Gladys Yang (; 19 January 1919 – 18 November 1999) was a British translator of

Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...

and the wife of another noted literary translator,

Yang Xianyi Yang Xianyi (; January 10, 1915 – November 23, 2009) was a Chinese literary translator, known for rendering many ancient and a few modern Chinese classics into English, including '' Dream of the Red Mansions''. Life and career Born into a we ...

Biography

She was born Gladys Margaret Tayler at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China, where her father, John Bernard Tayler, was a Congregationalist missionary and a member of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

and where from childhood she became intrigued by Chinese culture.Delia Davin. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', 2012. Subscription required. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
/ref> She returned to England as a child and from 1927 to 1937 boarded at Walthamstow Hall in

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. She then became

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

's first graduate in Chinese language in 1940, following studies there under Ernest Richard Hughes. It was at Oxford that she met Yang. After their marriage, the couple were based in Beijing as prominent translators of Chinese literature into English in the latter half of the 20th century, working for the

Foreign Languages Press Foreign Languages Press is a government publishing house located in China. Based in Beijing, it was founded in 1952 and currently forms part of the China International Publishing Group, which is owned and controlled by the Publicity Departmen ...

. Their four-volume ''Selected Works of

Lu Xun Lu Xun ( zh, c=魯迅, p=Lǔ Xùn, ; 25 September 188119 October 1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, born Zhou Zhangshou, was a Chinese writer. A leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in both vernacular and literary Chinese as a no ...

'' (1956–1957) made the major work of China's greatest 20th-century writer available in English for the first time. In 1957 their translation of the Qing dynasty novel '' The Scholars'' appeared. The couple were imprisoned as "class enemies" from 1968 to 1972 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 ...

. Their work on '' The Dream of Red Mansions'', an 18th-century novel still read by almost all educated Chinese, was interrupted by their imprisonment, but their faithful, readable three-volume translation appeared in 1978. During the 1980s, Gladys Yang translated the works of other Chinese authors for the British publishing house,

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several British femin ...

, which specialized in women's writing and books on

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

topics. Later in life, the couple spoke out against the 1989

Tiananmen Square massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

, and their unpublished memoirs were officially banned in China as a result.

Personal life

Gladys Yang died in Beijing in 1999, aged 80, after a decade of declining health. She was survived by her husband, two daughters and four grandchildren. Their only son had committed suicide in London in 1979. When the couple were identified as class enemies and kept in separate prisons from 1968 for four years, their children were sent to remote factory farms to work. Their son became mentally ill there and never recovered.

Translations

Guo Moruo Guo Moruo (November 16, 1892 – June 12, 1978), courtesy name Dingtang, was a Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official. Biography Family history Guo Moruo, originally named Guo Kaizhen, was born on November 10 or ...

, ''Chu Yuan: A Play in Five Acts'', trans. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1953 *

Qu Yuan Qu Yuan ( – 278 BC) was a Chinese poet and aristocrat in the State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of the '' ...

, ''Li Sao and Other Poems of Chu Yuan'', trans. Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Language Press, 1953; republished as ''Selected Elegies of the State of Chu'', 2001 * Zhao Shu-li, ''Changes in Li Village'', trans. Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1953 * Hong Sheng, '' The Palace of Eternal Youth'', trans. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1955 *

, ''Selected Works of Lu Hsun'', 4 vols., Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1956-1961 * Wu Jingzi, '' The Scholars'', trans. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang; ill. by Cheng Shifa, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1957 * ''Ancient Chinese Fables'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1957 * Liang Bin, ''Keep the Red Flag Flying'', China Youth Publishing House, 1957 * Zhao Shu-li, ''Sanliwan Village'', trans. Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1957 * ''The Man Who Sold a Ghost : Chinese Tales of the 3rd-6th Centuries'', trans. Yang Hsien-Yi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1958 * ''Selected Plays of

Guan Hanqing Guan Hanqing (, 1241–1320); sobriquet Yǐzhāi (已齋), Yīzhāi (一齋), Yǐzhāisǒu (已齋叟); was a Chinese dramatist, playwright, and poet during the Yuan Dynasty. He has been described as among the most prolific and highly regarde ...

'', trans. Yang Hsien-yi end Gladys Yang, Shanghai, New Art and Literature Publishing House, 1958, republished: Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1958, 1979 * Feng Yuan-chun, ''A Short History of Classical Chinese Literature'', trans. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1958 *

, ''Old Tales Retold'', trans. Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Language Press, 1961 * ''The Dragon King's Daughter: Ten Tang Dynasty Stories'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1962; reprinted with three additional stories as ''Tang Dynasty Stories'', Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1986 *

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

, '' Records of the Historian'', trans. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang, Hong Kong, The Commercial Press, 1974; republished: ''Selections from Records of the Historian Written by Szuma Chien'', Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1979 *

, ''Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk'', trans. Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Language Press, 1976 *

Cao Xueqin Cao Xueqin ( ; 4 April 171010 June 1765Briggs, Asa (ed.) (1989) ''The Longman Encyclopedia'', Longman, ) was a Chinese novelist and poet during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of '' Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four G ...

, ''

A Dream of Red Mansions ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' or ''The Story of the Stone'' is an 18th-century Chinese novel authored by Cao Xueqin, considered to be one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It is known for its psychological scope and its ...

'', trans. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang], Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1978 * ''The Courtesan's Jewel Box: Chinese Stories of the Xth-XVIIth Centuries'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1980 * ''Lazy Dragon: Chinese Stories from the Ming Dynasty'', ed. Geremie Barme, trans. Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang, Hong Kong, Joint Publ. Co., 1981 * ''Excerpts from Three Classical Chinese Novels'' 'The Three Kingdoms'', ''Pilgrimage to the West'', ''Flowers in the Mirror'' trans. Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1981 * Lu Xun, ''Call to Arms'', trans. Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1981 * Lu Xun, ''Wandering'', trans. Yang Xianyi & Gladys Yang, Beijing, Foreign Languages Press, 1981 *

Shen Congwen Shen Congwen (28 December 1902 – 10 May 1988), formerly romanized as Shen Ts'ung-wen, was a Chinese writer who is considered one of the greatest modern Chinese writers, on par with Lu Xun. Regional culture and identity plays a much bigger ro ...

, ''The Border Town and Other Stories'', trans. Gladys Yang, Chinese Literature Press, 1981 * Shen Congwen, ''Recollections of West Hunan'', trans. Gladys Yang, Panda Books, 1982 *

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

, ''Pygmalion'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, distributed by China Publications Centre, 1982 * Li Guangtian, ''A Pitiful Plaything and Other Essays'', trans. Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1982 * Liu E, '' The Travels of Lao Can'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, distributed by China Publications Centre, 1983 * ''Selections from the Book of Songs'', trans. Yang Xianyi, Gladys Yang and Hu Shiguang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1983 * Zhang Shouchen and Others, ''Traditional Comic Tales'', trans. Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1983 * Wang Meng, ''The Butterfly and Other Stories'', trans. Gladys Yang itle novella Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1983 * Gu Hua, ''A Small Town Called Hibiscus'', trans. Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature Press, 1983 *

Ding Ling Ding Ling ( zh, c=丁玲, p=Dīng Líng; October 12, 1904 – March 4, 1986), formerly romanized as Ting Ling, was the pen name of Jiang Bingzhi ( zh, s=蒋冰之, t=蔣冰之, p=Jiǎng Bīngzhī), also known as Bin Zhi (彬芷 ''Bīn Zhǐ''), ...

, ''The Sun Shines Over the Sanggan River'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, distributed by China Publications Centre, 1984 * ''Poetry and Prose of the Tang and Song'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, distributed by China Publications Centre, 1984 *

Zhang Xianliang Zhang Xianliang (; December 1936 – 27 September 2014) was a Chinese novelist, essayist, and poet, and former president of the Chinese Writers Association in Ningxia. He was detained as a political prisoner during the Anti-Rightist Movement in 195 ...

, ''Mimosa and Other Stories'', trans. Gladys Yang itle novel Beijing, Chinese Literature Press, 1985 * Ru Zhijuan, ''Lilies and Other Stories'', trans. Gladys Yang, et al., Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1985 * Gu Hua, ''Pagoda Ridge and Other Stories'', trans. Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1985 * ''Poetry and Prose of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1986 * Deng Youmei, ''Snuff-Bottles and Other Stories'', trans. Gladys Yang, Beijing, Chinese Literature, 1986 * Zhang Xinxin & Sang Ye, ''Chinese Profiles'', trans. Gladys Yang, et al., Beijing, Chinese Literature Press, 1986 * Zhang Jie, ''Love Must Not Be Forgotten'', trans. Gladys Yang, et al., Beijing, Chinese Literature Press, 1987 * Zhang Jie, ''Leaden Wings'', trans. Gladys Yang, London, Virago Press, 1987. * Zhang Jie, ''As Long As Nothing Happens, Nothing Will'', trans. Gladys Yang, Deborah J. Leonard and Zhang Andong, London, Virago Press, 1988. *

Tao Yuanming Tao Yuanming (365–427), also known as Tao Qian, courtesy name Yuanliang (元亮), was a Chinese poet and politician. He was one of the best-known poets who lived during the Six Dynasties period. Tao Yuanming spent much of his life in reclusi ...

, ''Selected Poems'', trans. Gladys Yang & Yang Xianyi, Beijing, Chinese Literature Press, 1993 *

, ''Selected Stories by Shen Congwen'', edited by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Chinese Literature Press, 1999 *

Feng Menglong Feng Menglong (1574–1646), courtesy names Youlong (), Gongyu (), Ziyou (), or Eryou (), was a Chinese historian, novelist, and poet of the late Ming Dynasty. He was born in Changzhou County, now part of Suzhou, in Jiangsu Province. Life Feng wa ...

, ''Selected Chinese Stories of the Song and Ming Dynasties'', trans. Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, Beijing, 2000

Biography

Personal life

Translations

References

Further reading