TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese author and translator Chi Pang-yuan (齊邦媛) passed away on Thursday (March 28) at the ripe age of 100.
According to a press release by the Ministry of Culture (MOC), Chi was known for her memoir “The Great Flowing River." She sprinkled a sense of warmth into Taiwanese literature and was the first to link her country’s works to the English-speaking world, the ministry said.
Chi was born in Tieling, Liaoning Province, China on Jan. 15, 1924, per CNA. She had a tough upbringing as her father resisted Zhang Zuolin (張作霖), a Chinese warlord who cooperated with the Japanese.
In 1930, she fled her hometown and settled in Sichuan, later graduating from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Wuhan University in 1947. She moved to Taiwan that same year.
After studying at Indiana University in 1968 under the Fulbright Exchange Fellowship, the following year Chi became the first director of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of National Chung Hsing University, per UDN. While teaching, Chi also worked for the National Institute for Compilation and Translation, where she was a big proponent of translating Taiwanese classics into English.
Chi’s memoir “The Great Flowing River” recounts her childhood in China and her adulthood in Taiwan. The memoir won the 34th Golden Tripod Award for Non-Literary Books and the 4th Society of Publishers in Asia Award for Best Book and has been translated into English, German, and Japanese.
The culture ministry said that Chi was a pioneer in promoting literary criticism and translation in Taiwan. “Throughout her life, she nurtured numerous talents, serving as a role model with exemplary literary standards. Her passing leaves an endless remembrance, and her influence on the history of Taiwanese literature is profound,” the ministry said.
“With the loss of such a literary giant, the MOC expresses deep mourning and respect,” it added.
