Taipei First Girls' High School

Taipei First Girls High School
Location
No. 165, Sec. 1, Chongqing S. Rd., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei, Taiwan 10045, R.O.C.
Information
Type	Public
Established	1904
Campus	Urban
Color(s)	Green
Website	(zh) (en)

Entrance to the school.

Taipei First Girls High School (臺北市立第一女子高級中學) is a prestigious Taiwanese high school, located in Zhongzheng District within Taipei City, with only the top 1% of scorers on the Basic Competence Test for Junior High School Students (國民中學學生基本學力測驗) receiving admission.

Overview

The school was founded in 1904 and named as Taihoku Prefectural Taihoku First Girls' High School (Japanese: 臺北州立臺北第一高等女學校) during Japan's colonial period. After the handover of Taiwan from Japan in 1945, the name was changed to Taiwan Provincial Taipei First Girls' High School (Chinese: 臺灣省立臺北第一女子中學) on December 12. In 1967, it was renamed to Taipei Municipal First Girls' Senior High School (Chinese: 臺北市立第一女子高級中學) due to Taipei City becoming a municipality. With its history stretching back over one hundred years, the school has had over 60,000 students. Currently, the school operates 78 classes and has about 3,000 students. In 2002, it was renamed to Taipei Municipal First Girls High School due to the bilingual project of school renaming in Taipei City.

The school's campus measures roughly 26,000 sq. metres, with a total of six main buildings - the oldest being Guang-Fu Building (Chinese: 光復樓), a three story structure built by the Japanese government in 1933. Other buildings include Ming-De Building (Chinese: 明德樓, completed 1954), Zhong-Zheng Building (Chinese: 中正樓, completed 1977), the Library (Demolished and rebuilt under the name of "Shue Chu Building"), the Activity Center (completed 1971), and Zhi-Shan Building (Chinese: 至善樓, completed in 1993).

The school is famous for the traditions it maintains, including a uniform of green shirt and black skirt/black trousers, carried over from air-raid days. The school has adopted various different policies regarding the traditional uniform over the decades, including incorporating pants, slacks and different jackets, yet it still keeps true to the tradition of the green shirt, which is recognized widely all across Taiwan. The green was initially used to distinguish the school from the Presidential Office (which was located directly across the street) during air raids. Every year on December 12, alumni all over the world, young and old, participate in the International Taipei First Girls' High School Uniform Day (全球北一制服日) and wear the green uniforms they once wore as students.

TFG has an acclaimed marching band, the Taipei First Girls' Marching Band (北一樂隊). This band consists of eighty members, primarily sophomores. The MB has repeatedly won first prize in the national wind music competition for senior and vocational high schools. It also has two counterparts: the Honor Guard (儀隊) and the Color Guard (旗隊). The students go through a rigorous training schedule and are known for their perseverance and resilience. These three organizations offer perform at national events, such as the annual National Day Parade and the 2009 Deaflympics. The TFG MBHGCG organizations have also ventured overseas, including performing in Singapore (1981), South Africa (1986), Beijing (1992), Nanjing (1992), Shanghai (1992), California's Rose Parade (1996), Edinburgh (1999), Glasgow (1999), Austria (2012), and France (2013).

Students at TFG are involved in a multitude of activities on campus. There are more than 50 student organizations and clubs within TFG including, but not limited to:

Student Autonomy

Student Council, TFG Ambassadors

Liberal Arts/Social Science-Related

Language Club, Debate Club, Library Club, English Study Club, Japanese Culture Club, Life Club, Investment Club, Humor Club, Youth Parliament

Science

Science Club, Biology Club, Informatics Club, Earth Sciences Club, Math Club, Brain Enhancement Club, Detective/Deduction Club

Arts

Drama Club, Photography Club, Sign Language Club, Comic Research Club, Bridge Club, Chess Club, Go Club, Magic Club, Hand Puppet Club, Film Club, Desserts ;Club, Art Club, School Magazine, Poets' Club

Music

String Orchestra, Traditional Music Ensemble, Choir, Harmonica Club, Classical Guitar Club, Pop Music Club, Rock Band, Music Creators' Club

Service

Scout Troop, Eco Club, Anti-drugs Club, Kidland Club, Love Forward Club

Dance

Dance Club, Aerobics Club, Breakdance Club, International Standard Dance Club, Lockin' Club

Sports

Taekwondo Club, Baseball Club, Basketball Club, Traditional Sports Club, Skateboard Club, Badminton Club

TFG MBHGCG

Marching Band, Honour Guards, Colour Guards

In addition to regular clubs, there are also committees that gather at specific times of the year to see certain projects through. One example would be the Taipei First Girls' Graduation Committee, which is in charge of all graduation affairs for the seniors. Work starts in spring and the committees oftentimes consist of over 200 members. Instead of a traditional graduation ceremony, TFG prides itself on producing theater-like ceremonies where each graduating class has a specific story. In 2012, the theme was Alice in Wonderland; 2013 The Little Prince; 2014 Circus.

Features

Over the past few decades the school has endeavored to modernize its facilities. In 1971 a sports and assembly hall was constructed. In 1993 a new building was completed; Zhi-Chan. This five-storey building has a large observatory located on the roof with several telescopes therein. Within the brand new Shue Chu Library building are IT facilities together with abundant reading materials, audio-visual headsets and Internet access. Free Wifi Access is available throughout the school to facilitate mobile learning.

The school also encompasses an auditorium, conference rooms, a heated indoor swimming pool and a subterranean parking lot.

Notable alumnae

Academia

• Lily Yeh Jan: Member, National Academy of Sciences of USA. Academician, Academia Sinica. Professor, University of California, San Francisco.
• Jennie S. Hwang: First Chinese female member, US National Academy of Engineering. Distinguished professor, Case Western Reserve University.
• Teresa H. Meng: Reid Weaver Dennis Professor of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University.IEEE Fellow.
• Wen-hsin Yeh: Richard H. and Laurie C. Morrison Chair Professor in History, University of California, Berkeley.
• Yeh Nai-chang: Professor of physics, California Institute of Technology.
• Connie J.Chang-Hasnain: Professor University of California, Berkeley. Chair, nanoscale science and engineering graduate group
• Jean Chen Shih: Chair Professor, US National Academy of Sciences. University of Southern California.
• Ru-Chih Chow Huang: Professor of Biology, Johns Hopkins University. Academician, Academia Sinica. Asian-American Scientist Award recipient.
• You-Hua Chu: Chair professor of astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Chung-Pei Ma: Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley. Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award recipient.
• Mei-Chi Shaw: Professor of Mathematics, University of Notre Dame.
• Eunice L. Lau: Principal investigator, JPL-USA,
• Louise Chow: Discoverer of RNA splicing and alternative RNA processing.
• Feng Yen: Executive committee member, International Federation of Child Welfare. Chair professor of social work, National Taiwan University. Dean,
• Chih Lin I: Professor of Communication Engineering, National Chiao Tung University.* Chuang Chuang Tsai:
• Judy S. Lu: Head, Collection Services, Asian Division, Library of Congress.
• Christina Y. Liu: Chair professor, Department of Finance and Graduate Institute of Finance, National Taiwan University. Former Legislator.
• Pi-Twan Huang: Minister, Council for Cultural Affairs. * Lucie Cheng: Professor Emerita, University of California, Los Angeles.
• Helen Lee: Principal Investigator, University of Cambridge.
• Jean Y.J. Wang: Principal investigator, University of California, San Diego.
• Frances Yao: Chair professor City University of Hong Kong.
• Jane Lin: Principal investigator of pathology, New York Medical College.

Industry

• Nancy T. Chang: Co-founder and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Tanox,Inc.
• Mei-June Liao: Divisional Vice President, HEMISPHERx Biopharma.
• Marr Chang-Chi: Legislator of the Republic of China. Research Director, Applied Materials Co. Vice President,
• Wang Po-hsia: Vice president, IBM Taiwan Corporation.
• Chen Jin-chuan: Co-founder, General Sciences Corp.
• JoMei Chang: President and Co-founder, Viria Technology Inc.
• Tri-Rung Yew: Deputy Division Director, Central R&D, United Microelectronics Corporation.
• Sheueling Chang-Shantz: DE, Sun Microsystems Laboratories.
• Alice Hsin: CEO, Linx Communications, Inc.
• Chiam Wu: Group Vice President of Applied Materials and Vice Chairwoman of Applied Materials Taiwan
• Chang Yi Wang: Chairperson and CEO of the United Biomedical, Inc. (UBI) Group of companies.
• Judy H. Chou : Vice President of Medivation, Inc.

Politics and military

• Annette Lu: First female Vice president of the Republic of China.
• Chai Huei-jen: Major General of the Republic of China Army.
• Ch'ih Yu-lan: Major General of the Republic of China Army.
• Peng Feng-chih: Grand Justice of the Republic of China.
• Wang Ching-feng: Minister of Justice of the Republic of China. Notable Taiwanese lawyer.
• Bonnie Peng: Minister of National Communication Commission of the Republic of China.
• Wang Ju-hsuan: Vice Presidential candidate for the 2016 presidential election.
• Liu Chu-chi: Minister of Examination of the Republic of China.
• Isabelle Cheng: Intelligence agent for the National Security Bureau of Taiwan.
• Lee Yong-ping: Former legislator. Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner.
• Hedy Chang: Former mayor and council, Morgan Hill, California.
• Wang Li-chih: First Asian alderwoman, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Commerce

• Joanna Chien Lei: Legislator of Taiwan.
• Li Wen-chih: CEO, A Plus International Inc.
• Tzung Tsai-yi: Former Minister of Economy Affairs of the Republic of China.
• Rebecca Kuei: Head of sales and business development at Google Taiwan.
• Rose Tsou: Yahoo! senior VP in Asia.
• Huang Ching-wen: Chairwoman, Pacific Sogo Department Store. Former TV anchor.
• Chung Chin: First chairwoman, Pacific Sogo Department Store. Alleged corruption in seeking favoritism,
• Peiti Tung: Former COO & Executive Vice President, Greenwich Capital Markets.
• Lena Sun: Vice President, Trustworthy Mortgage Corp..
• Yi Liu: Managing director, B&Q Taiwan.
• Lu Yu-min: Managing director, Estée Lauder Companies Taiwan.
• Yao Li-hsien: Managing director, Philips Taiwan.
• Christine Chow Ma: First lady of the ROC.

Arts and literature

• Sanmao: Chinese novelist and travel writer. Penname of the celebrated Taiwanese author Chen Ping.
• Ouyang Tzu: Penname of Hong Zhihui. Notable Taiwanese novelist and literary critic.
• Chu Tien-hsin: Notable Taiwanese author.
• Qiu Miaojin: Notable Taiwanese lesbian author.
• Ping Lu: Notable Chinese novel, essay, poem, commentary, and theater play author.
• Fanny Ying-Yi Liao: Top prize recipient, 2003 Milan Ermenegildo Zegna Design Award.
• Selina Jen: Singer. Member of the Taiwanese girl-band S.H.E..
• To-wen Tseng: Chinese American journalist and author.

Sports

• Shu-Ju Chi: Olympic bronze medalist in taekwondo, 2000 Sydney.

Others

• Chiang Hsiao-chang: Daughter of Chiang Ching-kuo.
• Chen Hsing-yu: Dentist. Daughter of Chen Shui-bian.

Alumni association

• Taiwan Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School
• Northern California Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School
• Southern California Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School
• Greater Washington Area Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School
• Midwest Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School
• Houston Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School
• Atlanta Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School
• Greater New York Area Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School
• Japan Alumni Association of Taipei First Girls High School

See also

• Education in the Republic of China
• List of schools in Taiwan