Model Makes a Naked Bid for Power in Taiwan

As this island of 20 million people inches toward democracy, a 30-year-old model has gained notoriety with a political campaign that relies on maximum exposure--nudity.

Hsu Hsiao-dan is running, sometimes naked, for a seat in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan in the first election since the lifting of martial law two years ago.

Like the raucous chair-throwing sessions and fights that break out in the legislature, Hsu’s unusual campaign for the December vote indicates how much the island has changed since martial law.

During the 38 years that Taiwan lived under military rule, Hsu might have been locked up for stripping in public and demanding greater freedom and free love. Now, Taiwan’s version of Cicciolina, the Italian porn star who won a seat in Parliament, has become the most talked about woman on this island.

Half-Naked Photo Published

Every major newspaper has carried her half-naked picture. In-depth interviews on her sex life have appeared in leading magazines.

And although the “little cabbage,” as she’s called, is not expected to win, her campaign has added spice to Taiwan’s changing political scene.

“My body is a political weapon,” Hsu says with a laugh, as she snuggles with one of her three cats in her downtown Taipei apartment. “My breasts are nuclear warheads.”

A slight woman with thick eyebrows and an easy smile, Hsu is recognized everywhere she goes. Men tend to grin broadly and woman hiss when she walks by.

‘When I Dream, I Am Naked’

Hsu has catalogued her fame in three notebooks, filled with newspaper stories revealing her exploits. She has crammed several other photo albums with her nude pictures. She shows these with pride.

“When I dream, I am naked,” she says. “What is more beautiful than that?”

Since last year, when Hsu first stripped to make a political point, she has been arrested several times, sentenced to 40 days in jail and fined. She remains serious about her campaign.

Public opinion is mixed.

“By stripping off her clothes, she is ripping the mask of hypocrisy from Taiwan,” said one government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Called Publicity Hound

Others criticize her as a politically naive publicity hound.

“Elections always produce crazy people like that,” said Antonio Chiang, editor of Taiwan’s top news magazine, The Journalist.

Hsu recently appeared on the steps of the legislature to demand more democracy in Taiwan. She had planned to stand there for one hour, posing as a model of the Goddess of Democracy, erected during the movement for freedom in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square. But when she exposed her breasts, female police officers bundled her off to jail. She was released later that day.

“I was there to say that Taiwan has no right to gloat over the Communist crackdown,” she says. “We need more changes in our country too.”

On Ballot as Independent

Hsu is running for one of the 12 seats of the Legislative Yuan in the Kaohsiung district, Taiwan’s second-largest city. She will be on the ballot as an independent, not affiliated with the ruling Nationalist Party or the main opposition group, the Democratic Progressive Party.

The Legislative Yuan is dominated by members in their 70s or older who were last elected in 1948 on the Chinese mainland. They were given permanent posts because the Nationalist government, which fled to Taiwan following the victory of the Communist revolution, still claims to be the legitimate ruler of all China.

The government has instituted a series of political reforms, steps that are needed for the Legislative Yuan to shed its rubber-stamp image.

Hsu, the daughter of a tailor and a housewife, comes from the Taiwanese countryside. She attended prestigious Donghai University, studying history, but spent most of her time cavorting with local artists.

Walked Naked Through Crowd

In April, 1988, she staged “Dream Woman,” a three-day dance performance in Taichung, Taiwan’s third-largest city. In the last act of the last night, Hsu stripped and walked through the applauding audience. City prosecutors took her to court for “offending public morals.”

She became an instant celebrity, calling for a social revolution in Taiwan.

“This society thinks nudity is dirty, but I think the politicians are dirtier than me,” she says. “I may not wear clothes but I am better than a man in a suit who steps on the people.”