Li Weizhong

Li Weizhong (born 1940), pen name Yanru, is a Chinese translator of Arabic literature from Guangzong, Hebei, and a professor at the University of International Business and Economics. He began studying Arabic in 1960 at the Beijing Institute of Foreign Trade, where he stayed to teach from 1965, furthered his studies at Cairo University in 1988, and became a professor in 1994. He single-handedly translated four Arabic classics into Chinese: The Arabian Nights, The Complete Works of Gibran, the romance of Antar, and Kalila and Dimna. Nine of his works are held in the collection. His translations span folk tales, prose poetry, and fables, including Tears and Laughter, The Prophet, and Sand and Foam, covering foreign literature, essays, and classic works, and offering Chinese readers a relatively complete body of Arabic literature in translation.