Chiang Wan-an (Chinese: 蔣萬安; born Chang Wan-an; 26 December 1978), also known as Wayne Chiang, is a Taiwanese politician and lawyer who has served as the mayor of Taipei since December 2022. He is the youngest mayor of Taipei since the appointment of Chang Feng-hsu.
Chiang was born in Taipei as the son of politician Chiang Hsiao-yen, who formerly served as a chairman of the Kuomintang. Because Chiang's father claims lineage to the prominent Chiang family, Chiang is believed to be a great-grandson of Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek.
Upon graduation from National Chengchi University and the University of Pennsylvania, Chiang worked as a corporate lawyer in the United States before returning to Taiwan for politics.
Chiang was born Chang Wan-an (Chinese: 章萬安; pinyin: Zhāng Wàn'ān) on 26 December 1978 in Taipei, Taiwan.[1][2] He is the only son of minister Chiang Hsiao-yen and Helen Huang (黃美倫; Huáng Měilún) and has two elder sisters. Chiang's father claims to be an illegitimate son of Chiang Ching-kuo, the only son of Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek.[3] The claim has been unrecognized by the main Chiang family.[3] If true, Chiang would be a great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek, who led the Retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan.[4] His contested familial relationship with the Chinese leader has been controversial due to Chiang Kai-shek's divisive legacy as either a symbol of anti-communism or dictatorship.[2]
He was unaware of his relation to Chiang Kai-shek until high school, when his father made his claims of being an illegitimate son of Chiang Ching-kuo. Following the announcement, the family changed their surname from "Chang" to "Chiang".[5][6]
Chiang was a student at the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University and Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School. Because he graduated at the top of his high school class, he was automatically admitted to National Chengchi University, where he double majored in international relations and law.[5] He was named a "young leader of Taiwan" in 2001 and was introduced to U.S. president Bill Clinton.[5][7] Chiang graduated from National Chengchi University with two bachelor's degrees in diplomacy and law, respectively.[8][9]
After graduating from National Chengchi University, Chiang worked for the law firm Lee and Li. Later, Chiang became an aide in the National Assembly. He was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania Law School for a graduate Master of Laws (LL.M.) program in 2002, and left for the United States.[5] Following his graduation from the LL.M. program in 2004, he immediately enrolled in the school's Juris Doctor (J.D.) program.
After Chiang earned his J.D. degree, he practiced at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, a well known corporate law firm in California where his practice area focused on venture capital financing and corporate and security law. After practicing for several years, he founded his own law firm before returning to Taiwan in 2013.[10][11] He also earned a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.[12]
Chiang faced Lo Shu-lei in the first round of the Kuomintang party primary for the legislative elections in April 2015.[13] After Lo failed to build a sufficient lead, another primary was called the next month, which Chiang won.[14] He ran as the KMT candidate for Taipei City's third constituency in the 2016 legislative elections and won a seat in the Legislative Yuan.[15] The Taipei District Prosecutor's Office ended an investigation of vote-buying accusations against Chiang in March, but did not charge him with wrongdoing.[16]
In January 2018, Chiang stated that he would not seek to represent the Kuomintang in the Taipei mayoral election scheduled for November.[17] Chiang ran for reelection in 2020, defeating his closest opponent, Democratic Progressive Party candidate Enoch Wu, by six percent of votes, 51–45%.[18][19]
In May 2022, the Kuomintang nominated Chiang as its candidate for the Taipei mayoralty in the local elections.[8] On 10 November 2022, Chiang announced he would resign his legislative seat to focus on his mayoral campaign.[20][21] A by-election for Chiang's legislative constituency was scheduled for 8 January 2023.[22] On 26 November 2022, he was elected as the Mayor of Taipei.[23][24] Upon taking office on 25 December 2022,[25] Chiang became the youngest-ever Mayor of Taipei.[26]
Chiang met his future wife, Shih Fang-hsuan (石舫亘), while both were students at National Chengchi University.[28] They dated for ten years and married on 23 May 2009. Their first child, a son named Chiang Te-li (蔣得立), was born in June 2011,[29][30] and their second son, Chiang Te-yu (蔣得宇), was born on 23 July 2021.[31] In January 2023, they welcomed their third son, Chiang Te-cheng (蔣得正).[32]