Sidney Shapiro was an American-born Chinese actor, lawyer, translator, and writer who lived in China from 1947 to 2014.
15 Facts About Sidney Shapiro
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Sidney Shapiro lived in Beijing for more than 50 years and eventually became a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
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Sidney Shapiro was one of very few naturalized citizens of the PRC.
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Sidney Shapiro was a graduate of St John's University, New York.
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Sidney Shapiro trained as a lawyer and was disturbed by perceived inequalities during the Great Depression in the United States.
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Sidney Shapiro applied for French language school, and was sent to a Chinese language school in San Francisco instead.
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Sidney Shapiro's interest in China led to travel in 1947 to Shanghai, where he met his future wife, an actress named Fengzi, who was a supporter of the Chinese Communist Party.
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Sidney Shapiro settled in China and remained there after the Communists took power in 1949.
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For nearly 50 years, Sidney Shapiro was employed by the state-run Foreign Languages Press as a translator of works of Chinese literature.
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Sidney Shapiro is best known for his English version of Outlaws of the Marsh, a classic of Chinese literature.
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Certain passages, notably the anarchist elements, were deleted from this edition; Sidney Shapiro later published a full translation.
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Sidney Shapiro worked as an editor for the journal Chinese Literature.
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Sidney Shapiro was an actor in many Chinese movies, becoming typecast as the American villain.
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Sidney Shapiro wrote a memoir I Chose China: The Metamorphosis of a Country and a Man, but its publication was delayed until 1997 because he feared that it would offend the Chinese authorities.
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Sidney Shapiro married Fengzi in 1948, and they had a daughter.