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Written by Peter Li-Chang Kuo

(Chinese)

On August 18, 2000, Linda Din—revered as the “Mother of E-Commerce”— flew to Delhi, India. She rented a minibus and traveled for 12 hours to Dharamshala in northern India to meet with Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Fig 1: Linda Din meeting the Dalai Lama

Her connection with the Dalai Lama dates back to March 29, 1997, when he visited Gongga Temple in Tainan for an inauguration ceremony.

On this visit in 2000, Linda Din brought with her the blueprint of a “NT$500 million Taichung Port New Plant Plan” under Social Responsibility Investment (SRI), respectfully seeking his blessing.

Fig 2: Blessed factory blueprint by the Dalai Lama

Linda Din initiated this new plant plan after proposing the “TES” (Total Economic Solution) as a speaker at APEC in 1998. Her proposal contributed to the formulation of what became known as the “E-Commerce Constitution,” helping to mitigate the impact of the Asian Financial Crisis. Upon returning to Taiwan, she founded "Panhornic ComMec Inc." (PCI) to continue realizing her vision—transforming her conceptual “Laplace Stardust Map” into real-world VAM (Value-added Machine) nodes. This would achieve the “Possible Trinity”: a triple-win society where “people have jobs, businesses have orders, and governments have tax revenues,” forming a W-shaped economic structure.

When I went to the Provincial Department of Construction to obtain PCI’s business license, Director Lin Chiang-Tsai inquired about the “E-Commerce Constitution” we had advanced at APEC. Recognizing its significance, he reported it to President Lee Teng-Hui.

Fig 3: Director Lin Chiang-Tsai and us

On May 24, 1999, the Presidential Office arranged for us to present the “eStore Supporting Measures” proposal to the Taipei City Government. Labor Affairs Director Cheng Tsun-Chi noted that "Women over 35 seeking re-employment faced no chance to finding jobs." Linda Din’s TES proposal directly addressed unemployment. Eventually, her proposal led to the adoption of an easy-to-use contactless TranSmart card system — later implemented as the "EasyCard" in the Taipei Metro.

Fig 4: Linda Din presenting at Taipei City Government

Director Cheng hoped Linda Din could implement 2,000 “eStores” in Taipei under the concept “One eStore One Business One Job,” creating employment opportunities for 2,000 unemployed women while making Taiwan the world’s first pilot exercising country for a comprehensive e-commerce system.

After extensive coordination with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the proposal was rejected ten times before finally being approved on the eleventh attempt. Approval was granted to establish a factory on a one-hectare site labeled “A3-2-3” in Taichung Port. Upon receiving the architectural plans, Linda Din immediately booked her trip to India. The Indian Ambassador Bhatia wished her success, and indeed, on August 24, she received the Dalai Lama’s blessing and signature on the blueprint.

Fig 5: Visiting the Indian Ambassador

After hearing how Linda Din, through daily spiritual practice, developed the TES system to address structural social problems and unemployment — eventually contributing to international policy frameworks and establishing a factory in Taiwan — the Dalai Lama described her work as “Universal Concern.”