She rose to fame with her novel Outside the Window (1963), which led to her acquaintance and romantic involvement with Ping Hsin-tao, the owner of the Crown magazine [zh].

After both divorced their original spouses, they married and co-founded several companies to adapt Chiung Yao's works into films and TV dramas.

[11] Her father, Chen Chih-ping [zh], came from a humble background in Hengyang, while her mother, Yuan Hsing-shu, belonged to an upper-class family in Suzhou and Shanghai; her grandfather was the head of the Bank of Communications.

To survive, they performed in plays and sold potatoes, while Chen Chih-ping and Yuan Hsing-shu also taught in various locations, including Guizhou and Sichuan.

[12] In her final year of high school, she fell in love with her Chinese literature teacher, Jiang Ren, who was single and much older than her.

[18][6] Initially rejected by multiple publishers due to its length, it was eventually accepted for publication by Ping Hsin-tao's Crown magazine.

[3] In July 1963, Chiung Yao's semi-autobiographical love story Outside the Window was serialised in Crown magazine, achieving significant success.

[3] Ping rented a flat opposite his own for Chiung Yao and hired domestic carers, allowing her to focus on writing full-time.

[24] In 1965, Taiwanese director Li Hsing adapted two stories from Chiung Yao's Six Dreams into films: Four Loves and The Silent Wife.

For example, in The Silent Wife, Chiung Yao envisioned the heroine as a "child bride", but Li Hsing insisted on portraying her as a cousin, deviating from the original narrative.

After leaving Shaw Brothers, Hong Kong director Li Han-hsiang founded Grand Motion Pictures in Taiwan, where he extensively adapted Chiung Yao's novels for the screen.

The soundtrack also gained widespread recognition, with Teresa Teng's renditions of A Thousand Words and How Can I Leave You from the film becoming major hits.

[29] Brigitte Lin, who had failed her university entrance exams, was discovered by director Sung Tsun-Shou from the Outside the Window production team.

[30] Unsatisfied with Shaw Brothers' adaptation of The Purple Shell,[28] Chiung Yao established Firebird Picture Company in 1966, producing Mist Over Dream Lake and Lucky Clover.

[32] That same year, Chiung Yao co-founded Superstar Motion Picture to adapt her novels into films,[31][25] ending her collaboration with Li Hsing in 1977.

[32] Chiung Yao and her second husband Ping adapted many of her novels into television series and films, often serving as producers or screenwriters themselves.

[25] From 1982 to 1985, Chiung Yao's writing began to address controversial societal issues, producing works such as Paradise on Fire.

[24] After Taiwan's lifting of martial law, the society's growing openness and diversity of values led to the decline of the "fighting for love" trope in Chiung Yao's works.

[24] Consequently, her stories shifted to settings in late Qing and early Republican China, focusing on themes like class conflict and feudal restrictions rather than generational gaps or romantic disputes.

[22] While her narratives critiqued feudal patriarchal oppression, they simultaneously portrayed enduring hardship and framed marriage as the ultimate victory.

[22] In the 1990s, her romance-focused dramas resonated with Taiwan's emotionally complex society,[24] while in China, they gained popularity for their themes of freedom and liberation following years of social suppression.

[22] In Vietnam, Chiung Yao's works faced initial censorship for their depictions of extramarital affairs and love triangles but regained popularity after the government embraced reform and openness.

[37] In 1998, My Fair Princess marked a significant departure from Chiung Yao's trademark melodramatic style, introducing a light-hearted and comedic tone.

[49] After Ping suffered a stroke and lost nearly all ability to communicate, Chiung Yao had a falling out with her step-children over whether to continue his intubation.

Following his victory, Chiung Yao published an open letter praising him and later accepted an invitation to serve as the chief consultant for Kaohsiung's Love Industry Chain project.

[53] On 4 December 2024, Chiung Yao was found dead at her home in Tamsui District, New Taipei City, after an apparent charcoal-burning suicide, and left behind a note.

[63] Later that afternoon, her secretary posted a pre-recorded video and her final written work, When Snowflakes Fall, on Chiung Yao's Facebook page.

[64][65][66] In her final social media message, she expressed a desire to avoid the pain of "weakness, deterioration, illness, hospital visits, treatment, and lingering suffering".

[76] Chiung Yao's second husband was Ping Hsin-tao, the head of Crown Publishing, with whom she had an eight-year extramarital affair before their marriage.

[77] In her will, she explicitly requested that no religious practices be used to commemorate her - such as setting up a mourning hall, burning joss paper, or holding traditional rituals like the "seven-day rites".