Chiang Peng-chien, born in 1940 in Taipei, was an important human-rights lawyer and political figure in Taiwan's democratization. He graduated in law from National Taiwan University and, after qualifying as a lawyer, practiced with a focus on judicial rights and the defense of the vulnerable. In the 1980 military trial of the Kaohsiung Incident he stepped forward as a defense lawyer, representing figures such as Shih Ming-teh — a highly risky act in the political climate of the time. The defense lawyers of that trial would largely go on to become the backbone of Taiwan's democracy movement and opposition party, and he was among the foremost. In 1986, when the Democratic Progressive Party was founded under the martial-law system, he was elected its first chairman, bearing the burden of the party's founding and survival. In the DPP's early days he worked to build its organization and advocated advancing democratic reform through reason and the rule of law. He later won election as a legislator, continuing to push human rights and democratic legal reform in parliament. In his later years he served as a member of the Control Yuan, extending his concern for judicial and human-rights issues. He died of illness in 2000 at the age of sixty. Chiang is seen as a model of the generation of human-rights lawyers who entered politics, and his dual role in defending the Kaohsiung Incident and founding the DPP is a key link in understanding the institutionalization of Taiwan's opposition movement.

• Served as a defense lawyer in the Kaohsiung Incident trial (1980)

• Became the first chairman of the DPP (1986)