Noted poet and essayist Yu Kwang-chung (余光中) yesterday died from complications from pneumonia at age 90, Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-ho Memorial Hospital said.
Yu was hospitalized last week after a suspected mini-stroke, before being transferred to the intensive care unit because of pneumonia, the hospital said, adding that detailed information has been withheld out of respect for Yu’s family.
Yu had been in poor health since last year, when he was twice hospitalized, first for an intestinal complaint and then a fall.
Photo courtesy of National Sun Yat-sen University
He celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary last year by donating to charity.
National Sun Yat-sen University, where Yu was a professor emeritus of literature, said the poet made his last public appearance at his birthday party in October.
One of the last classes Yu taught before he retired from active teaching was a humanities seminar, the university said.
Director Ang Lee (李安) and Chinese writer Wang Anyi (王安憶) gave talks at the seminar and Yu was well enough to give lectures, the university said.
Born in Nanjing, China, in 1928, Yu began writing in 1949 while attending Xiamen University.
Fleeing the Chinese Civil War, he migrated to Taiwan in 1950. He gained renown for his literary talent and proficiency after publishing a half-dozen well-received poems, seven critical essays and two translations in a 10-day period in May that year.
Yu wrote poetry, songs, literary critiques and translations. Several of his works, such as Homesickness (鄉愁), My Four Hypothetical Enemies (我的四個假想敵) and Listen to the Cold Rain (聽聽那冷雨), are taught as standard Chinese literature in Taiwan and China.
Yu won a National Culture and Arts Award for new poetry in 1989, and in 2014, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the Cultural Award.
“We must aspire to gather Chinese words into a great philharmonic through the verisimilitude of syntax. The author’s pen should, as the symphony conductor’s baton, blend the hundreds of notes into music,” Yu said in his Cultural Award acceptance speech.
“Yu writes poems with his right and prose with his left. His achievements are peerless,” essayist and Shakespeare translator Liang Shih-chiu (梁實秋) once said of Yu.
Politically, Yu was regarded as a staunch proponent of Chinese nationalism and had on multiple occasions spoken out against of Taiwanese independence.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
RSS