Chiung Yao

Chiung Yao or Qiong Yao (Chinese: 瓊瑤; born 20 April 1938) is the pen name of Chen Che, a Taiwanese writer and producer who is often regarded as the most popular romance novelist in the Chinese-speaking world. Her novels have been adapted into more than 100 films and TV dramas.

Chen Che and her twin brother were born in 1938 during the Second Sino-Japanese War in Chengdu, Sichuan, to parents who had fled Beijing which had fallen to Japanese troops in 1937. Both her father Chen Zhiping (陳致平) and mother Yuan Xingshu (袁行恕) were highly educated (Yuan's cousins include Yuan Xiaoyuan, Yuan Jing and Yuan Xingpei). In 1942, the family moved to Chen Zhiping's hometown of Hengyang, Hunan to join Chen Che's grandfather Chen Moxi (陳墨西). In 1944, following the fall of Hengyang, they survived an arduous journey to the wartime capital of Chongqing, during which they narrowly escaping death and rape several times.

In 1949, her family moved to Taiwan, where Chen attended the Affiliated Experimental Elementary School of University of Taipei (台北师范附小) and Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School. After failing the university entrance examination three times, she married writer Ma Senqing and became a housewife.

When she was 18, Chiung Yao fell in love with her high school Chinese teacher. This experience became the basis of her debut novel Outside the Window, which became one of her most popular works and launched her career as a writer.

Chiung Yao's novels were first serialized in the Crown Magazine owned by Ping Hsin-tao and then published as monographs by Crown Publishing, also owned by Ping, who later became her second husband. The couple 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/or Chin Han, who were then collectively known as the "Two Lins and Two Chins".

Her romance novels were very well received in Taiwan, and by the 1990s she was also one of the best-selling authors on mainland China. She has since been enormously popular throughout the Chinese-speaking world. Her biggest sellers are Outside the Window and Deep Is the Courtyard (1969), which have been repeatedly reprinted.

Her novels have been praised for the prose, the poetry which was part of her earlier works, and the literary allusions of their titles. They are often described as "morbid", as many of them feature socially questionable romantic relationships (e.g. between teacher and student, brother-in-law and sister-in-law). Her romance novels and their film adaptions have been criticized for their melodramatic plotlines and long-winded dialogues. Chiung Yao's readership and viewership are predominantly female, owing to her emphasis on the feelings of young women.

In 1959, Chiung Yao married Ma Senqing (马森庆), also a writer. After she became famous and began to outshine her husband, their marriage broke down and ended in divorce in 1964.

In 1979, Chiung Yao married her publisher Ping Hsin-tao, who had had three children with his first wife Lin Wan-zhen. In 2018, Lin published a memoir in which she accused Chiung Yao of breaking up her marriage.

After Ping suffered a stroke and lost nearly all ability to communicate, Chiung Yao had a falling out with her step-children over whether to continue his intubation. Ping died on 23 May 2019, at the age of 92.

On 15 April 2014, Chiung Yao accused screenwriter and producer Yu Zheng of blatant plagiarism, seeking immediate suspension of the broadcast of his TV series Palace 3: The Lost Daughter, which she alleged to have plagiarized from her 1992 novel Plum Blossom Scar (梅花烙). Yu denied the claim. On April 28, Chiung Yao filed a plagiarism lawsuit against Yu. On December 12, 109 Chinese screenwriters published a joint statement supporting Chiung Yao. A day later, an additional 30 Chinese screenwriters made their support of Chiung Yao known.

On 25 December, the court ruled in Chiung Yao's favor, ordering four companies to stop distributing and broadcasting The Palace: The Lost Daughter, also demanding Yu Zheng to publicly apologize and pay Chiung Yao ¥5 million (around $800,000) in compensation. China Radio International called it a "landmark ruling".