Mo Yun-tuan (; 11 May 1928 – 19 March 2018), known by the pen name Luo Fu (), was a Taiwanese writer and poet.

Early life

He was born Mo Yun-tuan in 1928 and raised in

Hengyang Hengyang (; ) is the second largest city of Hunan Province, China. It straddles the Xiang River about south of the provincial capital of Changsha. As of the 2020 Chinese census, Its total population was 6,645,243 inhabitants, of whom 1,290,71 ...

. Mo's first work was published in 1943. He joined the

Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy (ROCN, Chinese, 中華民國海軍) , colloquially known as the Taiwanese Navy ( Chinese, 台湾海军) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Navy ( Chinese, 國軍海軍) ...

, and moved to Taiwan in 1949. Mo received a bachelor's degree in English from

Tamkang University Tamkang University (TKU; ) is a private university in Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. It was founded in 1950 as a junior college of English. Today it is a comprehensive university with 11 colleges that serves nearly 25,000 students ...

in 1973, the same year he retired from the navy. He married Chen Chiung-fang of

Kinmen Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), only east from the city of Xiamen in Fujian, located at the southeastern coast of the People's Republic of China, from wh ...

Career

In Taiwan, Mo published several collections of poetry, anthologies, and essays, as well as a number of translations. His own works were translated into several languages. Mo and his contemporary

Yu Kwang-chung Yu Kwang-chung, also romanised as Yu Guangzhong (; 21 October 1928 – 14 December 2017) was a Taiwanese writer, poet, educator and critic. Life Yu was born in 1928 in Nanking to Yu Chaoying and Sun Xiujun, but fled with his family during th ...

were described as the

Gemini Gemini most often refers to: * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Gemini (astrology), an astrological sign Gemini may also refer to: Science and technology Space * Gemini in Chinese astronomy, the Gemini constellat ...

of Chinese poetry, in reference to the constellation depicting the mythological twins

Castor and Pollux Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi. Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of ...

. Luo Fu founded the Epoch Poetry Society alongside and

Ya Hsien Ya Hsien (1932 – 11 October 2024), real name Wang Ching-lin, was a Taiwanese poet and scholar. Early life and education Ya Hsien was born in Henan province in China in 1932. In 1949 his family moved to Taiwan as a result of the Chinese Civil Wa ...

in 1954. He later left Taiwan for Canada in 1995. Wang Dan published a collection of poems titled ''Travel in Cold Alone'' in 2000, and cited Mo as an influence. Mo's poem "Driftwood" (2000) was nominated for the

Nobel Prize for Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in t ...

in 2001. His final works were published in January 2018.

Death

In June 2016, Mo was diagnosed with

adenocarcinoma of the lung Adenocarcinoma of the lung is the most common type of lung cancer, and like other forms of lung cancer, it is characterized by distinct cellular and molecular features. It is classified as one of several non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), to d ...

. He died of respiratory complications on 19 March 2018, while seeking treatment at

Taipei Veterans General Hospital Taipei Veterans General Hospital () is a national first-class medical center and a teaching hospital that provides tertiary patient care, undergraduate medical education programs and residency programs in Taiwan. It was founded in 1958 and admin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luo, Fu 2018 deaths 1928 births Taiwanese poets 20th-century Chinese poets Poets from Hunan People from Hengyang Taiwanese people from Hunan Tamkang University alumni Taiwanese expatriates in Canada 20th-century Taiwanese poets 21st-century Taiwanese poets Translators to Chinese Taiwanese translators Republic of China Navy sailors