Gladys Yang, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Gladys Yang

British translator

Date of Birth: 19-Jan-1919

Place of Birth: Beijing, China

Date of Death: 18-Nov-1999

Profession: writer, translator, linguist

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Gladys Yang (Chinese: ???; pinyin: Dài Naidié; 19 January 1919 – 18 November 1999) was a British translator of Chinese literature and the wife of another noted literary translator, Yang Xianyi.
Her father was a missionary to China and, from childhood, she became intrigued by Chinese culture. Born Gladys Margaret Tayler in Beijing, she returned to England as a child and became Oxford University's first graduate in Chinese language in 1940.
She met Yang at Oxford.
After their marriage, the Beijing-based couple became prominent translators of Chinese literature into English during the latter half of the twentieth century at the Foreign Languages Press.The couple were imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution.
Later in life, they spoke out against the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Their biography has been officially banned in China as a result.
Gladys Yang died in Beijing in 1999, aged 80.