Professor Stephen Owen, the 2018 Tang Prize Laureate in Sinology, passed away in the United States on May 1, 2026, at the age of 79. Upon receiving the news, Dr. Jenn-Chuan Chern, CEO of the Tang Prize Foundation, immediately extended his deepest condolences to Professor Owen’s widow, Professor Tian Xiaofei, on behalf of the Foundation. “We hold the deepest admiration for Professor Owen’s monumental contributions to world civilization,” Dr. Chern stated. “We are profoundly honored to count him among our Tang Prize laureates. His scholarly works and the standard of excellence he set will undoubtedly endure for generations.”
Academician David Der-wei Wang, Chair of the Selection Committee for Sinology, has previously offered high praise for Professor Owen’s academic achievements and the significance of his award. He noted that Professor Owen embodied the rare combination of a poet’s soul and a scholar’s rigor. Whether through his erudition, his creative genius, or his masterful prose, he commanded universal respect. Academician Wang emphasized that Owen’s receipt of the 2018 Tang Prize in Sinology was not only a well-deserved honor but also served to recalibrate the field of Sinology, elevating literary research to a level of importance alongside history, philosophy, and political science.
In April 2024, Professor Owen visited Taiwan for an academic exchange at the invitation of the Tang Prize Foundation. During this visit, he delivered a keynote lecture at the College of Liberal Arts at National Taiwan University, titled “The Disabling Word: Philology and Working With the Chuci.” The event drew hundreds of students and scholars from around the world. Using Li Sao as a primary example, he provided a profound analysis of the layers and intricacies of language while exploring the evolution of “loyalty” in classical Chinese poetry. His lecture, characterized by its vast range of references and engaging wit, was met with enthusiastic applause. This trip would ultimately be his final visit to Taiwan, leaving the academic community with a cherished final memory of his presence.
In 2018, Professor Owen was co-awarded the Tang Prize in Sinology alongside Yoshinobu Shiba for his deep erudition and his expansive, masterful research into classical Chinese prose and poetry—particularly his exceptional achievements in the study and translation of Tang poetry. Throughout his forty-year teaching career, he worked tirelessly to introduce the rich traditions of Chinese literature to Western academia and the general public through his prolific writing, translations, and mentorship. His body of work has not only charted new territory for Sinology but has also led to breakthroughs in the theory and practice of East-West comparative literature.
He systematically organized three millennia of the Chinese literary tradition and founded the Library of Chinese Humanities, a translation series available for free online, which has contributed immensely to the global dissemination of Chinese classics. Dedicated to the study of the Tang Dynasty, he published over thirty monographs, including seminal works such as The Poetry of the Early T’ang, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High Tang, and The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827-860). In 2015, after eight years of meticulous research, he completed the six-volume The Poetry of Du Fu, providing the first complete English translation of the extant 1,400 poems of Du Fu—a milestone achievement in modern Sinology.
The Tang Prize YouTube channel preserves a special documentary filmed in the United States in 2019, titled Broadening Horizons: Tang Poetic and Song Historical Contributions. This film records Professor Owen’s scholarly journey and his charismatic presence, serving as a lasting tribute for the world to remember his legacy: https://youtu.be/ltYClmHt_XA
About the Tang Prize
Since the advent of globalization, mankind has been able to enjoy the convenience brought forth by the advancement of human civilization and science. Yet a multitude of challenges, such as climate change, the emergence of new infectious diseases, the widening wealth gap, and moral degradation, have surfaced along the way. Against this backdrop, Dr. Samuel Yin established the Tang Prize in December 2012. It consists of four award categories, namely Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Every other year, four independent and professional selection committees, comprising many internationally ren owned experts, scholars, and Nobel laureates, choose Tang Prize laureates who have made substantive contributions and a far-reaching impact on the world, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, or gender. A cash prize of NT$50 million (approx. US$1.7 million) is allocated to each category, with NT$10 million (approx. US$0.35 million) of it being a grant intended for research or educational outreach programs to encourage professionals in every field to examine mankind's most urgent needs in the 21st century, and become leading forces in the sustainable development of human society through their outstanding research outcomes and active civic engagement.
