[4] Born in Taihe Village (太和村), Dongshan Township, Yilan County, You was raised in a poor tenant farming family.

While he was a 13-year-old student at Taiwan Provincial Yilan High School, his house was destroyed by flood waters during typhoon Pamela and his father died of tuberculosis in the same year.

He studied international commerce at the Chihlee Institute of Technology and public administration at the National Chung Hsing University.

In his second term as magistrate, Environmental Protection (環保立縣), Tourism (觀光立縣), Information Promotion (資訊立縣), and Culture (文化立縣) were his four main goals in administration.

After the completion of his two terms as magistrate in 1997, he was in 1998 appointed Chairman of the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation by then Mayor Chen Shui-bian.

As local and central government authorities squabbled for three hours over who would send out a rescue helicopter, the men drowned.

In the public outrage that ensued, officials up the chain of command, including Premier Tang, tendered their resignations.

[12] As premier, You defended the administration's position on the peace referendum and promoted a NT$610.8 billion arms procurement package in 2004.

[15] You was a candidate for the DPP nomination for the 2008 presidential election, competing against Frank Hsieh, Su Tseng-chang, and Annette Lu.

[21] He was elected President of the Legislative Yuan on February 1, 2020, defeating Kuomintang lawmaker Lai Shyh-bao and succeeding Su Jia-chyuan.