Oldřich Král (13 September 1930 – 21 June 2018), also known by his Chinese name Wang Heda (), was a Czech

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

, translator and writer.

Biography

Král was born on 13 September 1930 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. He entered

Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

in 1949 and began his studies in Chinese language and literature. In the 1950s and 60s, he spent two periods studying 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 ...

, during which time he translated Ba Jin's novel ''

The Family A family is a domestic or social group. Family or The Family may also refer to: Mathematics *Family of curves, a set of curves resulting from a function with variable parameters *Family of sets, a collection of sets *Indexed family, a family wh ...

'' and the

Qing dynasty 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 ...

novel '' The Scholars''. After that, he devoted his life to the translation of Chinese literature and philosophical works into the

Czech language Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Re ...

. His translations include the ''

I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...

'', ''

Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion d ...

'', ''

Zhuangzi Zhuangzi may refer to: * ''Zhuangzi'' (book) (莊子), an ancient Chinese collection of anecdotes and fables, one of the foundational texts of Daoism **Zhuang Zhou Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master Zhuang"; als ...

'', '' The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch'', ''

The Art of War ''The Art of War'' () is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is com ...

'', ''

The Gateless Barrier ''The Gateless Barrier'' (Mandarin: 無門關 ''Wúménguān''; Japanese: 無門関 ''Mumonkan''), sometimes translated as ''The Gateless Gate'', is a collection of 48 Chan (Zen) koans compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Zen master ...

'', '' The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons'', and '' Journey to the West''. His translation of Cao Xueqin's classic novel ''

Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

'' won the Odeon Publisher Award for the best translation in 1988 and at the celebration of the 240th anniversary of Cao Xueqin's death Král received the International Award (Beijing 2003). For all his work Král also received the

Czech State Award for Translation The Czech State Award for Translation (Czech language: Státní cena za překladatelské dílo) is an award given by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. The Czech State Award for Translation is awarded for the translation of a literary w ...

in 2010 and the Chinese Award for Translation in 2017. In 1993, Král became professor of sinology at Charles University and reestablished a '' Comparative Literature'' as a field of study there. He travelled frequently to China, and his last trip to China was in June 2018, just before his death. Král died on 21 June 2018, at the age of 87. He had been working on translating the Chinese classic novel '' Jin Ping Mei'' before his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kral, Oldrich 1930 births 2018 deaths Charles University alumni Academic staff of Charles University Czech sinologists Czech translators Peking University alumni Chinese–Czech translators Writers from Prague