Top Chinese language novelist dies in apparent suicide

Chiung Yao, arguably the world’s most popular Chinese language romance novelist, has died in an apparent suicide.

The 86-year-old’s body was found in her home in New Taipei City on Wednesday, local media report. Emergency services said she took her own life, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

Chiung Yao started writing at 18 and published more than 60 novels, many of which were adapted into movies and TV series and remained popular for decades.

She was also a successful screenwriter and producer. One of her most famous works was the TV drama My Fair Princess, which launched the careers of big name stars.

She was born Chen Che in Sichuan, China in 1938. Chiung Yao is her pen name.

A post on her Facebook account on Wednesday read: “Goodbye, my loved ones. I feel lucky that I have met and known you in this life”. It was not immediately clear if the post was published before or after her body was found.

Chiung Yao asked young people “not to give up on life easily” and to confront death only when “you live until 86 or 87”. She asked her followers not to be sad for her.

She has not been active in recent years. However, she made headlines in 2017 after her dispute with her stepchildren over how to care for her then ailing husband came into public view.

Chiung Yao spent part of her childhood in mainland China as her family moved across the country during the Sino-Japanese War.

The family moved to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese Communist Party took control of the mainland.

Chiung Yao’s debut novel Outside The Window, which was inspired by her own love story with her high school teacher, was hugely popular.

Her TV drama My Fair Princess, a Cinderella story set in the 18th century Qing Dynasty, is regarded as one of the most popular Chinese-language drama shows of all time.

It launched the careers of big names in entertainment, including Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing. Fan would go on to become one of the biggest stars in China, until she was fined for tax fraud in 2018.

The show’s main actors, Ruby Lin and Zhao Wei, became household names to Chinese audiences.

Lin has remained active as an actor and producer in Taiwan. However Wei has been silent in recent years after her billionaire friend, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, got into trouble with the authorities in Beijing.