Governor Shieh Tung-min was elected by the National Assembly March 22 as Vice President of the Republic of China. During his more than 40 years of public service, Vice President-elect Shieh spent most of his time and recorded his greatest achievements with the Taiwan Provincial Assembly and Taiwan Provincial Government. He was the Assembly's vice Speaker for six years and its Speaker for nine. He pursued the Confucian ideal of "personal cultivation, family regulation, orderly government and national peace." In March of 1958, he established the Shih Chien Home Economics Junior College to train modern housewives and help them attain the traditional Chinese ideal of "regulating their families." With this as a starting point, he sought to carry out the great task of national and social construction.
As Governor of Taiwan, Shieh launched such social improvement programs as the "Well-to-Do Project," "Elimination of Litter and Disorder," "Turning Living Rooms into Workshops," "Turning Weeds into Grazing Land" and "Classrooms for Mothers." These projects are intended to encourage people to improve themselves through their own efforts. He also promoted the development of land, manpower and other resources to increase the people's wealth. Vice President - elect Shieh has striven to eliminate superstition and improve social customs. To encourage the people to economize on wedding expenses, he advocated a dowry of "one machine and two boxes" (sewing machine, toolbox and medical kit). He has written a book about how many people have been victimized by superstition.