In 1961, he achieved acclaim with his novel The Alien Realm (異域 Yìyù), which told the story of a Kuomintang force which fought on in the borderlands of southwestern China long after the government had retreated to Taiwan.

[4] Boyang was arrested again in 1967 because of his sarcastic "unwitting" criticism of Taiwan's dictator Chiang Kai-shek and in particular a translation of a comic strip of Popeye.

[10] Having detained Bo Yang, the KMT's "military interrogators told him that he could be beaten to death at any time the authorities desired" when the writer refused to swallow their trumped-up charges.

[11] "Several interrogators" including Liu Chan-hua and Kao Yi-rue "played cat and mouse with him, alternating promise of immediate release with threats" and torture.

"[note 3] The prosecutor initially sought the death sentence but due to US pressure this was reduced to twelve years in the Green Island concentration camp.

From 1969 Bo Yang was incarcerated as a political prisoner (for "being a Communist agent and attacking national leaders") on Green Island for nine years.

Towards the end of his life Bo Yang stated in his memoirs that he did not have the slightest intention to insult Chiang Kai-shek with his Popeye translation.

[16] Lin Zi-yao notes that during his life "Bo Yang covered a wide range of subjects from culture, literature, politics and education to love, marriage, family planning, fashion and women.

Howard Goldblatt says that "it is significant" that an anthology of his short stories entitled Secrets in English was "published in Chinese under the author's true name Kuo I-tung, for 'Bo Yang' is not essentially a writer of fiction."

In the introduction to excerpts from The Ugly Chinaman, the editors of an anthology entitled Sources of Chinese Tradition from 1600 through the Twentieth Century state that "(t)he sharply negative tone of the (…) essay reflects a sense of (…) despair (…) as well as a feeling that age-old weaknesses have persisted through revolutionary change.

"[19] Also referring to The Ugly Chinaman, Rana Mitter says that Bo Yang's position as a critical observer and analyst of the world is similar to Lu Xun's.

[22][note 4] Bo Yang gained attention internationally when a volume of poetry entitled Poems of a Period was published in Hong Kong in 1986.