Cai Mingjie

Cai Mingjie (蔡明杰, born 1952) is a Singaporean taxicab driver and former biology researcher, known for his blog, A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary.^[1] He is described variously as "Singapore's most educated taxi driver" and "the only taxi driver with a Ph.D.".^[2]

Biography

Cai was born in China. He received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Stanford University in 1990, and worked for 16 years as a researcher at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology.^[3] In May 2008, he was one of the first few Principal Investigators of the institute to be laid off. After several failed job applications, he chose to become a taxi driver in November 2008.^[4][5] With the SG$77/day rent for his Toyota Crown, he said in September 2009 that his take-home pay comes out to between $30 and $50 per day.^[6]

Cai began blogging about his experiences as a taxi driver, acquiring a large following of fans and even offers of employment.^[6] In April 2010, he published a compilation of stories about his taxi driving.^[7] A movie based on the book, Taxi! Taxi!, was released in Singapore in 2013.^[8]

In 2010, Cai returned to China as Legal Representative and general manager of Hongye Innovative Antibody Technologies Co., Ltd.^[9][10]

Selected publications

• Cai, Mingjie; Davis, Ronald W. (May 1990), "Yeast centromere binding protein CBF1, of the helix-loop-helix protein family, is required for chromosome stability and methionine prototrophy", Cell 61 (3): 437–446, doi:10.1016/0092-8674(90)90525-J, PMID 2185892
• Cai, Mingjie, Diary of a taxi driver : true stories from Singapore's most educated cabdriver, Singapore: Aktive Learning, ISBN 978-981-08-5020-3

See also

• Taxicabs of Singapore

References

1. Seah, Chiang-nee (2009-08-29), "Driven to driving a taxi despite having a PhD", The Star (Malaysia), retrieved 2010-07-16
2. Loh, Larry (2010-02-12), "The diary of Singapore's most educated taxi driver moves from web to print", CNNGo, retrieved 2010-07-16
3. Gunasingham, Amresh (2009-08-19), "S'pore's most highly educated taxi-driver", The Straits Times, retrieved 2010-07-16
4. "From researcher to taxi driver", The Straits Times, 2009-08-19, retrieved 2010-07-16
5. "史丹福博士星洲揸的士 (Stanford Ph.D. drives taxi in Singapore)", Oriental Daily News, 2009-08-20, retrieved 2010-07-16
6. Vembu, Venkatesan (2009-09-08), "PhD scholar from Stanford turns cabbie", Daily News and Analysis, retrieved 2010-07-16
7. Yap, Stephanie (2010-04-08), "Diary of a taxi driver: True stories from Singapore's most educated taxi driver hits the shelves", The Straits Times, retrieved 2010-07-16
8. Frater, Patrick (11 July 2012). "Sng starts the meter on Taxi! Taxi!". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
9. "The 7th International Bio-pharmaceutical R&D Innovation Summit". Sino–EU Chemical Manufacturers Association. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
10. "管理团队" [Management team]. Hongye Innovative Antibody Technologies. Retrieved 30 November 2015.

External links

• A Singapore Taxi Driver's Diary at the Wayback Machine (archived 4 January 2010)