18 Facts About Henry Liu

Henry Liu, often known by his pen name Chiang Nan, was a Taiwanese-American writer and journalist.

Henry Liu was a vocal critic of the Kuomintang, then the single ruling party of the Republic of China in Taiwan, and was most famous for writing an unauthorized biography of Chiang Ching-kuo, then president of the Republic of China.

Henry Liu later became a naturalized citizen of the United States, and resided in Daly City, California, where he was assassinated by Bamboo Union members who had been reportedly trained by the Kuomintang's military intelligence division.

Henry Liu ran two gift shops in Fisherman's Wharf and San Mateo and was a freelance journalist for several publications in Hong Kong and the San Francisco Journal, a US-based Chinese-language newspaper published by Maurice Chuck.

Henry Liu proceeded to publish an unauthorized biography of Chiang Ching-kuo in 1975, which was formed from three articles he had written in 1975 about Chiang's life prior to 1949.

Henry Liu planned to update the biography to cover more recent history, but was warned against writing about the Chiang family by Admiral Wang Hsi-ling in 1977.

Henry Liu finally revised the biography after a meeting late in 1983 where he favorably received a suggestion to tone down the criticism of the Chiang family from a family friend, former intelligence agent, and his former publisher on the Taiwan Daily News, Hsia Hsiao-hua.

On 15 October 1984, Liu was shot to death in the garage of his home in Daly City, California shortly after 9 am Helen Cui, Henry's wife, had noticed two Asian men riding bicycles near their house that morning and the morning before; she heard loud noises in the garage and discovered her husband had been killed.

Chen was acting on the request of the head of the Kuomintang's Military Intelligence Bureau, Vice Admiral Wang Hsi-ling, who had requested that Henry Liu be "[given] a lesson" after writing articles critical of the Kuomintang government.

Some of Henry Liu's friends suggested the "somewhat gossipy" biography of Chiang Ching-kuo delved into the background of Chiang Kai-shek's mother too deeply, while others suggested he was about to publish some works harmful to some governmental officials.

Preparations for the assassination of Henry Liu started in July 1984, according to the tape-recorded confession of Chen Chi-li, leader of the Bamboo Union Triad.

The government of Taiwan continued to deny culpability in the death of Henry Liu, claiming that Wang and his subordinates were not acting as agents of the Taiwanese government.

At a pre-trial hearing in Taipei, Chen Chi-li claimed that Wang Hsi-ling of Kuomintang intelligence ordered the assassination, stating that Henry Liu was a double agent who had spied for both Taiwan and China.

However, Chen claimed he instructed his associates to disobey Wang's orders and instead wanted Henry Liu to be injured, not killed, after learning that Henry Liu's parents had been killed by Chinese communists.

In May 1985, a month after his conviction, Chen retracted this statement, stating that Wang had only ordered that Henry Liu be taught a lesson, not killed, which brought Chen's story in agreement with Wang's testimony during his nearly-simultaneous military tribunal.

Henry Liu's subordinates stated they contacted Chen only at Wang's request and therefore bore no personal responsibility in following orders.

Henry Liu first stood for federal trial in 1986 in New York, where he was found innocent of racketeering but convicted of conspiring to import and distribute heroin.

At the 1986 trial, Tung's defense attorneys argued that Tung had been duped into murdering Henry Liu by appealing to his sense of patriotism.