Chinese Name: 歐禮足

Born: December 5, 1935

Birthplace: Nantou County (Central Taiwan)

On December 5, 1935, Ou Li-zu was born in Yuchi Township, Nantou County. Ou’s parents were originally Hakkas from Miaoli County. They moved to Nantou before he was born. At the age of 14, Ou began to learn traditional opera, plowing the fields during the day and practicing at night. At the age of 16, he met a teacher who spoke Minnan dialect and began learning how to write poetry from him.

In 1955, he entered the Department of Drama of the former National School of Arts, which was later renamed National Taiwan University of Arts. In 1963 when Ou had just turned 26, he was elected to be a council member of Nantou County. Because he was good at administrative management, public policy and personnel coordination, he often held senior positions in public offices. He used to be a member of the Hakka Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan. Later, he served as the chief secretary of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan until he retired.

In addition to his literary creations, Ou had been involved in Peking Opera, as well as Jinghu, Nanguan and Beiguan musical performances. Regardless of which county or city his job took him, he was able to promote local arts and cultural activities. He had actively pushed for the establishment of the Miaoli County Music Association and served as its first chairman, promoting the traditional music of Miaoli. He was also the soul of Zhongxing Xincun Peking Opera Society. In addition, he had excellent instrumental skills. University professors regularly sought him to teach them opera singing. On top of that, Ou established the Nantou County Hakka Association and was long involved in Hakka public affairs, and because of his dedication, he was regarded as a Hakka spiritual leader of Nantou County.

In 2000, in order to establish a Hakka-related organization, Ou was one of the founders of the Nantou County Hakka Association and was elected as its founding chairman. Later, he coached various townships in Nantou County to found local Hakka associations. To Ou, since there were more than 100,000 Hakka people in Nantou at the time, if you want to arouse Hakka consciousness, efforts must bring together Hakka, music and food to promote Hakka culture. The associations have successively promoted Hakka mother-tongue workshops, Hakka folk songs classes, Hakka traditional musical instruments and drums classes, Hakka traditional food classes, etc. At the same time, they have also carried out a lot of exchanges with many art groups to promote the beauty of Hakka culture.