The making of a Taiwanese dynasty

To hear Yu-Chen Yueh-ying tell it, her introduction to Taiwanese politics more than three decades ago was neither expected not desired. But thrusting her into the public arena was an inspired decision by her father-in-law, the late Yu Teng-fa, then Taiwan's Kaohsiung county chief and a thorn in the side of the ruling Kuomintang.

Not only did Mrs Yu-Chen continue the legacy he began in the 1940s, she also assumed the mantle of matriarch in a family whose members have repeatedly won election to high office at the local, provincial and national level for the past half-century.

Their influential role in building Taiwan's largest opposition grouping, the Democratic Progressive Party, is virtually undisputed. But, like other prominent political families, Taiwan's version of the Kennedys are no strangers to both devotion and controversy.

Mrs Yu-Chen, who at 70 years of age became one of only two opposition figures appointed as senior advisers to President Lee Teng-hui last year, was busy raising a family when her father-in-law suddenly drafted her to run for the Taiwan Provincial Assembly in 1963.

'The law required that at least one of Kaohsiung county's [assembly] seats must be occupied by a woman,' she recalls. 'He had another lady all ready to run, but she was persuaded, or perhaps pressured, to drop out at the last minute. I was ordered in to take her place.' Riding on Mr Yu's popularity and influence, she won the election easily, giving the family newfound leverage against KMT provincial governor Huang Chieh . According to Mr Yu's memoirs, Mr Huang decided soon afterwards to nip his rising influence in the bud, dismissing him from office as Kaohsiung county commissioner.

Barred from seeking re-election himself, in 1964 Mr Yu enlisted Mrs Yu-Chen's husband and his only son, the late Yu Jui-yen , to run. But the KMT won that battle by mobilising tens of thousands of soldiers and their families and stuffing ballot boxes, contends Mrs Yu-Chen.