Yu Kwang-chung

{{Infobox writer

| name = Yu Kwang-chung

| native_name = 余光中

| image = Yu Guangzhong 20110527 YLSH 4.jpg

| imagesize = 220px

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| caption = Yu Kwang-chung in 2011

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|10|21|df=y}}

| birth_place = Nanking, Republic of China

| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|12|14|1928|10|21|df=y}}

| death_place = Sanmin, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

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| language = Mandarin and English

| nationality = Republic of China

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| education = National Taiwan University (BA)
University of Iowa (MFA)

| period = 1952–2017

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| notableworks = Blue Feather
Cold War Years
Tug-of-war with Eternity

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| awards = Order of Brilliant Star

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Yu Kwang-chung, also romanised as Yu Guangzhong ({{zh|t=余光中}}; 21 October 1928 – 14 December 2017) was a Taiwanese writer, poet, educator and critic.

Life

Yu was born in 1928 in Nanking to Yu Chaoying and Sun Xiujun, but fled with his family during the Japanese invasion.{{cite news|last1=Qin|first1=Amy|title=Yu Guangzhong, Exiled Poet Who Longed for China, Dies at 89|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/20/obituaries/yu-guangzhong-exiled-poet-who-longed-for-china-dies-at-89.html|access-date=22 February 2018|work=New York Times}} 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 British Hong Kong in 1950 with the Kuomintang-led Government. Yu entered the University of Nanking for English Major in 1947, and then transferred to Amoy University. He enrolled at National Taiwan University and was one of the first students to graduate with a degree in foreign languages. He held a master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa.

After graduation, he began his career as a university teacher in 1956. In 1959, Yu was recommended by Liang Shih-chiu and became a lecturer in the Department of English at National Taiwan Normal University. He was promoted to professor in 1971 and served as the chair of the Department of English and director of the graduate institute from 1980 to 1981.{{Cite web |title=Professor YU Kwang Chung |url=https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/cpr/pressrelease/YU%20Kwang%20Chung-e.htm |access-date=2024-12-20 |website=www.cuhk.edu.hk}}{{Cite web |title=Chairperson |url=https://www.eng.ntnu.edu.tw/index.php/en/chairperson-2/ |access-date=2024-12-20 |website=Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University |language=en-US}} He became a reader within the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1974.{{cite news |title=Professor YU Kwang Chung |url=https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/cpr/pressrelease/YU%20Kwang%20Chung-e.htm |access-date=11 August 2019 |publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong}}{{cite news |last1=Chou |first1=Oliver |title=The poet whose works struck a chord with Chinese diaspora and Hong Kong youth in the 1960s |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2124371/poet-whose-works-struck-chord-chinese-diaspora-and-hong |access-date=11 August 2019 |work=South China Morning Post |date=15 December 2017}} He joined the faculty of National Sun Yat-sen University in 1985 as dean of arts.{{cite news|last1=Cheng|first1=Chi-feng|last2=Chang|first2=S.C.|title=Poems read at remembrance service for Yu Kwang-chung in Kaohsiung|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aedu/201804260019.aspx|access-date=26 April 2018|agency=Central News Agency|date=26 April 2018}} He taught in the United States, including at Gettysburg College.[https://books.google.com/books?id=i-P-EFabtMAC&pg=PA213 Land without ghosts: Chinese impressions of America from the mid-nineteenth] He was awarded a National Award for Arts in 1989 and a National Cultural Award in 2014.{{cite news|title=Yu Kwang-chung, titan of Taiwan literature, passes away at 89|url=https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=2,6,10,15,18&post=126606|access-date=22 February 2018|work=Taiwan Today|date=15 December 2017}}

Yu died on 14 December 2017 from pneumonia, at Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital in Kaohsiung.{{cite news|last1=Lo|first1=Yuan-shao|last2=Chang|first2=Jung-hsiang|last3=Yeh|first3=Su-ping|last4=Chang|first4=Shu-ling|last5=Kao|first5=Evelyn|title=President Tsai expresses condolences over renowned poet's death|url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aedu/201712140021.aspx|access-date=14 December 2017|agency=Central News Agency|date=14 December 2017}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2124314/poet-yu-kwang-chung-dies-taiwan-aged-89|title=Poet Yu Kwang-chung dies in Taiwan aged 89|last=Gan|first=Nectar|date=2017-12-14|work=South China Morning Post |access-date=2017-12-14}} He was married to Fan Wo-tsun from 1956 until his death.{{cite news|last1=Huang|first1=Hsu-lei|last2=Chin|first2=Jonathan|title=Poet Yu Kwang-chung, 90, dies in Kaohsiung|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2017/12/15/2003683990|access-date=15 December 2017|work=Taipei Times|date=15 December 2017}}

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.[http://www.taiwan-panorama.com/en/show_issue.php?id=201019901100e.txt&cur_page=1&table=2&distype=&h1=Art%20and%20Culture&h2=Literature&search=&height=&type=&scope=&order=&keyword=&lstPage=&num=&year=2010&month=01 Eternal Youth Unbounded Passion. Sinorama 1/2010]

Yu's works often focused on four fundamental aspects of literature; namely poetry, prose, translation, and commentary. Among writers using Chinese, Yu Kwang-chung 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 of 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 US, 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.

He targeted the Taiwanese literature movement in an August 1977 publication titled "The Wolf Is Coming", comparing nativist writings to "worker-peasant-soldier arts and literature" and linking them with Mao Zedong. Coupled with a {{ill|Peng Ke|zh|彭歌}} editorial that appeared in the Central Daily News, Yu's piece engendered heavy criticism of nativist literature that lasted until January 1978.{{cite news |author1=Han Cheung |title=Taiwan in Time: The great literature war |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2019/08/11/2003720269 |access-date=11 August 2019 |work=Taipei Times |date=11 August 2019}}