Yang Hengda

Yang Hengda (1948–2023), a Shanghai native, was a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Liberal Arts, Renmin University of China, as well as a translator and scholar. Fluent in English, German and French, he devoted himself to the study of Western literary history and Nietzsche's thought. He led the translation of the 26-volume Complete Works of Nietzsche, and translated Georg Lukács's Theory of the Novel, René Wellek's A History of Modern Criticism, and D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, among other works. His own books include Nietzsche's Aesthetic Thought and a biography of Kafka. His works represented in the library span documentary writing, foreign literature and world classics: All the President's Men reflects his command of documentary subjects, while the multiple editions connected with Lady Chatterley's Lover show his sustained engagement with translating foreign literature. Public information is limited, but the available body of work shows that he combined scholarly research with literary translation, working with a rigorous hand and offering Chinese readers reliable access to Western literature and thought.