Renowned poet Chou Meng-tieh (周夢蝶) died in New Taipei City on Thursday at the age of 92 from complications associated with pneumonia.
Along with his poetry, Chou was known for his monk-like habits, which he adopted after immersing himself in Buddhism later in life.
Born in China’s Henan Province in December, 1921, Chou’s original name was Chou Chi-shu (周起述).
Photo: CNA
During the Chinese Civil War, he joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) youth corps and came to Taiwan in 1948 after the KMT lost the Chinese civil war.
He was separated from his family, including his grandparents, mother, wife and children, who all remained in China.
However, after five decades apart, Chou revisited his hometown.
At 32, Chou began to write poetry, which was published in the literary pages of Central Daily News and Young Soldier Daily (the forerunner of Youth Daily News).
In the 1950s, Chou became a member of the Blue Star Poetry Society (藍星詩社), an influential gathering of mostly Chinese poets and writers.
In 1959, Chou began selling poetry and literature in front of Cafe Astoria on Wuchang Street (武昌街) in central Taipei, which was a favorite hangout of intellectuals at the time.
That year, he published a collection of poems, entitled Gudu Guo (孤獨國, Lonely Land), which is his most well-known work.
Later in life, Chou delved into Buddhism and took up Zen meditation.
A picture of Chou sitting on a street corner, quietly meditating, became one of the symbolic images of an era, showing a literary man’s solitude against the backdrop of Taipei’s hustle and bustle.
Inspired by Confucian tradition and philosophy, Chou did not pursue material gains and lived a simple life, alone, throughout his adult life.
As a poet, Chou picked up the nom de plume of “Meng-tieh” (夢蝶), which means the “dream butterfly.”
He said it was inspired by Taoist master philosopher Chuang-Tze’s (莊子) famous tale about a butterfly dream.
The name is reflects his yearning for freedom, as well as his frugal, restrained way of living.
Highly regarded in Taiwan’s cultural circles, Chou was named the first literature laureate of the National Culture and Arts Foundation in 1997.
Hung Chung-hao (洪崇豪), spokesperson for the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in New Taipei City’s Xinzhuang District (新莊) where Chou was treated, said that Chou did not have any relatives in Taiwan.
Instead, many of his student followers are helping to arrange the funeral in accordance with Buddhist traditions.
On the news of Chou’s death, the Ministry of Culture released a statement and requested that the Presidential Office issue posthumous honors for Chou.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS