Chiung Yao
Chen Che, better known by her pen name Chiung Yao, was a Taiwanese writer and producer. The name Chiung Yao is taken from the Classic of Poetry, where it means "splendid pure jade". Born in Chengdu, Sichuan, she moved to Taiwan with her family in 1949 during the Chinese civil war.
A leading figure in Chinese romance novels, she rose to fame with Outside the Window, which led to her association with Ping Hsin-tao, owner of the. The two later married and co-founded production companies to adapt Chiung Yao’s works for the screen, pioneering cross-strait collaboration in television and film. Her works achieved enormous popularity across the Chinese-speaking world and Southeast Asia in the late 20th century, launching the careers of many actors, with My Fair Princess ranking among the most-watched Chinese television dramas of all time.
Early life and education
Chen Che was born in Chengdu, Republic of China, on 20 April 1938. She experienced an unstable childhood due to the Second Sino-Japanese War. Her father,, came from a humble background in Hengyang, while her mother, Yuan Hsing-shu, belonged to an upper-class family with roots in Suzhou and Shanghai; her grandfather was the head of the Bank of Communications. Yuan fell in love with Chen Chih-ping, who was her Chinese teacher, and the two defied social norms and married. When Yuan Hsing-shu became pregnant, Chen Chih-ping, then only 20 years old, initially planned to have the pregnancy terminated. However, upon discovering she was carrying twins—a boy and a girl—he changed his mind and decided to raise the children. The girl was Chiung Yao. During the war, the family endured a turbulent life as refugees. To survive, they performed in plays and sold potatoes, while Chen Chih-ping and Yuan Hsing-shu also taught in various locations, including Guizhou and Sichuan.With both parents being Chinese literature teachers, the literary atmosphere of her family instilled in her a love for literature from a young age. In 1947, she moved with her family to Shanghai, where she published her first short story, The Poor Little Qing, on the Ta Kung Pao. In 1949, her family relocated to Taipei, Taiwan. After arriving in Taiwan, her father became a Chinese literature professor at National Taiwan Normal University, while her mother worked as a Chinese literature teacher at Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School. Compared to many of her peers who grew up in post-war Taiwan's poverty, Chiung Yao enjoyed a relatively privileged upbringing. At the age of 14, she published a short story under the pen name Lü Gui. In 1954, she adopted the pen name Xin Ru and published another story.
Chiung Yao struggled academically as a child, often facing criticism from her parents. In her final year of high school, she fell in love with her Chinese literature teacher, Jiang Ren, who was single and much older than her. The two planned to marry after being admitted to university, but their relationship ended due to opposition from her parents. Ultimately, Chiung Yao did not pass the university entrance exams, and graduated from Taipei Municipal Second Girls' High School.
In 1959, she married Ma Sen-ching, a graduate of the Foreign Languages Department at National Taiwan University. Ma worked at Taiwan Aluminium Corporation in Kaohsiung, where the couple settled after their wedding. In addition to his day job, Ma was a part-time writer. The couple had one son, Chen Chung-wei.
Career (1964–2013)
Novelist
In 1962, Chiung Yao published several short and medium-length stories in Crown magazine. She then rewrote her high school teacher-student romance into the novel Outside the Window. Initially rejected by multiple publishers due to its length, it was eventually accepted for publication by Ping Hsin-tao's Crown magazine.In July 1963, Chiung Yao's semi-autobiographical love story Outside the Window was serialised in Crown magazine, achieving significant success. It was later released as a standalone book. This success led to her acquaintance with Ping Hsin-tao. Ping rented a flat opposite his own for Chiung Yao and hired domestic carers, allowing her to focus on writing full-time. As a result, Chiung Yao moved from Kaohsiung to Taipei with her child. Ping's wife, Lin Wan-chen, began to suspect an unusual relationship between Chiung Yao and Ping after their young children told Lin of their conversations.
Chiung Yao's husband, Ma Sen-ching, was deeply humiliated by the public disclosure of her first love and attacked her in newspapers. Their relationship gradually deteriorated. Writer Chi-chi recalled an incident where she visited Chiung Yao's home, and a servant opened the door to find Chiung Yao coming downstairs with bed linens, claiming they were "poisoned" and announcing her intent to divorce Ma Sen-ching. The couple officially divorced in 1964. After the divorce, Chiung Yao and Ping Hsin-tao entered into a romantic relationship. They became a couple on the premiere night of Outside the Window film adaptation, with Chiung Yao becoming Ping's mistress.
Due to the hardships in her personal life, Chiung Yao's early works often had tragic endings. Between 1964 and 1971, her short and medium-length stories explored varied styles. After 1964, Chiung Yao published six bestsellers, including Fire and Rain, Six Dreams, and Many Enchanting Nights.
Film producer
Between 1964 and 1983, Chiung Yao's works were adapted into 50 films, leading to "Chiung Yao film" becoming a genre in and of itself. Chiung Yao's novels and their adaptations sparked a "Chiung Yao fever" in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Authorised adaptations
In 1965, Taiwanese director Li Hsing adapted two stories from Chiung Yao's Six Dreams into films: Four Loves and The Silent Wife. These marked the beginning of cinematic adaptations of Chiung Yao's works. Four Loves was successful both critically and commercially, while The Silent Wife achieved even greater success, becoming a bestseller in Hong Kong. However, Chiung Yao was occasionally dissatisfied with Li Hsing's adaptations. For example, in The Silent Wife, Chiung Yao envisioned the heroine as a "child bride", but Li Hsing insisted on portraying her as a cousin, deviating from the original narrative.Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong purchased the film rights to her works. Among these, My Dream Boat became the second-highest-grossing Mandarin-language film in Hong Kong that year. After leaving Shaw Brothers, Hong Kong director Li Han-hsiang founded Grand Motion Pictures in Taiwan, where he extensively adapted Chiung Yao's novels for the screen. His film Many Enchanting Nights earned actress Chiang Ching the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress for her role as the protagonist.
In the mid-1970s, Li Hsing returned to Chiung Yao's works, adapting The Young Ones and The Heart has a Million Knots. These films boosted the popularity of actors Chen Chen and Charlie Chin, who starred in The Young Ones. The soundtrack also gained widespread recognition, with Teresa Teng's renditions of A Thousand Words and How Can I Leave You from the film becoming major hits. Brigitte Lin, who had failed her university entrance exams, was discovered by director Sung Tsun-Shou from the Outside the Window production team. This marked her entry into the entertainment industry. However, due to copyright disputes, the film was ultimately unable to be released in Taiwan.
Superstar Motion Picture
Unsatisfied with Shaw Brothers' adaptation of The Purple Shell, Chiung Yao established Firebird Picture Company in 1966, producing Mist Over Dream Lake and Lucky Clover. However, due to poor box office performance, the company closed in 1971. In 1976, Ping Hsin-tao asked his wife Lin Wan-chen for a divorce. That same year, Chiung Yao co-founded Superstar Motion Picture to adapt her novels into films, ending her collaboration with Li Hsing in 1977.In 1979, Jiang Ren, the inspiration for the male lead in Outside the Window, died, and Chiung Yao married Ping. Chiung Yao and her second husband Ping adapted many of her novels into television series and films, often serving as producers or screenwriters themselves. Film adaptations in the 1970s often featured Brigitte Lin, Joan Lin, Charlie Chin, and Chin Han, who were then collectively known as the "Two Lins and Two Chins".
At Superstar, Brigitte Lin became Chiung Yao's go-to actress, starring in many of Chiung Yao's films. Early works such as Cloud of Romance and The Love Affair of Rainbow were scripted by Chang Yung-hsiang, while later works, including Moonlight Serenade and Yesterday's Love, were penned by Chiung Yao herself. Cloud of Romance, featuring Brigitte Lin and co-stars Charlie Chin and Chin Han, was a major hit, with the title song sung by Fong Fei-fei gaining widespread popularity.
Chiung Yao films dominated prime slots during Lunar New Year and Youth Day. Songs were often performed by Fong Fei-fei, with music composed by. The films, set in dining rooms and cafes, were nicknamed "". However, their formulaic nature led to diminishing appeal. After the 1982 failure of Amid the Rolling Clouds, Chiung Yao announced her retirement from filmmaking.