Chiung Yao

Chiung Yao or Qiong Yao (Chinese: 瓊瑤; born 20 April 1938) is the pen name of Chen Che, a Taiwanese writer and producer who is often regarded as the most popular romance novelist in the Chinese-speaking world.[1] Her novels have been adapted into more than 100 films and TV dramas.[2]

Chiung Yao
BornChen Che
(1938-04-20) 20 April 1938
Chengdu, Sichuan, Republic of China
Occupationnovelist, screenwriter, lyricist and producer
LanguageChinese
NationalityRepublic of China
Educationhigh school
Period1962–present
SubjectRomance
Notable work
Spouse
  • Ma Senqing
    ​
    (
    m. 1959; div. 1964)
  • ​
    (
    m. 1979; died 2019)
Children1 son, 3 stepchildren
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese瓊瑤
Simplified Chinese琼瑶
Chen Che
Traditional Chinese陳喆
Simplified Chinese陈喆

Early life

Chen Che and her twin brother were born in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War in Chengdu, Sichuan, to parents who had fled Beijing which had fallen to Japanese troops in 1937. Both her father Chen Zhiping (陳致平) and mother Yuan Xingshu (袁行恕) were highly educated (Yuan's cousins include Yuan Xiaoyuan, Yuan Jing and Yuan Xingpei). In 1942, the family moved to Chen Zhiping's hometown of Hengyang, Hunan to join Chen Che's grandfather Chen Moxi (陳墨西). In 1944, following the fall of Hengyang, they survived an arduous journey to the wartime capital of Chongqing, during which they narrowly escaping death and rape several times.

In 1949, her family moved to Taiwan, where Chen attended the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of University of Taipei (台北师范附小) and Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School. After failing the university entrance examination three times, she married writer Ma Senqing and became a housewife.[3]

Career

When she was 18, Chiung Yao fell in love with her high school Chinese teacher. This experience became the basis of her debut novel Outside the Window, which became one of her most popular works and launched her career as a writer.[3][4]

Chiung Yao's novels were first serialized in the Crown Magazine owned by Ping Hsin-tao and then published as monographs by Crown Publishing, also owned by Ping, who later became her second husband.[4] The couple adapted many of her novels into television series and films, often serving as producers or screenwriters themselves.[4] Film adaptations in the 1970s often featured Brigitte Lin, Joan Lin, Charlie Chin and/or Chin Han, who were then collectively known as the "Two Lins and Two Chins".

Her romance novels were very well received in Taiwan, and by the 1990s she was also one of the best-selling authors on mainland China.[5] She has since been enormously popular throughout the Chinese-speaking world.[4] Her biggest sellers are Outside the Window and Deep Is the Courtyard (1969), which have been repeatedly reprinted.[4]

Her novels have been praised for the prose, the poetry which was part of her earlier works, and the literary allusions of their titles.[4] They are often described as "morbid", as many of them feature socially questionable romantic relationships (e.g. between teacher and student, brother-in-law and sister-in-law).[4] Her romance novels and their film adaptions have been criticized for their melodramatic plotlines[6][7] and long-winded dialogues.[8] Chiung Yao's readership and viewership are predominantly female, owing to her emphasis on the feelings of young women.[9]

Personal life

In 1959, Chiung Yao married Ma Senqing (马森庆), also a writer. After she became famous and began to outshine her husband, their marriage broke down and ended in divorce in 1964.[10]

In 1979,[10] Chiung Yao married her publisher Ping Hsin-tao, who had had three children with his first wife Lin Wan-zhen. In 2018, Lin published a memoir in which she accused Chiung Yao of breaking up her marriage.[11]

After Ping suffered a stroke and lost nearly all ability to communicate, Chiung Yao had a falling out with her step-children over whether to continue his intubation.[11][12] Ping died on 23 May 2019, at the age of 92.[13]

Lawsuit

On 15 April 2014, Chiung Yao accused screenwriter and producer Yu Zheng of blatant plagiarism, seeking immediate suspension of the broadcast of his TV series Palace 3: The Lost Daughter, which she alleged to have plagiarized from her 1992 novel Plum Blossom Scar (梅花烙). Yu denied the claim. On April 28, Chiung Yao filed a plagiarism lawsuit against Yu.[14] On December 12, 109 Chinese screenwriters published a joint statement supporting Chiung Yao.[15] A day later, an additional 30 Chinese screenwriters made their support of Chiung Yao known.[16]

On 25 December, the court ruled in Chiung Yao's favor, ordering four companies to stop distributing and broadcasting The Palace: The Lost Daughter, also demanding Yu Zheng to publicly apologize and pay Chiung Yao ¥5 million (around $800,000) in compensation. China Radio International called it a "landmark ruling".[17][18]

List of works
Year Chinese Title English Title Notes
1962情人谷Lover's Dale[19]Translated into English by Tommy Lee
1963窗外Outside the Window
1964煙雨濛濛Misty RainTranslated into English by Mark Wilfer and released as Fire and Rain. Also known as Romance in the Rain.
菟絲花
幾度夕陽紅
潮聲
1965船
1966六個夢
  • 追寻
  • 哑妻
  • 三朵花
  • 生命的鞭
  • 归人记
  • 流亡曲
Six Dreams Six Dreams is an anthology of six short stories. Wan-Chun's Three Loves was initially released as a novellette in 1965, then later collected into Six Dreams.
紫貝殼
寒煙翠
月滿西樓
1967翦翦風
1968彩雲飛Flying Rosy CloudsReleased as The Young Ones
1969庭院深深The Deep Garden and CourtyardAlso released as Deep Garden
星河Starry River
1971水靈
白狐White Fox
1972海鷗飛處
心有千千結The Heart has a Million Knots
1973一簾幽夢Dream CurtainAlso known as Dream Link
浪花
1974碧雲天
女朋友Girlfriend
1975在水一方One Side of the WaterAlso known as The Unforgettable Character
秋歌
1976人在天涯
我是一片雲
月朦朧鳥朦朧
雁兒在林梢The Wild Goose on the Wing
1977一顆紅豆
1978彩霞滿天
金盞花
1979夢的衣裳Clothing of DreamsReleased as My Cape of Many Dreams
聚散兩依依
1980卻上心頭
問斜陽
1981燃燒吧！火鳥Burning Firebird
昨夜之燈
1982匆匆，太匆匆
1983失火的天堂
1985冰兒
1984不曾失落的日子·童年Escape from Heng Yang[20]Translated into English by Eugene Lo Wei
1988剪不斷的鄉愁－瓊瑤大陸行
1990雪珂Xue Ke (lit. Snow Jade)
望夫崖Wang Fu Cliff (lit. The "Awaiting Husband" Cliff)
1992青青河邊草Green Green Grass By The River
梅花烙Plum Blossom Branding
1993水雲間Between The Water and Cloud
鬼丈夫Ghost Husband
1994新月格格Princess Xinyue (lit. Princess New-Moon)
煙鎖重樓Smoke Amongst The Floor
1997還珠格格Princess PearlAlso known as My Fair Princess and Princess Returning Pearl
1998蒼天有淚Tears In Heaven
1999還珠格格第二部Princess Pearl Part 2
2003還珠格格第三部之天上人間Princess Pearl Part 3: Heaven and Earth
gollark: <@357932279231807488> They did release the full model IIRC.
gollark: Why not run it on... your actual computer? Is there some sort of importable Pyth implementation?
gollark: I think the main issue is just in creating a process; that is *slooooow*.
gollark: I doubt pypy could help unless you run the interpreter with it.
gollark: Most of the latency will just be in making a new process and doing IO.

References
  1. Ying, Li-hua (2010). Historical Dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature. The Scarecrow Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-8108-5516-8.
  2. "琼瑶作品及影视对应表". Archived from the original on 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
  3. Jiang Bo 江波 (2013-08-07). "她让我们相信爱情 她自己的爱情也丰富多彩". Qianjiang Evening News. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  4. Mostow, Joshua S. (2003). The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature. Columbia University Press. p. 517. ISBN 978-0-231-11314-4.
  5. Kristof, Nicholas D. (February 19, 1991). "A Taiwan Pop Singer Sways the Mainland". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2010.
  6. Xiao, Zhiwei; Zhang, Yingjin (2002). Encyclopaedia of Chinese Film. Routledge. ISBN 9781134745531.
  7. Yeh, Emilie Yueh-yu; Davis, Darrell William (2013). Taiwan Film Directors: A Treasure Island. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231502993.
  8. Feng, Jin (2013). Romancing the Internet: Producing and Consuming Chinese Web Romance. Brill. ISBN 9789004259720.
  9. Lee, Daw-ming (2013). Historical Dictionary of Taiwan Cinema. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 125–8. ISBN 978-0-8108-6792-5.
  10. "当你不再浪漫不再笑". Guangming Daily. 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
  11. "Publishing magnate's ex on queen of romance novels: 'The biggest problem in my marriage was Chiung Yao'". The Straits Times. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  12. Hsia, Heidi (4 August 2017). "Ping Xin-tao's son gives response to Chiung Yao". Yahoo! News Singapore. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  13. Chen Cheng-wei; Chung Yu-chen (2019-06-04). "Crown Magazine founding publisher dies aged 92". Central News Agency. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  14. Chiung Yao Sues Yu Zheng for Plagiarism
  15. 琼瑶诉于正抄袭 109名编剧联名支持
  16. 继续声援! 又有30余位编剧支持琼瑶诉于正
  17. "Court Supports Chiung Yao's Plagiarism Charges". 2014-12-25.
  18. Chou, Chou I-ling; Chen, Ted (25 December 2014). "Taiwanese novelist wins 5 million yuan in Beijing court case". Central News Agency. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  19. Chiung Yao (January 1966). Translated by Tommy Lee. "Lover's Dale". Free China Review. 16 (1).
  20. Chung Yao (2008). Escape from Heng Yang: The Memoir of a Six-Year-Old Refugee Girl. Translated by Eugene Lo Wei. Dorrance Publishing Company. ISBN 9780805977325.
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