Taiwanese author, academic and translator Lin Wen-yue (林文月) passed away in the US on Friday morning, the Taipei Chinese Center of PEN International said in a statement on Facebook yesterday.
She was 89.
Lin, who was born on Sept. 5, 1933, in Shanghai and moved to Taiwan when she was about 14, dedicated her life to literary research, translation, writing and art, the center said.
Photo courtesy of Trend Education Foundation
She was an expert in Chinese “six dynasties” literature and Sino-Japanese comparative literary research, said the center, of which Lin was a member.
She translated important works of Japanese literature, including The Tale of Genji (circa 11th century), often described as the world’s first novel, as well as The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon (circa 11th century).
Her writing is considered a model of contemporary Chinese prose, while her narratives won several awards and were selected as teaching materials in text books for junior and senior high schools, the statement said.
For example, A Year in Kyoto (京都一年) and Raining in Florence (翡冷翠在下雨), are part of school curricula, it said.
“Her writing is clear and smooth, and her style rich,” author Pai Hsien-yung (白先勇) once said.
Yang Tsung-han (楊宗翰), an assistant professor in the Department of Chinese Literature at Tamkang University and the center’s secretary-general, said that one of Lin’s prose works, A Lifetime in Chinese Literature, inspired “everyone who studies Chinese literature.”
While some people would call Chinese literature a useless subject, Lin inspired those who study in the field to find their own place in the world, Yang said.
Lin earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chinese literature at National Taiwan University (NTU), and started her teaching career at NTU while studying for her master’s in 1958.
In 1969, she studied at Kyoto University’s Institute for Research in Humanities as a foreign researcher for a year.
Lin retired from NTU in 1993 and moved to the US. She continued to work in the field of literature, translation, writing and art.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
RSS