Bo Yang was born in Henan, China in 1920 and immigrated to Taiwan in 1948. Mr. Yang is a poet, novelist, essayist, critic, historian and human rights crusader. He was imprisoned on Fire-Burned Island in the Pacific Ocean for nine years. The New York Times has praised him as "China's Voltaire".

As of December 1998, his publications include 53 titles (135 volumes) of original writings, 7 titles (33 volumes) of works edited by him, and 53 titles of collections, criticism, reports, biographies and foreign translations. His original work, "The Alien Realm" sold more than one million copies in Taiwan. Mr. Yang harshly criticized Chinese tradition and old fashion culture in two of his most famous books, "Soy Vat Culture" and "Shaking the Soy Vat".

 After the lift of martial law in Taiwan, Bo Yang visited China. Upon his return to Taiwan he wrote a book called "Home" in which he started describing himself to be a first generation immigrant in Taiwan and considered Taiwan to be home to him and his offsprings, although he was still passionate about mainland China. He is also a human rights activist. In 1995, he established the Human Rights Education Foundation to promote human rights education in Taiwan. 

Mr. Yang's enormous contributions in culture transformation, literature writings, and human rights advocacy have earned him the 1999 Humanity Award.

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Last modified: 10/30/07