'One-armed Swordsman' Jimmy Wang Yu leaves hospital for first time in 5 years

Veteran Taiwanese actor Jimmy Wang Yu, who suffered a second stroke in late 2015, has left the hospital for the first time in five years, said his second daughter Carol Wong.

Wang, who had a mild stroke in 2011, fell unconscious at the Bangkok airport in December 2015 and underwent two emergency brain surgeries.

The 77-year-old actor, best known for playing the one-armed swordsman in the 1967 movie of the same name, returned to Taiwan in March 2016 and has not been seen in public since.

Veteran actress Helen Ma wrote on Weibo last October that he had died, but his eldest daughter, singer Linda Wong, set the record straight.

Her younger sister, their father's main caregiver in the last five years, said she had been looking for a new home for her father for more than a year and eventually settled on one with three rooms, a living room and two bathrooms. It is also near the hospital so that it will be more convenient to send him for rehabilitation.

Apple Daily reported that the family had to pay Wang's hospitalisation bills in full in the later stages of his stay as the fees were not covered by health insurance.

The pandemic also meant that he was allowed only one visitor a day, and that was usually the nurse who attended to him most of the time.

Wong said more people will be able to help take care of her father in the new home. She added that her family agreed with the decision, including her elder sister, who lives in Hong Kong. They also have a younger sister Maria Wong.

Wang was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Horse Awards in 2019. He was unable to attend, and Linda and Carol received the award on his behalf.

The actor has earned Golden Horse nominations for his roles in Brotherly Love (1978), Wu Xia (2011) and Soul (2013), and took home the Best Actor prize for Soul at the Taipei Film Awards.