2017-01-01 news digest); after 劉曉波’s death he posted 「我們再也不能原諒中國共產黨…劉曉波死了，中國的民主希望也死了」 — a stance quoted (and disputed by the author) in a later commentary (2024 commentary listing)
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2020: 「公民力量是台灣民主最重要的基石」 — in a 法廣 interview around 蔡英文’s 520 re-inauguration he argued civic power is the bedrock of Taiwan’s democracy, called 九二共識 effectively reducing 台灣 to 「中國的附庸國」, and framed cross-strait management as every president’s core test (full interview, 2020 listing)
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Tribute to 尉天驄 — as his 政大台文所 junior colleague, credited 尉天驄’s generation with carrying 台灣文學 through a desolate era: 「不因為時代過去就喪失文學價值，每個世代的人都能閱讀它」 (2019 piece, archived in the 2025 obituary feature: 尉天驄 obituary feature)
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Literary-community advocacy — Jan 2024: joined ~200 writers and cultural figures (平路、邱坤良 et al.) in the 文藝界 endorsement of 吳音寧 for 彰化 立委, arguing 「給文學1席立委」 (文藝界挺音寧連署).
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民視台灣學堂 continued — further episodes preserved: 《台灣政治運動史》 20180426/20180830/20180906 on 謝雪紅 and 二七部隊 (20180906 listing, 20180830 listing); 《台灣新文學史》 20191212 「台灣報紙文學獎興起」, 20191226 「美麗島事件震驚國際」, 20200102/20200109 on the 1970s 鄉土書寫 era (20191212 listing, 20200109 listing).
Family
No filled family fields on the TAH profile.