Li Ao

Li Ao (李敖 Pinyin Lǐ Áo) (born March 23, 1935) is a famous writer and broadcaster[?].

With an ancestry in Wei County (濰縣), Shandong, or Fuyu County (扶餘縣), Jilin, Li was born in Harbin, Mainland China to Li Dingyi (李鼎彝) (a professor of Chinese) and Chang Kuichen (張桂貞). The Li family, except two children, moved to Taiwan in 1949.

Li is considered by many to be one of the best Chinese writers of this time. Considered to be extremely articulate and reckoned to always speak his mind, Li has been jailed by the Kuomintang for more than eight years. He was nominated for a Nobel Prize for his literary work in 2000.

He also participated in the presidential election of the Republic of China (on Taiwan) in 2000 as candidate for the New Party. Li usually takes the role as the political gadlfy and was nominated to run by his party, against his will. His campaign was largely symbolic. Both he and his party publicly encouraged people to vote for Soong Chu-yu to the point of stating during the presidental debates that he was not planing to vote for himself and that people should vote for Soong. He strongly supports the idea of "One country, two systems" proposed by Deng Xiaoping. He believes that the unification of China is inevitable and at one point advocated immediate surrender. This, in combination with his past as a political dissident and his humorous style, has made him a popular figure among supporters of Chinese reunification. His recent novel Mountaintop Love (《上山．上山．愛》), about a mother and daughter who fall in love with the same man, though several years apart, has solidified Li's status as a serious novelist.

He is known for generally appearing in public wearing a cardigan sweater and therefore (unintentionally) dressing like Fred Rogers. He also has a habit of taking pictures of the audience at public events where the media is present since he believes that it is only fair to take pictures of the people who are taking pictures of him.

See also: Politics of Taiwan