Chinese dentist a master in Urdu poetry

Dr Yung Ven Liu is a dentist of Chinese origin, but he is known here not for proficiency in his profession, but excellence in Urdu poetry.

Writing under an alias Shaidi Chini, Dr Liu at 78 is still creative and regularly adds Urdu couplets to his rich oeuvre, though problems associated with his old age are causing a hindrance of late.

The dentist is revered in the Urdu poetic circle across the country for his outstanding contribution in promoting 'nagm and gazal' (poetry and gazal), his close friend Shams Fairdi, who was formerly attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Oman, said.

Later this month, a compilation of his works would be released here by the Anjuman Taraqqi-E-Urdu (Hind), Jamshedpur. The 200-page book, titled 'Lakiron Ki Sada' (voice of lines), is published by Delhi-based 'Educational Publishers House'.

What attracted him to Urdu poetry?

Dr Liu said when he was 11 years old he used to converse with his friends in couplets and that encouraged him to pen them down. "Keeping my love for Urdu language, my elder brother enrolled my name in a Urdu primary school in Jamshedpur in 1939 where I studied till the middle standard before switching over to a reputed english medium school," he told PTI.

Expressing his gratitude for his teacher-cum-mentor B Z Mayel, he said, "I got recognition as an Urdu poet only when I took part in a Indo-Pak mushaira in 1959 in Kolkata and in Jamshedpur a couple of years on."

Dr Liu, who played a major role in forming a 'Urdu literary society' in Jamshedpur, had earned accolades across the country and won several awards including Raghupati Sahay Firaque Gorakhpuri award, Anjuman Taraqq-i-e Urdu award and others.

Dwelling on his ancestry, the poet said his parents had come to Jamshedpur via Singapore, Burma and Madras during Chinese revolution in 1911 and settled here.

First Published: Mar 23, 2009 11:30 IST