Beloved TV Travel Host Dies Suddenly Just Days After His Mother: Wang Hao-yi Was 68

Award-winning Taiwanese TV travel show host and writer Wang Hao-yi died Sunday in Taitung County, Taiwan at the age of 68.

Wang’s passing came just five days after the star shared the heartbreaking news that his mother died at the age of 91.

Announcing the Slow Travel Adventures in Taiwan host’s death, his publisher, Route Culture founder Hsu Hui-chih, revealed that Wang had been “unwell due to cardiovascular problems” in the days leading up to his death. After his mother’s passing, Hsu said he encouraged Wang to “mourn and take extra care” of himself. He received a call from Wang’s family Sunday that the star had passed.

“He was a kind person and wrote many books throughout his life. In recent years. In recent years, he has lived in seclusion in the mountains of Taitung,” Hsu wrote in remembrance of Wang. “His death today is just as Tao Yuanming’s ‘Shen Shi’: ‘I am neither happy nor afraid of the great changes. I should do my best and stop worrying about it’… I know that I should have such a blessing in my heart, but I can’t help feeling sad. My heart aches, it aches so much!”

Wang is best remembered for Slow Travel Adventures in Taiwan, the cultural travel program he co-hosted with writer Liu Ka-shiang since 2014, per Focus Taiwan. The series explored Taiwan’s landscapes and traditions, and with Wang and Liu winning the Golden Bell Award for Best Lifestyle Show Hosts in 2023. Slow Travel Adventures in Taiwan returned for its seventh season earlier this year.

“With his pen and through the camera lens, he took viewers traversing streets and countryside across Taiwan,” the show’s production team wrote in remembrance of Wang. “He walked gentle yet grounded steps, and his poetic words were often spoken with wisdom.”

Liu also paid his respects, emotionally writing on Facebook that he was “thinking of the two of us filming together – from Feb 25, 2014 until now – we travelled across Taiwan and explored countless local customs. Thanks to his wit and humour, we were able to try many new things with the series.”

Outside of his career as a TV travel show host, Wang was also a writer, who, according to Hsu, was like “a middle-aged hyperactive child,” writing about everything from traveling to food to history. He also studied mathematics, liked architecture, and was “fascinated” by history.