Sidney Shapiro
Sidney Shapiro was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States on December 23rd, 1915 and is the American Translator. At the age of 98, Sidney Shapiro biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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Shapiro trained as a lawyer and was disturbed by perceived inequalities during the Great Depression in the United States. In 1941, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He applied for French language school, but was sent to a Chinese language school in San Francisco instead. His interest in China led to travel in 1947 to Shanghai, where he met his future wife, an actress named Fengzi (Phoenix), who was a supporter of the Chinese Communist Party. Partly through her influence, Shapiro became a supporter too. He settled in China and remained there after the Communists took power in 1949.
For nearly 50 years, Shapiro was employed by the state-run Foreign Languages Press (FLP) as a translator of works of Chinese literature. He is best known for his English version of Outlaws of the Marsh, one of the most important classics of Chinese literature. In 1958, he published a translation of The Family, a novel by Ba Jin or Pa Chin, pen name of Li Yaotang (aka Feigan), one of the most widely read Chinese writers of the 20th century. Certain passages, notably the anarchist elements, were deleted from this edition, but Shapiro later published a full translation.
Shapiro was also an actor in many Chinese movies, becoming typecast as the American villain.
Shapiro wrote a memoir I Chose China: The Metamorphosis of a Country and a Man, but its publication was delayed until 1997 because he feared that it would offend the Chinese authorities.