Renowned poet Yeh Chia-ying gives rare speech at Nankai University

On Sunday, renowned Chinese poetry scholar Yeh Chia-ying, aged 100, made a rare appearance at Nankai University during an international symposium on teaching Chinese poetry. The audience was captivated, as her presence is rare on account of her age.

She delivered a lecture on Chinese poetry and shared her reasons for choosing to reside in Nankai.

When Yeh concluded her speech, the entire audience rose to their feet, applauding her esteemed expertise and tireless effort in promoting Chinese poetry worldwide.

"I have dedicated my entire life to teaching and sincerely hope to transmit the beauty of both logic and emotion found in ancient poetry to the younger generation," Yeh remarked.

She explained that after teaching in various locations outside the Chinese mainland, including the United States, Canada, and Taiwan, she chose to settle in Nankai in the 1980s.

Yeh shared an anecdote about being nicknamed "Little Lotus," as she was born during the blooming of lotus flowers in June of the lunar calendar.

Enchanted by a lotus-infused lake at Nankai University in the 1980s, she decided to teach there after her retirement from Canada.

Throughout the three-year period of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yeh stayed out of the public eye. During that time, she taught Chinese poetry on social media platforms, garnering widespread appreciation for her dedication.

On Sept 5, Nankai rebroadcast one of Yeh's lectures on their account on Douyin, a social media platform. The rebroadcast was watched by 600,000 people.

Yeh, born in a literary family in Beijing, displayed a talent for poetry at a young age, going on to graduate with a major in Chinese literature from Fu Jen Catholic University. After marrying and relocating to Taiwan with her husband in 1948, she pursued a career as an educator, traditional Chinese poetry researcher, and writer.

As one of the few Chinese scholars who traveled to the United States in the 1960s to teach traditional Chinese poetry in English, Yeh worked at prestigious institutions including Harvard University and Michigan State University, before settling in Canada as a lifelong professor at the University of British Columbia.

Nankai plans to expand its influence and support for studies and social practices in alignment with Yeh's teaching concepts. The goal is to further develop and enhance international communication surrounding Chinese poetry. An initiative for Chinese poetry teaching and preservation was inaugurated during the symposium.