Ye Jiaying Photo: Courtesy of Nankai University

Nankai University mourned Chinese classical poetry doyenne Ye Jiaying in an obituary on Sunday, after she died at around 3:23 pm Sunday in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin at the age of 100.

Ye's passing is a significant loss for Nankai University, the Chinese education and academic community, and international cultural exchanges, Nankai University said in the obituary.

Ye, also known as Yeh Chia-ying, dedicated seven decades to the research, teaching and promotion of classical Chinese poetry in China and beyond. She was the teacher of many renowned Chinese literary masters.

Born to a literary family in Beijing in 1924, Ye held teaching posts in US and Canadian universities. Starting in 1979, she returned to the Chinese mainland every year to give lectures on Chinese literature and poetry, and lived in Nankai University during her final decades.

In 1969, Ye moved to Vancouver, Canada, where she became a tenured professor at the University of British Columbia. In 1991, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and served as a visiting professor at prestigious universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Columbia University.

Starting in 1979, she returned to the Chinese mainland each year to give lectures. She held visiting or honorary professorships at several universities and research institutions, including Peking University, Nankai University, Beijing Normal University, Nanjing University, and Sichuan University. In 1993, she founded the Institute of Comparative Literature at Nankai University (later renamed the Institute of Chinese Poetry and Classical Culture) and served as its director. In 2007, she obtained permanent residency in China and later settled at Nankai University.

Combining her profound foundation in Chinese classical studies, extensive knowledge of Western scholarship, and deep life experiences, Ye developed a distinctive poetry system centered on the concept of "emotional resonance." Her contributions have significantly promoted traditional and cross-cultural exchanges, integrating poetic exploration with personal cultivation. She devoted her life to studying Chinese classical poetry, nurturing numerous talents in this field over her decades-long teaching career. She donated almost all her personal wealth to establish scholarships and funds to promote research and the development of Chinese classical literature.