Yu Kwang-chung

Yu Guangzhong 余光中
Born	(1928-10-21)21 October 1928 Nanjing, Republic of China
Died	14 December 2017(2017-12-14) (aged 89) Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Language	Chinese and English
Education	MFA at the University of Iowa, USA
Alma mater	National Taiwan University University of Iowa
Period	1952–2017
Notable works	Lanse de yumao [Blue feather], Zai lengzhan de niandai [Cold war years] and Yu yongheng bahe [Tug-of-war with eternity]
Notable awards	Order of Brilliant Star

Yu Guangzhong (Chinese: 余光中; pinyin: Yú Guāngzhōng; Wade–Giles: Yü Kuang-chung; 21 October 1928 – 14 December 2017) was a Taiwanese writer, poet, educator, and critic.

Life

He was born in Nanjing, China but fled with his family during the Japanese Army's invasion in World War II. After returning to Nanjing many years later, he again was forced to flee due to the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. Yu and his family fled to Taiwan via Hong Kong in 1950 with the Kuomintang Government. Yu entered the University of Nanking for English Major in 1947, and then transferred to Xiamen University. He enrolled at National Taiwan University and was one of the first students to graduate with a degree in foreign languages. He also holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa.

After graduation, he began his career as a university teacher in 1956. He is Professor Emeritus at National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung. He has taught in the United States, including at Gettysburg College.

Yu died on 14 December 2017 from pneumonia.

Works

He published 17 poetry collections and 12 prose collections. Yu's poetry since the 1970s had focused on the theme of longing for China felt by many Mainland Chinese soldiers and Nationalist Government workers who fled to Taiwan after the Chinese Civil War.

Yu's works often focused on four fundamental aspects of literature; namely poetry, prose, translation, and commentary. Among writers using Chinese, Yu Guangzhong became well-received to readers by showing innovative humour in his essays, exhibiting wit in his appreciations, and evincing his understanding of humanistic culture in his poetry.

A former professor at the Chinese language and literature faculty at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Yu was internationally acclaimed for his command in traditional Chinese as well as modern literature. Besides his proficiency in the English language, for which he had been appointed professor at departments of English in Taiwan and the USA, Yu was also an eager learner of languages, especially European ones. He spoke French, German, Spanish, and Italian, languages which he sometimes cited in his Chinese essays when juxtaposing the Chinese and Western cultures. He also learned Russian.

See also

• List of Taiwanese authors