The founder of the famous crystal art glass studio Liuli Gongfang, Chang Yi, passed away on Nov. 1 at the age of 69.
The Liuli Gongfang Facebook page presented black and white photos of founder Chang Yi. Chang suffered from blood transfusion infection after receiving a heart operation and was critically ill. Liuli Gongfang later confirmed that Chang had passed peacefully at the age of 69 with his wife Loretta Yang and daughter Chang Yuan alongside.
I personally feel that as an artist, our creations presented are the most important.
Yang listened closely as Chang was being interviewed.
This footage of the two was from biennial Salon Revelations 5 years ago in France. Chang was well-known as one of the New Wave directors from Taiwan in the 1980s. He had directed films "In Our Time", "Jade Love", "Kui-Mei, a Woman" and "This Love of Mine", of which Yang had starred in the latter three. These films have since then opened new chapters for Taiwan's feminist-fronted films. Their collaborations have won them Best Director and Best Actress during the 22nd Golden Horse Awards. However, Hsiao Sa, who was married at the time to Chang, exposed his affair with Yang and the starlit couple could not handle negative public opinion and decided to exit the film industry.
Chang Yi has always seemed to be the director behind the scenes and I'm the actor in front. Most importantly, however, is that the entire spirit and soul lies within the director.
Once acclaimed director and actress, the couple later decided to shift their focus to crystal art. Yang described how Chang still acted as her director throughout the years. The couple stood side by side each other for over 30 years, and now Chang has left his post as Yang's mentor, leaving Yang to herself in their world of glass creations. It is a huge loss to Taiwan's movie industry and cultural scene.