Cao Ying (translator)

For other people named Cao Ying, see Cao Ying.
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Sheng.
Sheng Junfeng
Native name 盛峻峰
Born (1923-03-23)March 23, 1923
Zhenhai County, Kuaiji Dao, Zhejiang
Died October 25, 2015(2015-10-25) (aged 92)
Shanghai Huadong Hospital, Shanghai
Pen name Cao Ying (草婴)
Occupation Translator, professor
Language Chinese, Russian
Nationality Chinese
Alma mater Nantong Agricultural College
Period 1941 - 2015
Genre Novel
Notable works The Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy
Notable awards Maxim Gorky Literature Prize
1987
Lu Xun Literary Prize
1997
Chinese Translation Association - Lifetime Honorary Award
2011
Spouse Sheng Tianmin (盛天民)
Relatives Xu Shujuan (mother)

Sheng Junfeng (Chinese: 盛峻峰; pinyin: Shèng Jùnfēng; March 23, 1923 – October 25, 2015), better known by his pen name Cao Ying (Chinese: 草婴/草嬰; pinyin: Cǎo Yīng), was a Chinese translator who had been honored by the Government of the Russian Federation with the Maxim Gorky Literature Prize, a top honor in the Russian literary world, in 1987, the only Chinese translator to have won that award.[1][2]

He is most notable for being one of the main translators into Chinese of the works of Russian novelists Leo Tolstoy and Mikhail Sholokhov.[2][3]

Biography

Born in a wealthy family in Zhenhai County, Kuaiji Dao, Zhejiang in 1923, both his grandfather and father were doctors. His mother, Xu Shujuan (徐书卷), was a daughter of an eminent family. His elder maternal cousin, Xu Xu (徐訏), was a romantic novelist. And his great-grandfather was the founder of Shengziji Soy Sauce Brewery (盛滋记酱油酿造厂), which participated in exhibition on Panama World's Fair in 1915.[4] He graduated from The Lester School and Henry Lester Institute of Technical Education Attached School (雷士德工学院附属中学), Songjiang School (松江中学), and Nantong Agricultural College (南通农学院).[3]

In December 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, he moved to Shanghai with his family to escape the violence, by age 14.

In 1938, he started to learn Russian language under a Russian housewife and Jiang Chunfang (姜椿芳), who was a Russian literature translator and a member of the underground CPC of Shanghai.

He wrote under the pen name of Cao Ying in 1941.

From 1945 to 1951, he worked as an editor and translator in Time Publishing Company (时代出版社).

In 1956, he worked in Shanghai Writers Association.

In 1960, he started to translated The Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy into Chinese, at the same year, the Sino-Soviet Rupture, and he was brought to be persecuted.

In 1966, Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution, he was regarded as "the agent of Sholokhov" and "a revisionist USSR spy", he suffered political persecution and he was sent to the May Seventh Cadre Schools to do farm work.[5] He got gastrorrhagia in 1969 and he fractured his backbone in 1975.[6]

After the Chinese economic reform, he was rehabilitated by Deng Xiaoping. He served as vice president of Chinese Translation Association, president of Shanghai Translation Association, vice president of Shanghai Writers Association. He became a professor at East China Normal University and Xiamen University.

From 1978 to 1998, he spent 20 years to translate The Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy into Chinese.

He joined the Russian Writer Association in 2006.

Cao died in Shanghai Huadong Hospital, on October 25, 2015, at the age of 93.[7]

Works

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Cao Ying, translator of Tolstoy, dies at 93". China.org.cn. 2015-10-25.
  2. 1 2 草婴：我们这样的译者，现在吃不开. eastday.com (in Chinese). 2007. Archived from the original on 2014-11-27.
  3. 1 2 草婴的胜利. Sina (in Chinese). 2010.
  4. ↑ Meng Chao (2015-10-27). 温家宝悼翻译家草婴逝世 曾翻译全部托尔斯泰小说. China.com (in Chinese).
  5. ↑ "A master of Tolstoy". Chinadaily. 2012-03-27.
  6. ↑ 央视专访《安娜卡列尼娜》译者草婴. Xinhuanet (in Chinese). 2006.
  7. ↑ "Revered Translator Cao Ying Dies at 93". cri.cn.
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