Queen of romance goes her own way

Stacy Shi and Eunice Lam

Taiwanese romance novelist Chen Che, better known by her pen name Chiung Yao, passed away yesterday at the age of 86.

Taiwanese media reported that she committed suicide, leaving a note on social media expressing her desire to take charge of her own death.

Her 63-year-old son disclosed that Chen had written a suicide note and was found unresponsive when he sent a secretary to check on her.

The secretary arrived around 1.20 pm and called for help upon discovering Chen's body.

Emergency personnel found her not breathing and without a heartbeat and pronounced her dead at the scene.

Her body has been transferred to the Taipei Second Funeral Parlor.

Shortly after news of her death surfaced, a note was posted on her Facebook account, accompanied by a video of Chen reciting her self-written poem, When The Snowflake Falls, along with a letter to her family and readers.

"Don't cry, don't be upset and don't feel sad for me as I have passed away gracefully... and flown away lightly like a snowflake," Chen wrote. "I don't want to resign myself to fate and wither slowly. I hope to control this last event in my life."

Chen articulated her desire to avoid a painful decline characterized by illness and hospitalization.

However, she also urged younger generations not to give up their lives prematurely. "I hope you can choose how to face death when you reach your 80s and feel frail. By that time, I hope society has developed compassionate ways to help the elderly depart happily."

Chen, renowned for her iconic TV series My Fair Princess that first aired in 1998, had relocated to Tamsui in her later years.

On November 28, she made a rare online post expressing her longing for her late husband Ping Hsin-tao, who passed away in 2019.

Following her passing, several celebrities, including Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia and stars from My Fair Princess such as Zhao Wei, Alec Su You-peng and Fan Bingbing expressed their condolences.