Chiung Yao, "arguably the world's most popular Chinese language romance novelist," died December 4, BBC reported. She was 86. Chiung Yao published more than 60 novels, many of which were adapted into movies and TV series. She was also a screenwriter and producer, but had not been active in recent years.
Her debut novel, Outside the Window, was inspired by her love story with her high school teacher and became very popular. Many of her works were adapted into TV dramas and films, including Outside the Window, The Young Ones, and My Fair Princess, "making her the most famous romance writer in the Chinese-speaking world from the 1970s-1990s," CNA noted. My Fair Princess launched the careers of Zhao Wei and Fan Bingbing, among others.
As news of her death spread, some of those performers shared their condolences. Taiwanese actor Alec Su, who portrayed Prince Yongqi in My Fair Princess, wrote on Weibo: "I feel fortunate to have portrayed a character from (Chiung Yao's) stories." Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming, who played Xiao Jian in My Fair Princess III, posted that the author's "works have illuminated the youth of generations, teaching us how to love, cherish, and face the challenges and difficulties in life."
Lin Peiyin, head of the School of Chinese at the University of Hong Kong, told the South China Morning Post that for a long time, scholars had labeled her works "escapist, overly melodramatic, and tear-jerkers," but her writing has continued to resonate with audiences and the sociological significance of the circulation and consumption of it has been recognized.
"Her penmanship was beautiful and glamorous," he added. "I certainly learned better Chinese reading her novels as a teenager growing up in Macau. But what made her so special was how her work straddled different media and generations."