Fu Lei

Who was Fu Lei?

Fu Lei, was a famous translator and art critic. He was born near Shanghaiand raised by his mother. He studied art and art theory in France from 1928–1932. Upon his return to China, he taught in Shanghai and worked as a journalist and art critic until he took up translating. His translations, which remain highly regarded, include Voltaire, Balzac and Romain Rolland. He developed his own style, the "Fu Lei style," and his own translation theory. Though labeled a rightist in 1957, he persevered until 1966, when, at the start of the Cultural Revolution, he and his wife committed suicide. His family letters to his son Fou Ts'ong, a world-renowned pianist, were published posthumously and have become a bestseller in China to this day.