Sidney Shapiro loves China and the Chinese
- Source: Global Times
- [16:46 September 24 2009]
- Comments
Chinese literature translator Sidney Shapiro is a humorous senior. He was born in Brooklyn, New York in the US. However, his favorite snacks are soybean milk, fried bread sticks and leavened pancakes which are local Beijing food. What’s more, he can speak the local Beijing dialect, entitling him to the nickname, “lao Beijing” or “Beijing old timer”. He is 90-years-old, but he’s still very active. “I love China and the Chinese,” he likes to say often.
Shapiro likes Beijing’s siheyuan or courtyard houses, so he lives in Shichahai. In his spare time, he plants cloves and roses in his yard. He has happily lived here for 40 years.
Whenever his friends visit him, they can always see an antique bookcase and a sheet of calligraphy and a painting given to him by two great Chinese writers, Guo Moruo and Wu Zuoren. And then Shapiro begins to talk about his love story with Feng Zi, his wife.
During World War II, Shapiro, then a lawyer in New York, joined the army and became part of the anti-aircraft artillery. At that time, for strategic purposes, the US government decided to train a group of soldiers to learn foreign languages. Shapiro put his name on the list. Unfortunately, too many soldiers wanted to learn French, so Shapiro was ordered to learn Chinese. When he recalled that moment, he said it was like a bolt out of the blue.
After that, Shapiro was forced to learn Chinese characters, but soon became interested in the language. In 1946, he was discharged from the army and decided to study Chinese at both Columbia and Yale universities. In March 1947, Shapiro went to Shanghai.
The second day after he arrived, he met Feng Zi through his friend from Yale. Feng used to be an actress who worked in left-leaning literary and artistic fields, and was editor of a magazine called Human Life. “We began to help each other learn the other’s language. We usually spoke Chinese for an hour and English another hour,” Feng later said.
Soon after, Shapiro set up his law office in Shanghai. He knew that Feng was in danger because of his job. In his eyes, Feng was a brave and lovely woman and she had a group of intellectual friends. He admired her and gradually fell in love with her. On the other hand, he loves Chinese culture and was willingly to stay in China. He proposed to Feng and after thinking about it for several days, she agreed. Soon after they tied the knot, Feng was on the blacklist of the Kuomintang’s secret service. On hearing the news, they moved quickly, leaving Shanghai at the end of 1948 for Beijing, where they eagerly waited for National Liberation Day.
“Soon after liberation, one of my friends recommended a new book to me called New Heroes and Heroines,” recalled Shapiro. “After reading it, I found it was simple and understandable. The story is about guerrilla warfare. I tried to translate it at home. One day, a leading comrade came to see me and found me translating the novel. He asked, ‘How do you feel about it?’ I said I was very interested in it. After two days, he told me to work in the Bureau of International Culture and Communication.”
Actually, New Heroes and Heroines was the first book describing red China to America. It was his interest in Chinese literature that made Shapiro a literature translator. He has translated many Chinese masterworks including Home by Ba Jin, Chun Can by Mao Dun, The Marriage of Xiao Erhei and Rhymes of Li Youcai by Zhao Shuli, Tracks in The Snowy Forest and Guard by Yan An.
In January 1950, Shapiro and Feng had a baby girl they named Ya Mei, whose characters are a combination of “Asia” and “America”. In the same year, the Korean War broke out. China and the US met on the battlefield. Feng went with a literature and art group to North Korea but they were attacked by American soldiers. Famous crosstalk comedian Chang Baokun sacrificed his life in the air attack.
“This was a destructive strike for Feng Zi. It nearly destroyed our marriage,” Shapiro said sadly. After that, Feng began to mistrust Shapiro due to her hatred of the US. At that time, Feng was busy writing books, making speeches and publicizing the spirit of the voluntary army so that Shapiro was desolate. Feng’s behavior hurt Shapiro and he suffered from the emotional torture. At the time, Feng’s leaders told her that the US government and the American people are different. But Shapiro persisted and his love for her eventually won her over.
