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Prominent translator of Chinese literary classics dies

蘋果日報 2021/06/19 06:43


A prominent translator known for turning classical Chinese literature into English and French over his 60 year career has died, aged 100.
Peking University professor Xu Yuanchong passed away at his Beijing home on Thursday morning, mainland Chinese media reported.
Xu produced more than 150 books since 1956. Among his notable works were the English and French versions of the “Tao Te Ching,” and “Romance of the Western Bower,” as well as numerous poems from the Tang and Song dynasties.
He was also known for his Chinese translations of many French literary classics, including “Madame Bovary” and “In Search of Time Lost,” as well as William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
Xu was born in the eastern province of Jiangxi in 1921. In 1938, he was admitted to the foreign language department of the Southwestern Associated University, where he honed his skills under the mentorship of prominent writers Wen Yiduo, Qian Zhongshu and Fu Lei.
Qian commented on Xu’s “Selected Poems of Li Bai” in 1987 that if Li, one of the greatest poets of the Tang dynasty, were still alive, he would be good friends with Xu.
During the Japanese invasion in World War II, Xu served as a translator for the First American Volunteer Group, a team of pilots from the United States military helping to defend the then Republic of China.
After the war, he studied in France and then returned to his home country to teach at Peking University and Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Xu’s passion for translating did not fade even when he was persecuted by Maoists and identified as a “class enemy” during the Cultural Revolution. When brought to rallies held to criticize class enemies, the translator often seemed preoccupied with thoughts of how to translate paramount leader Mao Zedong’s poems.
In 2007, Xu was diagnosed with cancer and told by his doctor that he only had at most seven more years to live. Yet he continued his work, and in 2014 won the prestigious Aurora Borealis Prize from the Federation of International Translators.
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