In 1998, he published his long-awaited "senior citizens series" of short stories, which included "Dead and Alive," "Spring on Gray Whiskers" and "Here Comes the Ghost-Eater," in a collected edition entitled Setting Them Free for which he won the National Cultural and Arts Foundation's second annual literary award. He was also recognized as the most representative of Taiwan's contemporary Nativist authors.
1998 年發表久違的短篇小說〈死去活來〉、〈銀鬚上的春天〉、〈呷鬼的來了〉等「老人系列」短篇小說，並集結為《放生》一書，獲得第二屆「國家文化藝術基金會文藝獎」的文學類獎項，被譽為台灣當代最具代表性的鄉土文學作家。