Sidney Shapiro
| Sidney Shapiro | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 23, 1915 Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 18, 2014 (aged 98) Beijing, China |
| Other names | Chinese: 沙博理 |
| Occupation | Lawyer, Chinese Translator, Author, Actor |
| Known for | Translation of Chinese novels of notable Chinese authors such as Ba Jin and Mao Dun into English. Became citizen of People's Republic of China. |
| Spouse(s) | Feng Fengzi (aka Phoenix) |
Sidney Shapiro (Chinese: 沙博理; pinyin: Shā Bólǐ) (December 23, 1915 – October 18, 2014) was an American-born Chinese-English translator and author who lived in China from 1947 to 2014. He lived in Beijing for over a half century and was a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Council. He was one of very few naturalized citizens of the PRC.
Shapiro was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He was of Jewish ethnicity.
Shapiro was a graduate of St. John’s University.
Shapiro held citizenship of the People's Republic of China from 1963, before the Cultural Revolution, to the end of his life. He was a member of the People's Political Consultative Conference, a governmental assembly of the PRC which ostensibly provides a forum for input from non-Communist political organizations.
In 1941, Shapiro was a 32-year old Brooklyn-born Jewish lawyer and he had enlisted in the U.S. Army. He applied for French Language School....only to be sent to an Army Chinese-language school in San Francisco, California.
Shapiro's connections with China began during World War II, when he was serving in the United States armed forces. He was chosen to learn Chinese by the United States Army in preparation for a possible American landing in Japanese-occupied China. After attaining a law degree in the US, he went to China, arriving in Shanghai in 1947. There, he met his future wife, an actress named Fengzi (Phoenix), who was a supporter of the Communist Party of China prior to its ascent to power. Beginning in the Cultural Revolution, she spent 10 years under house arrest for her opposition to Mao's wife, Jiang Qing. She later became one of the most prominent drama critics in the People's Republic.
...
Wikipedia