Mei Shaowu (; 22 December 1928 – 28 September 2005) was a Chinese translator, author and scholar who was honorary president of the Mei Lanfang Memorial Hall () and president of the Mei Lanfang Literature and Art Research Association (). He also was a researcher in 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 ...

. Mei was the first person from China to translate the works of the American novelist

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...

to Chinese language. Mei was a member of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th National Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

Biography

Mei was born Mei Baozhen () in December 1928 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 ...

, with his

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

in Taizhou,

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

, the son of Fu Zhifang (), a

Beijing opera Peking opera, or Beijing opera (), is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines instrumental music, vocal performance, mime, martial arts, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became ...

actress, and Mei Lanfang, also a Beijing opera actor. His elder brother, Mei Baochen () (1925 - 2008), an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who was graduated from

Aurora University Aurora University (AU) is a private university in Aurora, Illinois, United States. Established in 1893 as a seminary of the Advent Christian Church, the university has been independent since 1971. Approximately 6,200 students are enrolled in t ...

. His younger brother, Mei Baojiu, a Beijing opera actor, was born in 1934. His younger sister, Mei Baoyue () (1930 - 2000), a Beijing opera actress who graduated from Aurora University. Mei primarily studied in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, Mei Lanfang escaped from Beijing and settled in Hong Kong, Mei and his brother attended Lingnan Secondary School (). When Hong Kong was occupied by the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

, Mei went to

Guiyang Guiyang; Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively as Kweiyang is the capital of Guizhou, Guizhou province in China. It is centrally located within the province, on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, eastern part of the Yun ...

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

, he studied at Qinghua High School (). Mei entered

Hangchow University Hangchow University (), also spelled as Zhijiang University and formerly known as Hangchow Christian College, Hangchow College, and Hangchow Presbyterian College, is a defunct Protestantism, Protestant Christian college, missionary universit ...

in 1946, majoring in engineering at the Department of Engineering. In 1947, Mei was admitted to

Yenching University Yenching University () was a Private university, private research university in Beijing, China, from 1919 to 1952. The university was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" come ...

, majoring in English at the Department of Western Languages, he took French and German as elective courses. After graduating in 1952 he was appointed to the Beijing Library (), then he was transferred to the

. Mei died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

at Beijing Tumour Hospital on September 28, 2005.

Works

* ''Memoirs of Mei Lanfang'' () * ''Beijing opera and Mei Lanfang'' () * ''My Father: Mei Lanfang'' ()

Translations

* ''A Hungarian Nabob'' ( Jokai Mor) () * ''Poetry of Pottier'' (

Eugene Pottier Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

) () * ''Puning'' (

) () * ''Pale Fire'' (

) () * ''Salem Witch'' (

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

) () * ''The Thin Man'' (

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...

) () * ''The Selected Works of Sherlock Holmes'' (

Conan Doyle Conan may refer to: People * Saint Conan (died 684), bishop of the Isle of Man * Conan of Cornwall (c. 930 – c. 950), bishop of Cornwall * Conan I of Rennes (died 992), duke of Brythonic Brittany * Conan II, Duke of Brittany (died 1066), duke ...

) ()

Awards

* National Book Award *

Chinese Translation Association The Translators Association of China (TAC) () is a national association for translation studies in China. Founded in the 1980s TAC was part of the academic response to the national Economic Reform in 1978. The incumbent President of TAC's 6th Exe ...

– Competent Translator (2004)

Personal life

Mei married translator

Tu Zhen Tu Zhen (; 8 March 1934 – 21 September 2022) was a Chinese translator best known for her contributions to the introduction of English literature to Chinese readers. She was a member of the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party and ...

() in 1956 in Beijing, she was a graduate of Peking University, where she majored in French language.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mei, Shaowu 1928 births 2005 deaths Writers from Beijing Peking University alumni Zhejiang University alumni English–Chinese translators Chinese biographers 20th-century biographers 21st-century biographers 20th-century Chinese translators 21st-century Chinese translators Mei Lanfang