Chen Yingzhen (; 8 November 1937 – 22 November 2016) was a Taiwanese author. Chen is also notable for having served a prison sentence for "subversive activity" between 1968 and 1973. He was active as writer from the late 1950s until his death in 2016. The ''Collected Works of Chen Yingzhen'' is 15 volumes long, and was published in 1988. Some of his stories were also included in Lucien Miller's ''Exiles at Home''.

Biography

Chen Yingzhen was born Chen Yongshan in northern Taiwan, the son of a devout

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

minister. Despite this, he never was a Christian himself while growing up. He was raised in what became

Zhunan, Miaoli Zhunan Township is an urban township in northern Miaoli County, Taiwan. Its city centre forms a continuous urban area with Toufen. Name Literally, ''Zhúnán'' () means "bamboo south" but in this context, ''zhú'' is short for "Hsinchu". Th ...

, with a twin brother, who died in 1946. Chen was arrested in 1968 by the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

for "leading procommunist activities", and was imprisoned until 1973. Chen was again imprisoned in 1979, shortly before the

Kaohsiung Incident The Kaohsiung Incident, also known as the Formosa Incident, the Meilidao Incident, or the ''Formosa Magazine'' incident,tang was a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations that occurred in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on 10 December 1979 during Taiwan's ...

. He died in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

on 22 November 2016 at the age of 79 following a long illness.

Style

Some critics have seen Chen's work as featuring important moral dimensions while lacking technical proficiency. For example,

Joseph S. M. Lau Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

said of Chen, "his output is relatively small and his style is at times embarrassing, yet he is a very important writer... Almost alone among his contemporaries, he addresses himself to some of the most sensitive problems of his time."

Thought

Chen was a supporter of the notion of a unifying Chinese national identity in Taiwan, as opposed to "nativist" writers like , who support the development of a native Taiwanese consciousness. Chen contributed to several journals as an editor and writer, and was "regarded as Taiwan's utmost representative leftist intellectual." Jeffrey C. Kinkley noted in 1990 that Chen was "considered by many Chinese readers and critics in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and overseas to be Taiwan's greatest author."

Portrait

Chen Yingzhen. A Portrait by Kong Kai Ming
at Portrait Gallery of Chinese Writers (Hong Kong Baptist University Library).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Yingzhen 1937 births 2016 deaths Taiwanese male novelists Taiwanese prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Taiwan People from Miaoli County International Writing Program alumni Taiwanese male short story writers Taiwanese twins 20th-century Taiwanese short story writers 20th-century male writers Marxist writers