In the measuring contest that is expatriate life in Beijing, no one could top Sidney Shapiro, who moved to China in 1947 and died here on October 18.

Born in Brooklyn in 1915, Shapiro got his first taste of China during World War II, when the US Army decided he should learn Chinese in advance of a possible Allied landing her. He finally arrived in 1947, and met his future wife, actress Feng Zi, a supporter of the Chinese Communist Party.

Employed by Foreign Languages Press in Beijing, Shapiro translated the Chinese classic Outlaws of the Marsh, also known as Water Margin (水浒传), into English, along with working on modern novels like Ba Jin‘s Family (家).

Shapiro was granted Chinese citizenship in 1963, still extremely rare, and served on the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Council.

R.I.P., Sidney.

Photo: Photoshelter