China's most renowned master translator Xu Yuanchong died in Beijing aged 100 on June 17. Xu, an award-winning Chinese translator, forged literary ties between speakers of Chinese, English and French, gaining global recognition for his role in facilitating international communication.

Xu, born in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, in 1921, started working as a professor at Peking University in 1983. He was awarded the Aurora Boreali Prize by the Federation of International Translators in 2014.

Through translation, Xu has introduced not only French and English masterpieces to China, but also introduced Chinese classical literature to the world in both French and English. Xu upheld the notion to carry through the visual and aural beauty of poetry when translating any verse into another language. In Xu's view, the translated version should always reproduce the overall sensual experience that the original body of work brings to the reader to the best of its capabilities.