Zheng Qingwen
Encyclopedia
Cheng Ch'ing-wen born September 16, 1932, is a Taiwan
ese writer and a graduate of National Taiwan University
. He worked at the government-run Hua Nan Bank for forty years. His works in English are generally under the transliteration Cheng Ch'ing-Wen and that is how he is described in many English-language publications published in Taiwan. The transliteration Tzeng Ching-wen is also used.
He is a leader of the Taiwanese "nativist" movement. Zheng [or Cheng] is a speaker of the Min Nan
or Taiwanese "dialect" of Chinese. He graduated from elementary school in Taiwan with six years of instruction in Japanese, and only thereafter began to learn to write in Chinese
A collection of twelve of his short stories, Three-Legged Horse, was made available in English in 1998, and was a finalist for the 1999 Kiriyama Prize
for translation.
He has written both novels, short stories, and works for children. His three works for children (Swallow Heart Berries, Sky Lanterns/Mother, and Picking Peaches) are populated with birds, insects, and other animals that all have the ability to speak, in a manner common to fairy tales.
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
ese writer and a graduate of National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University
National Taiwan University is a national co-educational university located in Taipei, Republic of China . In Taiwan, it is colloquially known as "Táidà" . Its main campus is set upon 1,086,167 square meters in Taipei's Da'an District. In addition, the university has 6 other campuses in Taiwan,...
. He worked at the government-run Hua Nan Bank for forty years. His works in English are generally under the transliteration Cheng Ch'ing-Wen and that is how he is described in many English-language publications published in Taiwan. The transliteration Tzeng Ching-wen is also used.
He is a leader of the Taiwanese "nativist" movement. Zheng [or Cheng] is a speaker of the Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
or Taiwanese "dialect" of Chinese. He graduated from elementary school in Taiwan with six years of instruction in Japanese, and only thereafter began to learn to write in Chinese
A collection of twelve of his short stories, Three-Legged Horse, was made available in English in 1998, and was a finalist for the 1999 Kiriyama Prize
Kiriyama Prize
The Kiriyama Prize is an international literary award given to books which will encourage greater understanding of and among the peoples and nations of the Pacific Rim and South Asia...
for translation.
He has written both novels, short stories, and works for children. His three works for children (Swallow Heart Berries, Sky Lanterns/Mother, and Picking Peaches) are populated with birds, insects, and other animals that all have the ability to speak, in a manner common to fairy tales.
External links
- Three-Legged Horse ISBN 9780231113861 and ISBN 9780231113878
- Photo of Writer
- Biography and photo (in Chinese)
- Hua Nan Bank-(in Chinese)