Neil Peng Explained

Neil Peng
Native Name Lang:zh-tw
Birth Date:23 September 1953
Birth Place:Sanchong, Taipei County, Taiwan
Nationality:Taiwanese
Education:Fu Jen Catholic University, B.A.
Fairfield University, M.A.
Awards:Golden Horse Award for Best Original Screenplay (1993)

Neil Peng (; born 23 September 1953) is a Taiwanese screenwriter and political activist.

Early life and career

Peng was born in Sanchong, Taipei, and received his bachelor's degree in library science from Fu Jen Catholic University before obtaining his master's degree in mass communications from Fairfield University. He then served the China Times as deputy editor-in-chief.[1]

The Wedding Banquet (1993)

Peng approached director Ang Lee with the idea behind The Wedding Banquet in 1986 by revealing to Lee that one of their mutual friends had moved to the United States and was in a same-sex relationship without the knowledge of the man's parents.[2] Lee and Peng began writing the screenplay two years later and were soon joined by James Schamus.[3] Released in 1993, the film was entered into that year's Berlin Film Festival.[4] Lee and Peng shared the 1993 Golden Horse Award for Best Original Screenplay for their collaboration on the film. In 1994, The Wedding Banquet was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards.[5]

Political activism

In 2012, Peng announced his support of the anti-nuclear movement,[6] later becoming a member of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union.[7] He is also known for his support of pension reform and same-sex marriage in Taiwan.[8] [9] [10]

Peng has spoken out against the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, by launching a petition against the pact's ratification in August 2013.[11] Later that month, Peng and others founded the Constitution 133 Alliance to advocate for the recall of under-performing legislators.[12] [13] The group was named after Article 133 of the Constitution of the Republic of China, which allows constituents to recall their representatives to the Legislative Yuan.[14] The Constitution 133 Alliance launched its first recall campaign against Kuomintang legislator Wu Yu-sheng in August, which was not successful.[15] Though Peng claimed that the Central Election Commission had "stalled" Wu's recall,[16] Peng continued to participate in future recall attempts, rebranded the Appendectomy Project and inspired by the Constitution 133 Alliance, against Wu, Alex Tsai, and Lin Hung-chih in particular.[17] [18] [19] After the 2014 Sunflower Student Movement, proposals to strengthen submission requirements for legislative recall petitions were discussed, a move Peng opposed.[20]

Political career

In February 2014, Peng announced his independent Taipei mayoral campaign.[21] [22] Later that month, when Kuomintang candidate Sean Lien stated that he would take legal action against anyone who published falsehoods about him, Peng and Wellington Koo pledged to defend all who had been sued by Lien.[23] Peng was scheduled to debate fellow independent Ko Wen-je in March shortly after a debate only open to Democratic Progressive Party candidates had been televised.[24] Ko did not participate, and all DPP candidates, one of whom was Koo, debated Peng instead.[25] Despite his absence from the March debates, Ko won the mayoral election.

Following Peng's loss in the mayoral election, he declared an independent legislative campaign for New Taipei 1 in February 2015.[26] [27] By April, he had joined the New Power Party.[28] In September 2015, Peng was named to the NPP's executive committee for the first time.[29] After contentious discussions with the DPP about supporting its legislative candidate Lu Sun-ling,[30] [31] Peng chose to drop out of the election in November 2015.[32] In March 2016, Peng was reelected to the NPP's executive board.[33] After the reelection of Huang Kuo-chang as head executive, Peng remarked that party leaders should not be legislators, so the party could better remain unaffected by government influence.[34] This disagreement lead to Peng leaving the party in January 2017.[35]

Controversy

Peng has repeatedly made controversial statements. He was one of three people charged by Emile Sheng in 2012 for libel. Peng was jailed for 20 days over the comments.[36] The case was appealed up to the Supreme Court in November 2016, which found the three defendants not guilty.[37] For saying that King Pu-tsung and Ma Ying-jeou have a "special/sexual relationship,"[38] King filed a lawsuit against Peng in February 2014, accusing Peng of libel.[39] The Taiwan High Court ruled against King in March 2015,[40] but King filed an appeal of the ruling in September.[41] Following the appeal, the Civil Court determined that Peng should pay King NT$1 million in damages.[42] Peng appealed the Civil Court decision and was again found not guilty for libel and defamation in May 2016, the second charge stemming from Peng's published article about King, some time after the March 2015 High Court ruling.[43]

In May 2014, Peng was named a defendant in a court case involving legislator Lu Hsueh-chang.[44]

Personal

Peng lives in Daan District, Taipei.[45]

Notes and References

  1. News: 2014 local elections:Taipei. 5 October 2017. Central News Agency.
  2. News: Pacheo. Patrick. Cultural Provocateur : In 'The Wedding Banquet,' Ang Lee Stirs Up Custom. 25 February 2017. Los Angeles Times. 4 August 1993.
  3. Book: Feng. Peter X.. Identities in Motion: Asian American Film and Video. 2002. Duke University Press. 9780822383987. 182.
  4. News: Hornaday. Ann. FILM; A Film Scholar Conjures Up A Hit Machine. 25 February 2017. New York Times. 20 February 1994.
  5. News: 'Banquet,' 'Ruby' top IFP noms. 25 February 2017. Variety. 13 January 1994.
  6. News: Lee. I-chia. Group raises nuclear awareness. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 6 March 2012.
  7. News: Lee. I-chia. Activists urge public to sign nuclear vote petition. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 6 March 2014.
  8. News: Yang. Chiu-ying. Chung. Jake. Same-sex union activists aim for 1 million signatures. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 9 September 2012.
  9. News: Chang. Eddy. Taipei Watcher: Election time. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 28 August 2014.
  10. News: Lin. Sean. Civic groups warn of impending financial crisis. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 2 September 2016.
  11. News: Chen. Yi-ching. Pan. Jason. Anti-pact petition attracts attention. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 3 August 2013.
  12. News: Wang. Chris. Alliance looks to recall 'bad' legislators. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 15 August 2013.
  13. News: Tzou. Jiing-wen. INTERVIEW: Neil Peng urges public to recall 'bad' lawmakers. 26 February 2017. Taipei Times. 25 August 2013.
  14. News: Wang. Chris. Join recall petition instead of throwing shoes, Constitution 133 Alliance says. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 5 November 2013.
  15. News: Wang. Chris. Alliance names lawmaker as first candidate for recall. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 26 August 2013.
  16. News: Wang. Chris. Campaigners complain about 'stalling strategy'. Taipei Times. 3 January 2014.
  17. News: Lii Wen. Lii Wen. Deadline nears for recall petitions. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 22 December 2014.
  18. News: Chen. Yen-ting. Chung. Jake. Students, netizens initiate recall of KMT lawmakers. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 4 May 2014.
  19. News: Chen. Yen-ting. Chung. Jake. Alex Tsai recall push enters final stage. Taipei Times. 25 February 2017. 8 February 2015.
  20. News: Loa. Iok-sin. Wang. Chris. Sunflower lessons go wanting: groups. 25 February 2017. 13 May 2014.
  21. News: Wang. Chris. Neil Peng set to announce campaign for Taipei mayor. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 17 February 2014.
  22. News: Wang. Chris. Neil Peng announces Taipei mayoral bid. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 18 February 2014.
  23. News: Wang. Chris. Peng, Koo build 'submarine' legal team. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 26 February 2014.
  24. News: Wang. Chris. Non-KMT Taipei mayoral hopeful debates set for TV. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 3 March 2014.
  25. News: Wang. Chris. DPP Taipei mayoral hopefuls round on KMT, Ko. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 17 March 2014.
  26. News: Hsiao. Alison. Author Neil Peng to stand in legislative election. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 16 February 2015.
  27. News: Lii Wen. Top Sunflower joins NPP, eyes legislative run. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 5 May 2015.
  28. News: Lii Wen. Recall leaders question reform hearing shut-out. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 22 April 2015.
  29. News: Chen. Wei-han. New Power Party announces leadership structure. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 14 September 2015.
  30. News: Loa. Iok-sin. NPP elaborates platform, slams PFP as KMT stooge. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 19 July 2015.
  31. News: Gerber. Abraham. Pan-green integration attempts appear to stumble. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 15 October 2015.
  32. News: Gerber. Abraham. Neil Peng withdraws from election race. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 20 November 2015.
  33. News: Gerber. Abraham. NPP elects party chairmen, executive to be announced. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 15 March 2016.
  34. News: Gerber. Abraham. Huang holds on to NPP chairmanship in unanimous vote. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 26 March 2016.
  35. News: Gerber. Abraham. NPP lawmakers shocked by Neil Peng's resignation. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 10 January 2017.
  36. News: Loa. Iok-sin. Neil Peng starts 20-day jail term. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 4 October 2014.
  37. News: Pan. Jason. Supreme Court upholds 'Dreamers' case verdict. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 12 November 2016.
  38. News: Lin. Sean. KMT Ko slur sparks council scuffle. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 17 September 2015.
  39. News: Chang. Rich. King's libel suit against Peng opens. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 12 March 2014.
  40. News: Yang. Kuo-wen. Chen. Wei-han. King Pu-tsung loses Peng libel suit. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 4 March 2015.
  41. News: Chin. Jonathan. King Pu-tsung, Neil Peng enter debate in court. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 22 September 2015.
  42. News: Pan. Jason. Neil Peng to pay damages in King case. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 7 October 2015.
  43. News: Chang. Wen-chuan. Shih. Hsiao-kuang. King loses another defamation lawsuit against Peng. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 10 May 2016.
  44. News: Hsiao. Alison. KMT lawmaker criticized for filing lawsuit. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 8 May 2014.
  45. News: Lin. Hsin-han. Chung. Jake. INTERVIEW: Huang-Peng partnership outlines vision for NPP. 25 February 2017. Taipei Times. 3 November 2015.

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