Taiwan writer and social commentator Li Ao passes away at the age of 82
Renowned Taiwan writer and social commentator Li Ao passed away at the age of 82 at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital on Sunday morning, according to a report from Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoting Li’s family.
In October 2017, Li was hospitalized due to pneumonia and his condition continued to worsen in late January of this year, according to media reports.
Born in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province in 1935, Li moved with his family to Taiwan in 1949. One of Taiwan’s most wellknown writers, he is famous for his poignant political commentaries and essays as well as his legendary life stories and marriage to Taiwan star Terry Hu.
The hashtag “Li Ao passed away due to disease” garnered over 75 million views in just a few hours, leaping to the top of the most-searched topics on Sina Weibo.
The Taiwan writer’s Sina Weibo account was flooded with comments by Chinese netizens on Sunday morning.
“Very sad to hear the news that you passed away… You were a fighter and your poignant writings showed the desperation of the world and contempt for the vanity of rulers,” commented Sina Weibo user Galia Haohp under the post.
People’s Literature Publishing House, one of mainland’s largest literature publishing houses, published an article on WeChat titled “Li Ao, the conscience of Chinese intellectuals, passed away today” on Sunday morning.
In the article the publishing house called Li a man “who had the courage to rip apart pretentious speeches and to depict human-beings and things as they are.”
Chinese mainland writers also expressed their respect and condolences for the outspoken writer on social media platforms.
“Li Ao’s book shocked me when I first read one in a library in 1985. My writing of commentaries was deeply influenced by him over the following several years,” wrote Chinese writer Xu Fengwen on his Sina Weibo account.
“The news was so sudden… I took a look at Li’s works that I bought during my middle school days. My favorite is not one of his political commentaries, but his 1993 selection of essays I Will Be Back, Blossomed in which there is a poem that he wrote in 1957 that can be viewed as a work of self condolence: ‘In the days when flowers withered, I will be back, blossomed,’” wrote Chinese writer Ma Boyong on Sina Weibo.