Yeh Chia-ying played an important role in the world of classical Chinese poetry, bridging past and future, influencing generations of writers and scholars. Photo: Xinhua/Asia News Network
The lotus petals fell. Doyenne of Chinese classical poetry Yeh Chia-ying died on Sunday at the age of 100, according to Nankai University, where she held a teaching post.
The university said in an obituary that Yeh died of illness at 3.23pm in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.
Yeh dedicated seven decades to the research, teaching and promotion of classical Chinese poetry in China and beyond. She was the teacher of many renowned Chinese literary masters.
She famously said, "My lotus petals will fall, so I must make sure the lotus seeds live on."
Born into a literary family in Beijing in 1924, Yeh moved to Taiwan with her husband in 1948 and had since been parted from her hometown on the Chinese mainland for decades.
In the 1960s, Yeh started teaching at American and Canadian universities.
Starting in 1979, Yeh returned to the Chinese mainland every year to give lectures on Chinese literature and poetry, after learning about the scarcity of teachers in schools. She lived in Nankai University during her final years.
The university said Yeh has donated almost all her assets to several funds for the research and promotion of Chinese classical literature.
Even in her final years, she was active on the podium carrying on her "lifelong ambition to pass on beautiful poems to the next generation."
In 2020, a biographical documentary on her life, Like The Dyer's Hand, hit the screen, inspiring many literature lovers.
On China's popular social media Sina Weibo, news of her death has garnered thousands of comments, with many netizens expressing grief at the death of the "daughter of poetry."
"You lit my path to the world of classical poetry when I was a student. May you rest in peace!" a netizen commented. - Xinhua/Asia News Network
