Translator Feng Yidai was born in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province in 1913. He graduated from the University of Shanghai in 1936. He later worked as secretary-general of the Bureau of International Information and was also director of the bureau's publishing and distribution department. He was director of the publishing department of Foreign Language Press and director of the English editorial office for Chinese Literature, as well as a standing council member of the Translators Association of China. He also participated in the publication of Reading magazine in 1979, which was aimed at Chinese intellectuals, and another English magazine called China Writers. He also worked as chief editor of Movie and Drama magazine.
Feng Yidai made major contributions in introducing Western culture to China. He translated Ernest Hemingway's The Fifth Column. He also translated the works of William Somerset Maugham and other writers. He was also a famous prose writer, and Golf Stream, one of his selected works, embodies his writing features.
Feng Yidai died on February 23, 2005 in Beijing, aged 92.
(China.org.cn July 29, 2008)
