Yu Hsi

Yu Hsi (born Hung Ching Yu) (born March 16, 1951) is a Taiwanese Tamil poet and scholar, who has translated the Tirukkural and the poems of Subramaniya Bharathi and poet Bharathidasan in Mandarin. He is the founder president of the Tamil Sangam in Taiwan. He has received various awards, including awards from Seoul World Academy of Arts and Culture (2004), Thiruvalluvar award (2014), and a felicitation from former President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Yu Hsi was born Hung Ching Yu in Taiwan on 16 March 1951. He obtained a doctorate in letters. He has authored more than 60 books. In a unique literary style, he wrote his fifth long-form novel on tradition scrolls, which contained almost 600,000 words. He has also translated Tamil classic Thirukkural, poems of Bharathiyar and Bharathidasan and Avvaiyar's "Aathichoodi" (containing morals) in Mandarin.

In 2004, Yu Hsi was awarded the Poet Laureate, the highest honour awarded by Seoul World Academy of Arts and Culture.

In 2010, Yu Hsi was felicitated by former Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam with a golden statue of Buddha. It was when Yu Hsi agreed to translate the Thirukural into Chinese.

In praise of his translation of the Tirukkural in Mandarin, the Tamil Nadu government awarded ₹540,000. Yu Hsi, however, donated the amount to Tamil University for setting up of an endowment to propagate Tirukkural.

In 2014, he received the Thiruvalluvar award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Yu Hsi is the first foreign scholar to receive the Thiruvalluvar award.