Chiung Yao
Chen Che | |||||||||
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Yao in 2019 | |||||||||
| Native name | 陳喆 | ||||||||
| Born | 20 April 1938 Chengdu, Sichuan, Republic of China | ||||||||
| Died | 4 December 2024 (aged 86) Tamsui, New Taipei, Taiwan | ||||||||
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| Language | Chinese | ||||||||
| Nationality | Taiwanese (Republic of China) | ||||||||
| Education | Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School | ||||||||
| Period | 1962–2024 | ||||||||
| Subject | Romance | ||||||||
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| Children | One son, three stepchildren | ||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 瓊瑤 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 琼瑶 | ||||||||
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| Chen Che | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 陳喆 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 陈喆 | ||||||||
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Chen Che (Chinese: 陳喆; pinyin: Chén Zhé; 20 April 1938 – 4 December 2024), better known by her pen name Chiung Yao (Chinese: 瓊瑤; pinyin: Qióngyáo), was a Taiwanese writer and film producer. The name Chiung Yao is a phrase taken from the Classic of Poetry, where it means "splendid pure jade". Born in Chengdu, Sichuan, her waishengren family moved to Taiwan in 1949 after the Communist takeover.
She was a representative figure in Chinese-language romance novels. She rose to fame with her novel Outside the Window (1963), which led to her acquaintance and romantic involvement with Ping Hsin-tao, the owner of the Crown magazine. After both divorced their original spouses, they married and co-founded several companies to adapt Chiung Yao's works into films and TV dramas. Her novels have been adapted into more than 100 films and TV dramas. However, her romantic experiences also sparked controversy in Taiwan.
Her works were well-received in Taiwan and later the whole Chinese-speaking world, and Southeast Asia. The BBC describes her as "the world's most popular Chinese language romance novelist" and her TV drama My Fair Princess (1998) as "the most popular Chinese-language drama shows of all time".