D. C. Lau (; 6 March 192126 April 2010) was a Chinese

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the e ...

and author of the widely read translations of

Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion d ...

Mencius Mencius ( ); born Mèng Kē (); or Mèngzǐ (; 372–289 BC) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher who has often been described as the "second Sage", that is, second to Confucius himself. He is part of Confucius' fourth generation of disciple ...

and

The Analects The ''Analects'' (; ; Old Chinese: '' ŋ(r)aʔ''; meaning "Selected Sayings"), also known as the ''Analects of Confucius'', the ''Sayings of Confucius'', or the ''Lun Yu'', is an ancient Chinese book composed of a large collection of sayings a ...

and contributed to the

Proper Cantonese pronunciation : Starting in the 1980s, proper Cantonese pronunciation has been much promoted in Hong Kong, with the scholar Richard Ho () as its iconic campaigner. The very idea of proper pronunciation of Cantonese Chinese is controversial, since the concept ...

movement. D. C. Lau studied Chinese under Prof.

Xu Dishan Xu Dishan (; given name: ; pen name: Luo Huasheng; ; 3 February 1893 – 4 August 1941) was a Chinese author, translator and folklorist. He received his education in China, the United States, Britain, and India; while in school, he studied dive ...

at the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public university, public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest Higher education in Hong Kong, tertia ...

, but fled to Mainland China in 1941 just before the Japanese occupied Hong Kong. In 1946, he was offered one of the first scholarships for a British university and studied Western philosophy in

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

(1946–49). In 1950, Lau would take up a post at London University's

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

, developing SOAS into a world-renowned centre for the study of Chinese philosophy. He was appointed in 1965 to the newly created Readership in Chinese Philosophy and in 1970 became Professor of Chinese in the University of London. In 1978 he returned to Hong Kong to take up the Chair of Chinese Language and Literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. On his retirement in 1989, he began to computerise the entire body of extant ancient Chinese works, with a series of sixty concordances.Biographical information from Penguin Classics version of The Analects (1979)

Bibliography

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References

1921 births 2010 deaths Chinese sinologists Alumni of King's College, Hong Kong Academics of SOAS University of London Hong Kong expatriates in the United Kingdom {{UK-academic-bio-stub