Getting to know Yang Kuei

Exploring the footprints in the life of Mr. Yang Kuei

Beginning of the struggle
Yang Kuei was born on October 18, 1905 in Tainan's Sin-hua Village. His original name was Yang Guai, is an author who dedicated his life to social movements.

When he was 9, he witnessed the Ta-pa-ni Incident, where the rebel armies and civilians were massacred. This left a deep impression on Yang Kuei, and began to make him opposed to violent suppression.

In 1922, he was able to enter Tainan State Second High School (today's Tainan First High School). In this period of study, he read the work of Natsume Soseki, Akuta Ryonosuke, Ivan Turgenev, and Charles Dickens. The humanist spirit of these works resounded in his heart, making him even more steadfast in his thoughts.

In 1925, because he refused to marry a servant girl, he withdrew from Tainan State Second High School, sailed east to Tokyo Japan. The next year, he passed an exam to enter the evening division of Literature and Art in the specialized department of a Japanese University. During the day he worked as a paperboy and cement worker for living costs and tuition. These experiences allowed him to create his representative work V The Paperboy.

When Yang Kuei studied in Tokyo, Marxism was strong. At the time, the Japanese Communist Party was just formed, labor movements and peasants movements, were becoming strong. He formed cultural studies associations, participated in labor and political activism, and was arrested for taking part in an assembly of Koreans.

Yang Kuei and social activism
In 1927, Yang Kuei returned to Taiwan from Japan, and began to actively participate in Taiwan Cultural Association. He ran protest activities at peasant assemblies, held positions as Minister of Education and Minister of Organization for Taiwan farmers. He gave speeches and organized farmers. Because of the Bamboo Forest Controversy, he was arrested ten times in Chu-shan, Shao-mei, Pu-zi, Ma-dou, Sin-hua, and Chung-li.

Soon after returning to Taiwan, Yang Kuei met in Chaocho Jibu a woman who fought for peasant rights V Ms. Yeh Tau. Because they had common ideas, they married soon in 1929. One day before the wedding, they were both arrested for participating in peasant activist activities. Yang Kuei joked that this was a honeymoon paid by the government. They made up for their wedding after their prison term, and then conducted peasant activities again.

When the February 28 Incident happened, he wrote the Proclamation of Peace, suggesting that people arrested for 2-28 be released and a peaceful resolution of the Chinese Civil War. He did not know his Proclamation of Peace would not be accepted by the government; he was arrested again, and spent a long 12 years in prison.

The Hardworking Farmer and Gardener
After Yang Kuei was released from prison, he lived as a hermit in Tong-hai Garden, living the country life freely and no longer involved in worldly affairs. When Yang Kuei was 64, his wife Yeh Tau died of complications of long-term fatigue, heart disease, and kidney disease.

After Tong-hai Garden got on track, Yang Kuei's work began to be approved by people; Taiwan's literature industry began to think more highly of Yang Kuei. When Yang Kuei was 77, he was invited by Ohio University's International Author Workshop and visited Tokyo on the return trip; he was wildly welcomed. At 78, he received the sixth Wu San-lien Award for literature.

He passed away in Taichung because of illness in 1985. He was 80 years old. He was buried next to Yeh Tau's grave in Tong-hai Garden. His dream the old and new supporting each other, walking toward a new haven where hundreds of flowers bloom will live on in people's hearts.

Appreciation of Yang Kuei's Works

1. Yang Kuei's Works

• The Paperboy
  This book by Yang Kuei is based on his working experience. It describes a young man from Taiwan who is studying in Tokyo; he works at a newspaper company because he is poor. First he thought this would be a good job, but the newspaper company is like hell V workers do not get fair treatment, and are even repressed by the boss. The dormitory was dirty like a nest of fleas. Also, younger sisters and brothers of the protagonist died one after another, and his mother hung herself, leaving a letter to him that he should come back after success. His only remaining elder brother became a policeman under the Japanese, repressing Taiwanese people for them. Under this double pressure, the protagonist receives help from Japanese youth Sato and instigates a strike of the workers, making the boss willing to improve living conditions of the workers.

• Spring Light Cannot be Contained (The Rose that cannot be Flattened)
  This book is about a math teacher in a junior high school under Japanese rule, who brought students to help the Japanese army in construction. They helped a student, Lin Chien-wen, to dig up a rose under a cement block, and gave it to his home-alone elder sister. The sister wrote Chien-wen, saying that after the rose was planted in a yellow flowerpot, it bloomed beautifully. The author did not know until after Retrocession that the rose in the letter represented his sister, who had set he eyes on the young man (the yellow flowerpot) in the revolution who passed messages for the big brother, and they married according to their wishes after Retrocession.

It is worth noting that this piece by Yang Kuei was chosen to be in a Chinese textbook for third-year students in Junior High in 1976, and Yang Kuei became famous for this.

• Mother Goose is Getting Married
  In Mother Goose is Getting Married, the main characters, the flower farmer and Lin Wen-chin, come from different levels in society but make the same impression V they are socialists who are able to reflect on their actions and care about people in a humane way. Even though the flower farmer is poor and ill, he refused to compromise his principles for money, and would rather use labor in exchange for living resources. With such a weak body, he was able to uproot a powerful weed; connoting that the weak can stand up to the poor with the strength of their principles.

2. Other related works

• The Paperboy Notes
  

  If you are too lazy to read a novel full of words but want to understand the contents of The Paperboy, the book The Paperboy Notes is just right for you.

There are lots of pictures and few words in this book. The special thing is, these pictures are hand-drawn by a student who graduated before us V Hu Hui-chun. Other than cute pictures, there are also easily understandable words, allowing you to read this important work of literature by Yang Kuei with a light heart. The book also includes the life of Yang Kuei, written by Mr. Lee Chin-an in Taiwanese, and feels very native. The end of the book even has a simple map of Sin-hua Village, which notes the Yang Kuei Literature Museum and Yang Kuei's old home for you to see. So, don't miss this great book.

• The Complete Works of Yang Kuei
  

  The Complete Works of Yang Kuei was born because of the efforts of his granddaughter, Yang Tsuai, and some scholars from the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica.

• The Complete Works of Yang Kuei includes many of Yang Kuei's works and creations in the original Japanese, including scripts, translations, fairytales, poems, prose, novels, and lyrics V this is a large collection of Yang Kuei's works. Scholars at the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy compiled all the works, and placed Chinese translations with the Japanese works; they certainly did a lot of work in the production of this book.

Details of Literature Museum Activities

To let more people get to know this native Taiwanese author, the Village Office as well as civilians held many related activities before and after establishment of the Literature Museum. Some of them were in the schools, at the Village Office Auditorium, or on the performance stage in front of the Literature Museum. Local clubs, school bands, acting groups, etc., all revealed the cultural vitality of a region. Here, you can't but help stop and slowly feel the records of these activities. Through Yang Kuei, cultural activities of this community are taking root, growing, and flourishing.

2002 V The Rose that cannot be Flattened floral art creation

2002 V Yang Kuei Music Festival

2004.11 - Yang Kuei Literature Museum Completion, Music Festival

2005.3.12 - Yang Kuei Spring Light Music Festival

2005.11 - Music Festival to commemorate Yang Kuei's Hundredth Birthday

Rest Stop at Literature Museum

The elegant Literature Museum has many corners for you to reflect on. If you get tired, sit awhile on the corridor. With the cool winds, you'll feel the peace and comfort. Or, take a walk in the garden; appreciate the flowers that represent Yang Kuei's life spirit V rose, wild chrysanthemum, and amaryllis. Now, you have really entered the Yang Kuei Literature Museum.