Writer Bo Yang celebrates 80th birthday

Bo Yang (柏楊), one of Taiwan's most renowned writers and a former political prisoner, joyfully celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday, with a "birthday wish" dedicated to the country's future generations.

Surrounded by family members, old friends and admirers, the long-time social critic spelled out his biggest wish, which was directed at Taiwan's younger generation.

"It's my deep hope our young people will be able to live with dignity. Dignity, as far as I'm concerned, can't be obtained through pride or wildness. Rather, it can only be established when we learn to always pay due respect to others," Bo Yang said.

Bo Yang, whose satirical essays about Chinese culture have made him one of the most famous writers in Chinese literature, was born in China in 1920. He fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the defeat of the KMT.

Born in a turbulent era, Bo Yang does not know precisely on which day he was born. The outspoken writer nominated March 4, 1968, as his "day of rebirth" -- the day his incarceration at the hands of the KMT regime began.

In the 1960s, Bo Yang wrote a series of essays for newspaper columns. But it was his translations of an English-language comic in 1967, which were seen by the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) government as an insulting portrayal of the national leader, that caused him to spend nearly 10 years in the prison on Green Island.

Bo Yang was finally freed from the notorious "Devil Island" in 1977, after persistent efforts by Sun Kuan-han (孫觀漢), a physicist dubbed as China's "father of atomic science," and international human rights groups.

Sun, an aging friend of Bo Yang, also appeared at his birthday party yesterday. Looking over his family members and dozens of friends, the writer said he was happy and called himself the "luckiest person in the world."

"It's the most glorious moment of my life," Bo Yang said delightfully. "Life was tough to me and during it I narrowly escaped from death several times."

"But thank God I have so many friends who have always given me a hand whenever I was in despair," he said. "They have shown me a lot of mercy. I can't name them all, but soon I'll write something to spell out my gratitude to them."

Bo Yang has produced more than 100 books -- including essays, novels, history, and poetry -- since the beginning of his writing career in the 1950s.

His famous book The Ugly Chinaman (醜陋的中國人), a collection of lectures and essays focusing on the conflict between traditional Chinese culture and the values of an industrialized West, spurred furious debate in Chinese communities throughout the world, and prompted responses from editors around the world.

His experience as a political prisoner has made him a long-time human rights advocate. And his efforts in that direction produced results last December when the first human rights monument in Asia was officially inaugurated on Green Island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan. The monument, which stands near the beach, is inscribed with a poem by Bo Yang, who himself spent nearly a decade on the island jailed in a notorious maximum-security facility.

Establishment of a monument there fulfilled his dream to see the Taiwan government admit the cruel reality of its past regime, he said.

And at his birthday yesterday, Bo Yang saw another dream fulfilled -- a new anthology of his past writings was released to mark the special day.