Lu Gusun Photo: IC

Renowned Chinese lexicographer Lu Gusun, also the former chief editor of the Shanghai Translation Publishing House's widely used English-Chinese Dictionary, passed away from a stroke at age 76 at the Xinhua Hospital in Shanghai on Wednesday, according to a report on thepaper.cn.

As a professor at the Department of Foreign Language and Literature at Fudan University, Lu dedicated his life to teaching and English language and literature research.

He is widely known among professional translators and students of English in China as the chief editor of the award-winning English-Chinese Dictionary, which is now a standard English-Chinese reference for translators working at the UN.

Boasting the largest number of English-Chinese entries of any dictionary in China, the dictionary was listed as a key project of the National Philosophy and Social Science Project as early as 1987 through the recommendations of famous Chinese linguists Lü Shuxiang and Xu Guozhang.

In 1994, the dictionary was awarded the first National Publications of China Award, as well as the Shanghai Philosophy and Social Science Award.

In addition to his work on the dictionary, Lu was a veteran translator who was once appointed as the chief translator of the Shanghai economic delegation to Hong Kong and Singapore.

As the former vice president of the Shakespeare Academy of China, he was also an expert in Shakespeare studies.

Born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province in 1940, Lu graduated from the Department of Foreign Language and Literature at Fudan University in 1962 and later received his master's degree at the same university in 1965.

After graduation he remained at the university as a teacher.

Lu began participating in the preparation and compilation of the English-Chinese Dictionary in 1976. He became its chief editor in 1986 and stayed at the frontline of lexicography until his death.