The wife of renowned historian Tao Jing-shen (
Pao Chia-lin (
The 69-year old Tao is a member of the Institute of History and Philology at the Academia Sinica.
According to the local media reports, the 65-year-old Pao had long suspected her husband of having an affair and had hired private detectives to follow him.
On Sept. 21, the detectives called Pao after Tao had stayed at the 54-year old Chang's apartment for several hours.
Pao then contacted the local police and went to Chang's apartment to meet up with the detectives.
The news reports say there was a five-minute delay between the police knocking on the door of Chang's apartment and her opening the door.
Once the door was opened, Pao headed straight for the bedroom and found her husband there.
According to police, both Tao and Chang were properly dressed when the officers entered the apartment. Tao told the police that he and Chang are just good friends and he was simply visiting her to celebrate Moon Festival.
"There's no evidence to prove that Tao was having an extramarital affair [with Chang]," a Taipei police officer said.
Since Pao was insisting on filing a lawsuit, however, the police eventually took Tao and Chang back to the Wanhua Police Precinct for questioning.
An friend of Tao and Pao's, who preferred to remain anonymous, yesterday revealed that the couple had previously agreed to divorce, and that Pao's actions might be caused by a disagreement over the division of their assets.
The Academia Sinica yesterday refused to comment on Tao's alleged affair or the lawsuit, saying that the institute has no right to interfere with its members' personal affairs.
The couple received their doctorates from Indiana University, Tao in 1967 and Pao in 1971.
They are both professors of Chinese history at the University of Arizona's department of East Asian studies.
Tao was elected a member of the Academia Sinica in July 1990.
Pao was a leading women's rights activist in the 1970s and gained fame with her book, Studies in Chinese Women's History (
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