William Lai

William Lai Lai Ching-te
賴清德
William Lai in November 2010
1st Mayor of Tainan
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 December 2010
Deputy	Hsu He-chun
Preceded by	Hsu Tain-tsair as Mayor of Tainan (Provincial city)
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office 1 February 1999 – 25 December 2010
Succeeded by	Huang Wei-cher
Constituency	Tainan 2
Personal details
Born	(1959-10-06) October 6, 1959 (age 57) Wanli, Taipei County (now New Taipei City), Taiwan
Nationality	Taiwan
Political party	Democratic Progressive Party
Alma mater	National Taiwan University National Cheng Kung University Harvard University
Profession	Medical doctor Politician
Signature
Website	www.laichingte.net

William Lai, also known by his romanised name Lai Ching-te, is a Taiwanese politician and the incumbent mayor of Tainan. He took office on 25 December 2010, after the municipality was created from the merger of Tainan City and Tainan County. He served as a legislator in the Legislative Yuan from 1999 to 2010.

Born in Wanli, a rural coastal town in northern Taipei County (now New Taipei City) on October 6, 1959, Lai underwent schooling in Taipei City and studied at both National Cheng Kung University in Tainan and National Taiwan University in Taipei, where he specialized in rehabilitation. Lai then studied at the Harvard School of Public Health for a Masters degree in public health, followed by an internship at National Cheng Kung University Hospital. He became an expert on spinal cord damage and served as a national consultant for such injuries.

After serving as part of the support team for Chen Ding-nan's unsuccessful electoral bid for Governor of Taiwan Province in 1994, Lai decided to enter politics himself. The next opportunity for election to a national body was the 1996 National Assembly, with Lai winning a seat representing Tainan City. Lai then joined the New Tide faction and stood as a candidate in the 1998 Legislative Yuan election, representing the Democratic Progressive Party in the second ward of Tainan City. He was successful in this election, and subsequently was reelected three times in 2001, 2004, and 2008. In total he served 11 years as a legislator, and was selected as Taiwan's "Best Legislator" four times in a row by Taipei-based NGO Citizen Congress Watch.