World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseLin Hsiung-cheng (Pinyin romanization: Lin Xiongzheng) was born into a wealthy family in Banqiao, Taiwan, Qing Dynasty China in 1888. In 1895, he moved to Fuzhou, Fujian Province, Qing Dynasty China with his family. In 1904, he joined Sun Yatsen's revolutionary Tongmenghui which aimed to democratize China. In 1909, he became the head of prosperous Lin household. Shortly after, he expanded the family enterprise by establishing the Lin Ben Yuan Sugar Company, Limited which would prove to be successful. In 1910, he returned to Taiwan, which by now had been ceded to Japan. He collaborated with the Japanese occupation administration and was made a councilor to the Taihoku Cho (now Taipei) local government. In 1918, he was made the head of the Toa-tiu-tia District (Pinyin: Dadaocheng) in Taihoku; in this role, he established various community organizations including language schools that taught Mandarin and Japanese. In 1919, he established Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Limited. On 1 Nov 1920, Toa-tiu-tia District was abolished, and he was made a member of the parliament of Taihoku Prefecture. In 1923, during Crown Prince Hirohito's visit to Taiwan, he was awarded the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure, 4th Class. Meanwhile, he continued to be an advocate of Chinese democracy and maintained good relationships with politicians in mainland China, thus he was often a mediator between China and Japan. During the Great Depression, Lin Ben Yuan Sugar Company faced difficulties, but stayed afloat with subsidies from the Japanese occupation administration. In the 1920s and 1930s, he donated to a great number of charitable causes in Taiwan and Japan. Between 1937 and the end of the war in 1945, he resided in Tokyo, Japan. When the Republic of China resumed control over Taiwan, Hua Nan Bank was briefly nationalized, but the Lin family kept control of 2% of the stock. Having returned to Taiwan, now under the Republic of China, he served as the head of the Taiwan Province Chamber of Commerce for some time before personally taking the rein of Hua Nan Bank as its General Manager. In Mar 1946, he was implicated in a Taiwanese separatist movement and was briefly detained, but he was ultimately cleared. He passed away in Taiwan in Nov 1946. According to his wishes, a part of his personal wealth was used to establish what was to become the forerunner of today's Weige Elementary School in Beitou District of Taipei, and to establish a scholarship for those in need.

ww2dbaseLin married Sheng Guanyi, daughter of a prominent Qing Dynasty politician. While in Japan, he took on a concubine, Tomoko Kokasen; Lin and Kokasen had one son, Lin Mingcheng, who is the head of the family and the General Manager of Hua Nan Financial Holdings at the time of this writing.

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