Taipei: Renowned Taiwanese poet Cheng Chou-yu passed away in the United States in the early hours of Friday morning (U.S. time) at the age of 91.

According to Focus Taiwan, another local poet Hsiao Hsiao informed a CNA reporter on Sunday that Cheng’s sister-in-law Lin Tsai-kuei confirmed he passed away at 4:44 a.m. on June 13 due to heart failure.

Born in 1933 with the birth name Cheng Wen-tao, Cheng hailed from Jinan, Shandong Province in China, with his ancestral roots in Ninghe, Hebei. In 1949, he relocated to Taiwan with his family following the Nationalist government’s retreat to the island.

In 1967, Cheng moved to the United States to participate in the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, where he later earned a Master of Fine Arts degree and doctoral degrees. His academic career included teaching positions at the University of Iowa, Yale University, and the University of Hong Kong. In 2005, he returned to Taiwan to serve as a writer-in-residence at National Dong Hwa University.

Cheng’s literary career began at the age of 16 when he self-published his first poetry collection, Straw Sandals and a Raft. He went on to publish numerous poetry collections, including Slave Girls Outside the Window and The Possibility of Snow. His most celebrated poem, The Mistake, is considered a classic in Taiwanese literature and was included in Taiwan’s Chinese language textbooks.

Cheng was known for his frequent travels, as reflected in a line from The Mistake: “I am a passer-by, not a returned man.”