![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
Mr. Yu in the 1970s at his apartment in Hong Kong, where he taught Chinese literature.
National Sun Yat-sen University; thumbnail, National Sun Yat-sen University
Yu Guangzhong
Died on December 14, 2017 at age 89
Mr. Yu was a prominent poet, essayist and translator whose best-known work, “Nostalgia,” came to symbolize the aching separation, displacement and longing for cultural unity felt by many in mainland China and in the Chinese diaspora.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.