Yang Jiang

Yang Jiang, whose original name was Yang Jikang, was a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu, and was born in Beijing in 1911. A renowned Chinese writer, playwright and translator, she knew English, French and Spanish, and translated works such as Don Quixote and Gil Blas, her translations being noted for their faithfulness and fluency. Her own writings include the novel Baptism, the essay collections Six Chapters from My Life "Downunder", We Three, Drinking Tea and Walking to the Edge of Life, as well as the two-volume Miscellaneous Memories and Writings and the reading essays A "Self-Effacing" Visit. Drawing on personal experience and reading, these works are written in a restrained, unhurried style that reveals a close observation of life and human nature. She was a research fellow at the Institute of Foreign Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and died in Beijing on 25 May 2016 at the age of 105.