Dong Leshan (; 14 November 192416 January 1999) was a Chinese author and translator. Described as "one of the best and most prolific Chinese translators in the 20th century", he had a career that spanned half a century. He translated numerous English publications into Chinese, including ''

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany'' is a book by American journalist William L. Shirer in which the author chronicles the rise and fall of Nazi Germany from the birth of Adolf Hitler in 1889 to the end of World W ...

'', '' The Glory and the Dream'', and ''

Red Star Over China ''Red Star Over China'' is a 1937 book by Edgar Snow based on his visit on the eve of the Second Sino-Japanese War to areas controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), when it was largely obscure to Westerners. The book made an impact on ...

''.

Early life

Dong was born on 14 November 1924 in

Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

. While in college, he began translating from English to Chinese works. After graduating from

St. John's University, Shanghai St. John's University (SJU) was a Christian university in Shanghai. It was founded in 1879 by American missionaries. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist government closed the university in 1952. Most of its facul ...

with a degree in English in 1946, Dong was hired by

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...

as one of the first news translators in the country.

Career

Dong translated ''

'' by

William L. Shirer William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist, war correspondent, and historian. His '' The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany, has been read by many and cited in schol ...

shortly after it was first published in English. Although its circulation was initially restricted, Dong's translation was widely read and a third edition was published in 1971. In the 1970s, he also translated '' The Glory and the Dream'' by

William Manchester William Raymond Manchester (April 1, 1922 – June 1, 2004) was an American author, biographer, and historian. He was the author of 18 books which have been translated into over 20 languages. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal and the ...

and ''

'' by

Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (July 19, 1905 – February 15, 1972) was an American journalist known for his books and articles on communism in China and the Chinese Communist Revolution. He was the first Western journalist to give an account of the history of ...

, alongside several other historical works. Dong produced the most translations in his sixties, when he was working at the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese state research institute and think tank. It is a ministry-level institution under the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The CASS is the highest academic institution and c ...

' Institute of American Studies. He also wrote numerous essays on the problems of translating from English to Chinese. Dong's translation for ''Red Star over China'' included a previously omitted chapter on

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

advisor

Otto Braun Otto Braun (28 January 1872 – 15 December 1955) was a politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) during the Weimar Republic. From 1920 to 1932, with only two brief interruptions, Braun was Minister President of Prussia, Ministe ...

(Li De).

Death

Having worked as a translator for over fifty years, Dong died on 16 January 1999 in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Reception

Dong was accused of being a "

Rightist Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property, r ...

" during the

Anti-Rightist Campaign The Anti-Rightist Campaign () in the People's Republic of China, which lasted from 1957 to roughly 1959, was a political campaign to purge alleged " Rightists" within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the country as a whole. The campaign w ...

in 1957. He was persecuted again during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

(1966–1976). Nonetheless, he was well received by the Chinese literati. In 1994, Dong received the Sino-American Literary Exchange Award for his contributions to translation in China. According to Yuwu Song in the ''Biographical Dictionary of the People's Republic of China'', Dong was "one of the best and most prolific Chinese translators in the 20th century".

Early life

Career

Death

Reception

References

Citations

Works cited

Further reading