| Yu Guangzhong 余光中 |
|
|---|---|
| Born | October 21, 1928 Nanjing, Republic of China |
| Language | Chinese and English |
| Education | Bachelor of Arts at the University of Iowa, USA |
| Alma mater | National Taiwan University University of Iowa |
| Period | 1950's-present |
| Notable work(s) | Lanse de yumao [Blue feather], Zai lengzhan de niandai [Cold war years] and Yu yongheng bahe [Tug-of-war with eternity] |
Yu Guangzhong (Chinese: 余光中; pinyin: yú guāngzhōng, also written Yu Kwang-Chung, born October 21, 1928) is a modern Taiwanese writer, poet, educator, and critic. He was born in Nanjing, China but forced to flee with his family owing to the Japanese Army's invasion during World War II. After returning to Nanjing many years later, he again was forced to flee on account of 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 into University of Nanking for English Major in 1947,and then transferred into Xiamen University. He enrolled in 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 currently Professor Emeritus at National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung. He has also taught several times in the United States, including at Gettysburg College.[1]
He has published 17 poetry collections and 12 prose collections. Yu's poetry since the 1970s has 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.[2]
As a versatile writer, Yu in his works often refers himself as focusing on 4 aspects of literature, namely poetry, prose, translation, and commentary; which he calls 'the 4 dimensions'(四度空間). Amongst the writers using Chinese, Yu Kwangzhong has made himself exceptionally well-received to readers by showing innovative humour in his essays, exhibiting unsurpassing wit in his appreciations, and evincing his profound understanding in humanistic culture in his poetry.
As a former professor at the Chinese language and literature faculty at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Yu is internationally acclaimed for his command in traditional Chinese as well as modern literature. On the other hand, besides the English language, for which proficiency he has been appointed professors at the departments of English in Taiwan and the USA, Yu is also an eager and outstanding learner of languages, especially occidental ones. He speaks French, German, Spanish, and Italian, languages which he sometime cite in his Chinese essays when juxtaposing the Chinese and Western cultures. He has also learned Russian, of which, according to his own account in jest, his 'mind of oblivious sift' has only retained several Cyrillic alphabets, no more than a dozen.
NNU-2-wangqianqing (talk) 17:20, 21 November 2011 (UTC)WQQ
NNU-2-wangqianqing (talk) 15:48, 26 December 2011 (UTC)WQQ