Li Jianwu (; 17 August 1906 - 24 November 1982) was a Chinese author, dramatist and translator who was the president of French Literature Research Council. Li was an officer of the Chinese State Council and a member of National Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

. He translated the works of the French novelists

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

and

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (''The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de P ...

into Chinese. In 1925, he was arrested for opposing Ma Junwu.

Biography

Li was born in 1906 in Yuncheng County,

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

, his father, Li Mingfeng (), was a warlord of

Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. After the downfall of

Yuan Shih-kai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...

Administration, Li moved to Beijing with his family, he studied at Beijing Normal University Elementary School (). At the age of 13, his father Li Mingfeng was killed by

Anhui clique The Anhui clique () was a military and political organization, one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang clique in the Republic of China's Warlord Era. It was named after Anhui province because several of its ...

General

Chen Shufan Chen Shufan () (1885 – November 2, 1949) was a Chinese general active during the early Republican period in China. He was a prominent general of the Anhui Clique and won the Order of Rank and Merit and Order of Wen-Hu. Biography Born in An ...

(). Li attended

The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University The High School Affiliated to Beijing Normal University (, BJSDFZ) is a high school affiliated with Beijing Normal University located in Xicheng District, Beijing. Founded in 1901 as China's first public high school, it is ranked among the most ...

in 1921, at the same time, he started to publish works, he made acquaintance with Wang Tongzhao (). In 1925, Li was put under house arrest for his opposition to Minister of Education Ma Junwu. Li entered Tsinghua University in 1925, majoring in Western languages. In 1931, Li studied at

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. After graduating in 1933, he taught at

Jinan University Jinan University (JNU, ) is a public research university based in Guangzhou, China. "Jinan" literally means "reaching southward", indicating the university's original mission to disseminate Chinese learning and culture from North to South when i ...

. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

, Li moved to the French Concession to escape the violence. There he met

Zheng Zhenduo Zheng Zhenduo (Cheng Chen-to; December 19, 1898 – October 17, 1958), courtesy name Xidi, was a Chinese journalist, writer, archaeologist and scholar. His pen names were Baofen (寶芬), Guo Yuanxin (郭源新) and CT. He made a significant co ...

, A Ying and

Xia Yan Xia Yan is the name of: *Xia Yan (Ming dynasty) (1482–1548), Ming dynasty politician *Xia Yan (playwright) Xia Yan (; 30 October 1900 – 6 February 1995) was a Chinese playwright and screenwriter, and China's Deputy Minister of Culture bet ...

. After the founding of the Communist State, Li worked as a researcher at

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Works

* ''

Memoirs of a Madman ''Memoirs of a Madman'' (french: Mémoires d'un fou) is an autobiographical text written by Gustave Flaubert in 1838. The next year, Flaubert dedicated it to his friend, . The manuscript changed hands twice before being finally published in ''L ...

'' (Gustave Flaubert) * ''

Sentimental Education ''Sentimental Education'' (French: ''L'Éducation sentimentale'', 1869) is a novel by Gustave Flaubert. Considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, it was praised by contemporaries such as George Sand and Émile Zola, but ...

'' (Gustave Flaubert) * ''

Dictionary of Received Ideas The ''Dictionary of Received Ideas'' (or ''Dictionary of Accepted Ideas''; in French, ''Le Dictionnaire des idées reçues'') is a short satirical work collected and published in 1911–13 from notes compiled by Gustave Flaubert during the 1870s, ...

'' (Gustave Flaubert) * '' Madame Bovary'' (

) () * ''Italian Chroniques'' (

) () * '' Armance'' (Stendhal) * '' The Red and the Black'' (Stendhal) * ''

Lucien Leuwen ''Lucien Leuwen'' is the second major novel written by French author Stendhal in 1834, following ''The Red and the Black'' (1830). It remained unfinished due to the political culture of the July Monarchy in the 1830s and Stendhal's fears of losin ...

'' (Stendhal) * '' The Charterhouse of Parma'' (Stendhal)

References

1906 births 1982 deaths People from Yuncheng People's Republic of China translators French–Chinese translators Tsinghua University alumni University of Paris alumni Jinan University faculty 20th-century Chinese translators {{China-translator-stub