The veteran Taiwan actor Ku Pao-ming Photo: Sina Weibo

Ku Pao-ming, a veteran Taiwan actor often called the "golden supporting actor," passed away on Saturday at the age of 71. 

The news was confirmed by multiple sources from the Island of Taiwan on Saturday, including Liang Chi-ming, founder of the Godot Theatre Company, with which Ku worked. According to news reports, Ku passed away due to heart and lung failure. The sad news about this Taiwan actor has earned more than 14 million views on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

"I didn't particularly follow him like I follow other trendy stars every day. But when I saw this news, I felt so bad. Over 10 years ago, he was in many Taiwan TV dramas that accompanied me and my best friends through our adolescence," Tang Xiao, a Taiwan TV drama fan, told the Global Times.

"His kind and grandfatherly image made me feel very close to him even though the custom of the Island of Taiwan seen in TV dramas was something new to me," Tang added. 

Born in 1950, the veteran actor appeared in many TV productions loved by mainland audiences such as the 2007 Taiwan idol drama Romantic Princess while also playing the grandpa in the Taiwan live-action version of the popular Japanese cartoon Chibi Maruko-chan.  

"Now that he has left, a part of my childhood memories are gone too," one netizen posted on Sina Weibo.

Not only fans mourned the loss of Gu, celebrities such as Angela Chang, a famous Taiwan actress, and renowned stage director Stan Lai also commemorated the actor on social media. 

"Grandpa, I'm sure there will be a lot of people who will miss you besides me. I will always be your Huangshan. R.I.P," Chang said in a post on Sina Weibo mentioning the granddaughter-grandfather roles she and Ku played on the TV show Romantic Princess

Outside of TV and film productions, Gu was also a veteran stage actor who started his stage play career in 1976. His most memorable stage play was the 1986 Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land, directed by one of China's most established stage directors Stan Lai from the island of Taiwan. 

On Sina Weibo, Lai called Ku "One of a kind, and the most precious and talented actor in many a generation." 

"As a fan of Lai's stage play, I remember the two had collaborated on several plays. It is so hard to forget Ku's interpretation of the role 'Boss Yuan' in the 1986 play, to the point that he defined the role with his effortless comedic skills and the dialogue skills and body rhythm that can only be acquired by very experienced actors… No wonder Lai called him talented as he is a rare person who was born an actor," Meng Jun, a fan of stage plays, told the Global Times.  

In 2016, Ku brought his stage play Jie Song Qing in the Chinese mainland for the first time. The show tells the mundane but meaningful and sometimes funny little stories of ordinary people who moved from the Chinese mainland to the Island of Taiwan. 

Besides this, Ku was long dedicated to introducing the island of Taiwan to mainland audiences and enhancing Cross-Straits ties through art and laughter.