Sanmao’s status in both Taiwan and China is almost legendary, she is an icon to her fans. Known for her unique storytelling sensibility, her writing is characterised by an insatiable wanderlust, a sharp eye for detail, and a life marred by tragedy. Her husband José, the love of her life, would die in a fatal diving accident in 1979, and in the end, Sanmao was to take her own life in 1991. Her writings were republished as a collection of eleven titles in 2011 to mark the twentieth anniversary of her death, a tribute to one of the most beloved writers of her generation.