English Version

Hu, C. 2008, “Plato on Rhetoric,” Annual Meeting of Chinese Political Association September 27. (in Chinese)

Tu, Chia-chu & Chuan-wei Hu, 2007, “Proof of Causation in Tobacco Litigation: Taiwan’s Case,” 8th Asia-Pacific Conference on Tobacco or Health（Taipei）, October 17-20. (in English)

Hu, C. 2007, ”How does Taiwan matter to the US-Japan alliance?”, Asia at the Crossroads”, The US Naval Academy (Annapolis), April 10-12. (in English) (Photo with Henry A. Kissinger)

Short Bio

Chuan-wei is taking his second PhD here, and is in his first year in the Journalism Studies Department. His first PhD and MA are

in Political Science, both from National Taiwan University. His first doctoral thesis focused on how Plato, Aristotle and Thucydides perceived the relationship between rhetoric and democracy, and then he rebuilt a set of concepts to support “rhetorical democracy” in comparison with modern deliberative theories. His MA dissertation discussed a contemporary political philosopher, Leo Strauss, on relativism, nihilism and natural right.

During his first doctoral study, he was recommended by his supervisor, Dr. Yi-Huah Jiang, to Yale University to be a special student in the graduate school. At the same time, he was awarded scholarships from Fulbright and National Science Council in Taiwan. He learned history of political thought from Prof. Steven Smith and attended Prof. Donald Kagan’s class on the History of the Peloponnesian War. At Yale, he developed the passion to be an academic scholar and decided to go abroad again to study. This is partly to explain why he wants to take his second PhD.

Before his studies, he had worked for several years as an assistant research fellow in a political think tank engaging in national security issues. Not only did he write many research reports regarding with political issues as part of his duty, he was also interested in writing articles and comments published in newspapers, which were approximately more than 40 pieces.

Then, according to his superior had changed the position, Chuan-wei followed and transformed to be a legislative assistant to the Legislator (MP in Taiwan). Among his tasks, the most memorable thing for him was to prepare draft of speeches for his superiors, and even part of a draft for a presidential candidate. He was very interested in how to persuade people in a public situation and also considered what kind of rhetoric is legitimate to a democratic society.

To answer more theoretical questions and the stimulating experience of Yale, he decided to focus more on his studies, no more work out of school. He got scholarship by Academic Sinica to finish his PhD and also as a post-doctor research there for two years. He taught “Introduction to Political Science” in National Taiwan University for two years as an adjunct lecturer. He also taught “History of Western Political History” and “Reading Classics” in Chinese Culture University and Shi-Shin University as an adjunct assistant professor. Most of the feedback from students is pretty good and that is why he made his mind to devote himself to academic life. He enjoys sharing knowledge and some interesting information with students very much.

Back to his research, he hopes to learn more about contemporary methodology and modern communication theories to enrich his understanding of political rhetoric. Therefore, with the support of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen’s Scholarship—Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is the founding father of Republic of China (Taiwan)—he has come here and is trying to learn more perspectives on issues of political rhetoric. Now he is focusing on a case study: China’s political communication.

The title of his working thesis is "Chinese style of Persuasion: Political Rhetoric between China and Taiwan". His supervisor in University of Sheffield is Dr. John Steel. Chuan-wei's contemporary research is about how to communicate with China? To be specific, his thesis aims to outline the patterns of China’s style of persuasion via examining the political rhetoric between Taiwan and China. There are three main sources to be analysed: first, political speeches delivered by political leaders of China and Taiwan regarding cross-Straits issues; second, Chinese classical texts dealing with the concepts of union and state; third, interviews of government officers who are familiar with cross-Straits talk.