TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Hakka writer Tseng Kuei-hai (曾貴海), known as the “Doctor Poet,” passed away at the age of 78 on Tuesday (Aug. 6).

Born in 1946 in Jiadong Township, Pingtung County, Tseng graduated from Kaohsiung Medical College's College of Medicine, per Liberty Times. He served as a thoracic physician, social activist, and poet, per CNA.

In January 1982, Tseng and his friends founded “Literature World,” the first Taiwanese literature magazine in southern Taiwan, which ceased publication in April 1989. In July 1991, he founded “Taiwan Literature Magazine,” where he was the publisher.

Professor Emeritus Chen Wan-yi (陳萬益) from the Institute of Taiwanese Literature at National Tsing Hua University said Tseng’s works explore the identities of the Plains Indigenous Peoples, Hoklo, Hakka, and Taiwanese. This is remarkable considering Taiwan’s history of colonization and repeated suppression and stigmatization of the island's multiple languages, he explained.

Chen added that Tseng’s works boldly express his language, voice, and identity, like a train emerging from a long, dark night and heading toward dawn.

In 2023, Tseng won the International Poetry Award at Ecuador's XIV Festival de Poesia de Guayaquil Ileana Espinel Cedeno.