How Chiung Yao shaped Chinese ideas about love and death
Our weekly podcast on China. This week, we explore the influence of the celebrated romance writer on the Chinese-speaking world
On a quiet afternoon in December, Chiung Yao, one of the most celebrated romance writers in the Chinese-speaking world, took her own life inside her Taipei home at the age of 86. Her body of work includes 65 novels, many of them adapted for film and television, exploring themes of romantic love, etiquette and tradition.
Jiehao Chen, producer of “Drum Tower” and China researcher at The Economist, and Ann Wroe, our obituaries editor, examine Chiung Yao’s life and work. How did the author shape ideas of love and death in contemporary China?
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