One of China's known female writers and translators Yang Jiang has been confirmed to have died on May 25 in Beijing at the age of 104 while in Peking Union Medical College Hospital according to the report of the People's Literature Publishing House.
Yang was born in 1911 in Beijing and she was very proficient in English, French and Spanish. She was the first Chinese to translate the classic 'Don Quixote' and her version was considered the best translations of the classic. She also wrote the books such as the Wind, Curtains, Six Chapters from My Life 'Downunder', Baptism, We Three and Reaching the Brink of Life: Answering My Own Questions.
In 2005, Yang answered some questions regarding her values, faith, and life attitude for an interview with the journal China Perspectives, launched by the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (CEFC).
In the interview, she said that she was not a follower of any religion, but she still believed in God. Here is a part of the interview.
Q: Do you have any religious beliefs?
Yang Jiang: I do not practise any religion, but I am not wholly an atheist. I believe in God and in Man,in his ability to do good.
Q: If at some point in your life, you had had to choose between your work and your family, would you have sacrificed everything to follow your career?
Yang Jiang: Fortunately, I was born into a harmonious household, and later the little family that I formed with my husband and daughter was a happy one. I never had any thought of abandoning it. I have never had to choose between my professional activities and my family life.
Q: What do you see as the meaning of existence?
Yang Jiang: To try to be someone of value, not to waste one's life.
Q: What kind of people do you like best?
Yang Jiang: All people, whatever their age or social position. All people are kind.
Q: And which do you hate the most?
Yang Jiang: Those who hate me. I hate them too.
