Golden Bell Award-winning TV show host, writer Wang Hao-yi dies at 68

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) Writer and Golden Bell Award-winning TV travel show host Wang Hao-yi (王浩一) died at 68 in Taitung County Sunday, his publisher announced on behalf of his family in a Facebook post that evening.

"Writer Wang Hao-yi, born on Oct. 22, 1956, died on June 29, 2025," wrote Hsu Hui-chih (許悔之), founder of Route Culture, which has published more than a dozen books by Wang in recent years, many inspired by the travel show he co-presented with writer Liu Ka-shiang (劉克襄) since 2014.

Hsu said Wang's family called Sunday evening and told him the news, while asking him to help make the news public.

The publisher and poet said Wang had not been well due to cardiovascular problems, and they recently spoke on the phone following the death of Wang's mother a few days ago.

Wang's own Facebook page was last updated on June 24 with photos of the writer and his mother, who died that day at 91.

Hsu did not share cause of death in his Facebook post. Instead, he wrote about Wang, who he described as "a middle-aged hyperactive child," who studied mathematics, liked architecture and was infatuated with history.

Meanwhile, Liu wrote in a separate Facebook post Sunday evening that Wang's younger brother told him Wang Hao-yi was out driving and found in the car parked at the side of the road, perhaps after he began feeling unwell and pulled over.

Liu, who co-hosted "Slow Travel Adventures in Taiwan" with Wang since 2014, wrote that his fellow two-time Golden Bell Award-winning lifestyle TV show presenter was in Taitung's A'tolan area to take some rest because of a heart condition.

The seventh season of the travel show with the two writers serving as guides to different parts of Taiwan was broadcast by Public Television Service in January and February this year. The cover shot on the show's Facebook page was removed and left blank Sunday evening.

"With his pen and through the camera lens, he took viewers traversing streets and countryside across Taiwan. He walked gentle yet grounded steps, and his poetic words were often spoken with wisdom," the production team wrote about Wang.