Lin Shu

Lin Shu (born November 8, 1852, Fuzhou, Fujian province, China—died October 9, 1924, Beijing) was a Chinese translator who first made available to Chinese readers more than 180 works of Western literature, even though he himself had no firsthand knowledge of any foreign language.

Working through oral interpreters, Lin Shu translated fiction from England, the United States, France, Russia, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Norway, and Greece, as well as Japan, into flowing classical Chinese. He was opposed to the baihua literary movement, which promoted the use of vernacular Chinese as a written language.

Because of the secondhand nature of Lin Shu’s translations—indeed, many are translations of translations—they are not completely accurate. Lin Shu’s skilled use of the Chinese literary language has been highly praised, however, and his translations remain important for their role in introducing Western literature to China.