Fan ran the joint Taipei City Council campaign of tangwai activists Lin Cheng-chieh , Chen Shui-bian , Frank Hsieh and Kang Shui-mu in 1981 . Fan was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 1995 and 1998 via party list proportional representation as a representative of the Democratic Progressive Party . As a legislator , she advocated for the preservation of historical monuments damaged by the 1999 Jiji earthquake . Fan took a particular interest in the media of Taiwan , and supported the end of media monopolies , in a market that better protected its consumers . Hsu Hsin-liang considered Fan for the position of vice president on the independent ticket he was forming for the 2000 election . She rejected the offer , and Hsu selected Josephine Chu instead . Chen Shui-bian won the election , and subsequently Fan was to join the Ministry of Education as political deputy minister under Ovid Tzeng . Shortly after taking office , Fan announced that the ministry had begun working toward a plan to rebuild schools forced to close by the Jiji earthquake . As reconstruction efforts continued into 2001 , the Chen administration attempted to rebuild an elementary school on public land administered by National Taiwan University . Fan criticized the university for barring the construction . After students at National Cheng Kung University were subject to a police raid targeting distribution of pirated media in April 2001 , Fan led a task force charged with investigating the situation . In May , legislator Yang Wen-hsin accused Fan of political interference favoring Changyi Group , a construction firm that had been selected to rebuild schools damaged by the Jiji earthquake . The next year , Fan oversaw the launch of a program that sent men of conscription age overseas as teachers in private schools run by the Ministry of Education . In October , Fan visited the United States and met Secretary of Education Rod Paige to discuss a teacher exchange program between Taiwan and the United States . Though she supported initiatives to increase English-language proficiency , and had previously announced an increase in hires of foreign English-language teachers as part of the Challenge 2008 initiative , Fan stated in February 2003 that the education ministry would be reducing the number of foreign English teachers on its payroll in favor of funding the training of teachers instead . Later that month , Fan announced that the ministry was exploring ways for foreign spouses to learn Chinese , and planned to remove legal barriers to higher educational institutions for members of transnational partnerships . Her position was the subject of speculation by women 's rights organizations following a May 2004 cabinet reshuffle in which Tzeng 's successor Huang Jong-tsun was replaced by Tu Cheng-sheng . In August 2005 , the education ministry lifted a portion of the dress code prescribed to students , a move Fan supported because schools teach students " to be responsible members of society by making decisions for themselves and thinking on their own . " In December , Fan was again accused of interference , this time by Yang Chiu-hsing , regarding quality of new construction at Fong Shan Junior High School in Fongshan , Kaohsiung . Fan stepped down from the Ministry of Education in January 2006 . She was placed on the Democratic Progressive Party 's party list for the 2008 legislative elections , but was not elected via proportional representation . After losing the 2008 elections , Fan became director of the Kaohsiung Bureau of Education . In September 2018 , Fan returned to the Ministry of Education as political deputy minister . She resigned the position in January 2019 , but elected to return to her position days later , as Pan Wen-chung , the Tsai Ing-wen administration 's first education minister , returned to office
1999 Jiji earthquake
1999 Jiji earthquake
Fan Sun-lu