Li Yuan

Li Yuan (; born 31 October 1951), also known by his pen name Hsiao Yeh , is a Taiwanese novelist, screenwriter and politician who has been Minister of Culture since 2024.

Early life and education Li Yuan was born in Monga, Taipei, on 31 October 1951. He is of Hakka Chinese descent. His family's ancestral home was in Wuping County; his parents moved to Taiwan in 1949. His father was a statistician and his mother taught writing at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), later becoming a journalist.

Li graduated from National Taiwan Normal University with a bachelor's degree in biology. He then earned a Master of Science (M.S.) in microbiology from the State University of New York at Buffalo in the United States. Upon returning to Taiwan, Li became a teaching assistant at National Yang Ming University. There, Hsiao Yeh also met Wu Nien-jen, with whom he founded May Productions in 1989. Shortly after starting May Productions, Hsiao Yeh won the 1990 Golden Horse Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Later that decade, he became a television writer and presenter. Hsiao Yeh worked for Taiwan Television from 2001 to 2004 and served as general manager of Chinese Television System from 2006 to 2008. Hsiao Yeh was the artistic director of the musical "Hey! Atiku", which was based on one of his stories and debuted in 2010, the first such Hakka production geared toward children.

In politics

Activism Shortly after Tsai Ing-wen founded Thinking Taiwan in August 2012, Li was one of the first invited to join. In March 2013, Li participated in an anti-nuclear demonstration planned by the and held around the Presidential Office. Days later, he and another former CMPC colleague, , among others, started the Five Six Movement, in opposition to nuclear technologies. A wide-ranging group that included Li Yuan, Lee Yuan-tseh, Wei Te-sheng, Giddens Ko, and Kevin Tsai founded the Anti-Nuclear Fathers Front with the same goal, on Father's Day. In November, Li was invited to the Zero-Nuke Festival hosted by the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance. He was largely supportive of the Sunflower Student Movement in 2014. Li joined the 2018 Taipei mayoral campaign of political independent Ko Wen-je as campaign director.

Formal political career On 12 April 2024, Li Yuan was appointed the Minister of Culture in the incoming cabinet led by Cho Jung-tai. Li himself has no party affiliation.

Personal life Li Yuan's son is a writer and film director.