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Lai Pin-yu

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Taiwanese politician and cosplayer In this Chinese name, the family name is Lai.

Lai Pin-yuMLY
賴品妤
Lai in 2023
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 2020 – 31 January 2024
Preceded byHuang Kuo-chang
Succeeded byLiao Hsien-hsiang
ConstituencyNew Taipei XII
Personal details
Born (1992-03-02) 2 March 1992 (age 32)
Taipei County, Taiwan
NationalityTaiwan
Political partyDemocratic Progressive Party
Parent
EducationNational Taipei University (BA)
ProfessionPolitician, cosplayer

Lai Pin-yu (Chinese: 賴品妤; pinyin: Lài Pǐnyú; born 2 March 1992) is a Taiwanese politician of the Democratic Progressive Party who was elected to the Legislative Yuan in 2020. She is also a cosplayer.

Education and early activism

Lai was born on 2 March 1992 in Zhonghe, Taipei County, Taiwan. She is the daughter of the Democratic Progressive Party politician Lai Chin-lin and his wife Wu Ju-ping (吳如萍), a media worker.

Lai obtained her bachelor's degree in law from National Taipei University in 2013. After the appearance of the white shirt army movement [zh] and the anti-media monopoly movement [zh] in 2012 caused by the death of Hung Chung-chiu, Lai began to participate in many social movements in person.

During Chen Deming's 26 November 2013 visit with Chairman of Straits Exchange Foundation Lin Join-sane, more than 20 students from the Black Island Youth Front, dissatisfied with Chen's pressure on the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, planned to hold a placard to protest near the foundation headquarters. They immediately clashed with the police there; Lai was surrounded alongside two other female students by ten female police officers, and was dragged by the police all the way to the headquarters before letting go. In an interview on the same day, she said that the effects of relative cheapness of Chinese labor and the easing of environmental laws will cause Taiwan's industry to stagnate the salary level of Taiwan's labor in comparison with mainland China.

Since Lai Pin-yu is an anime fan herself and also likes selfies and cosplay, she received a lot of followers on Facebook. In the demolition of the Huaguang community [zh] triggered by the Urban Planning Commission, Taipei City Government [zh] in December 2013, Lai Pin-yu decided to combine the issue of destruction with cosplay, and cosplay as Rei Ayanami, a character in the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, in the hopes that the image work left by taking pictures of the architectural remains of the Huaguang community will attract more attention. In January 2014, during the Taiwan high school curriculum fine-tuning controversy [zh], she pointed out that in the new draft syllabus proposed by the Ministry of Education, only the 1943 Cairo Declaration is mentioned in the process of determining the status of international law, but it downplays the content of the Treaty of San Francisco and the Taiwan Relations Act enacted by the 96th United States Congress.

Lai participated in Sunflower Student Movement in 2014 where she was arrested for blocking traffic with other protesters.

Political career

Lai entered politics in September 2019 when she became a Democratic Progressive Party candidate for the Legislative Yuan in the 2020 Taiwanese legislative election. As a cosplayer, Lai was seen dressed up as Asuka Langley Soryu from the Japanese Neon Genesis Evangelion anime franchise and Sailor Mars from the Sailor Moon franchise in her campaign advertisement. On 11 January 2020, Lai won the election to become the member of Legislative Yuan representing New Taipei City Constituency XII. She was the youngest member of the 10th Legislative Yuan. Similarly, in 2022, Lai cosplayed as Yor Forger from Spy × Family. Lai ran for reelection in 2024, losing to Liao Hsien-hsiang [zh].

References

  1. Li Hongdian 李鴻典 (1 January 2020). "成功進軍國會 賴品妤貼超火辣照曬美腿：未來四年請多指教". SET News (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  2. Ke Peichen 柯沛辰 (1 January 2020). "國會最年輕正妹！27歲賴品妤擊敗老將 汐止區關鍵372票決勝". ET Today (in Traditional Chinese). Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  3. ^ Everington, Keoni (12 January 2020). "Taiwanese cosplay candidate, Sunflower Movement activist wins legislative seat". Taiwan News. Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  4. "台灣抗議學生群體多為民進黨外圍分子" (in Traditional Chinese). 新浪. 2 March 2014. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  5. 艾然 (2 March 2014). "杨平："反服贸"学运是民进党操弄的结果" (in Simplified Chinese). 華廣網. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  6. 王立柔 (2 November 2013). "對陳德銘高喊反服貿 學生遭警察「鎖喉」" (in Traditional Chinese). 綠色和平電台. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  7. 張廷玉和陳金寶 (2 November 2013). "看見台灣 請陳德銘停止干涉台灣內政" (in Traditional Chinese). 《自立晚報》. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  8. 劉家綺; 徐士庭 (2 March 2014). "服貿／抗議「嬌」點 甜美正妹是社運狂 剽悍抗警察沒在怕" (in Traditional Chinese). SET News. Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  9. "【獨家】22歲女大生 為民主做悍妞" (in Traditional Chinese). 《蘋果日報》. 1 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  10. "高中歷史爭議課綱 教部定案" (in Traditional Chinese). 《台灣立報》. 2 January 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  11. Kuo, Lily (10 January 2020). "'We need more dreams': Taiwan's 'Squad' rallies youth ahead of election". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  12. Chi, Chang; Liu, Kuan-ting; Mazzetta, Matthew (12 January 2020). "2020 ELECTIONS / Young candidates, underdogs prevail in several legislative races". Focus Taiwan. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  13. Everington, Keoni (10 January 2020). "Photo of the Day: Cat ears, cosplay, death metal featured in Taiwan campaign ad". Taiwan News. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  14. Morrissy, Kim (13 January 2020). "Cosplayer, Activist Lai Pin-yu Wins Seat at Taiwan Election". Anime News Network. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  15. Wei, Clarissa (23 April 2021). "How a 29-Year-Old Woman Cosplayed Her Way Into Taiwan's Center of Power". Vice. Retrieved 13 January 2024. At 29 years old, Lai is currently the youngest legislator in the Legislative Yuan—Taiwan's unicameral legislature—and one of the youngest in Taiwanese history. Elected into office in early 2020, she's a freshman politician who campaigned on local issues of easing traffic and noise pollution in her district, and larger issues of gender equality and safeguarding Taiwan's sovereignty—all while tactfully leveraging her long love for anime and cosplay to capture the youth vote.
  16. "Taiwanese Politician's Spy x Family Cosplay Goes Viral". 18 September 2022.
  17. Liu, Tzu-hsuan. "KMT wins 52 legislative seats, DPP bags 51 and TPP eight". Taipei Times. Retrieved 13 January 2024.

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