Sidney Shapiro

Sidney Shapiro (December 23, 1915 – October 18, 2014) was an American-born lawyer, translator, and writer who relocated to China in 1947, acquired Chinese citizenship in 1963, and resided in Beijing until his death. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Shapiro learned Mandarin during U.S. Army service in World War II before arriving in China, where he married actress Fengzi, a Communist Party supporter, and chose to remain after the 1949 revolution.

Shapiro's primary contributions involved translating canonical Chinese literary works into English, including Shi Nai'an's Outlaws of the Marsh (a rendition of the classical novel Water Margin), Ba Jin's The Family, and Mao Dun's Spring Silkworms, thereby facilitating Western access to these texts. He also authored I Chose China, an autobiography detailing his life decisions and experiences in the country, alongside works like Jews in Old China. Politically, he joined the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in 1983, becoming its longest-serving foreign-born member, reflecting his integration into Chinese institutional frameworks despite origins in a nation historically adversarial to the People's Republic.

Sidney Shapiro was born on December 23, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up in a Jewish family in Brooklyn. Specific details about his parents and any siblings remain undocumented in publicly available biographical accounts.

Shapiro married the Chinese actress and writer Fengzi (also known as Phoenix) in Shanghai on May 1, 1948, shortly after arriving in China the previous year. Fengzi, a prominent figure in progressive literary and dramatic circles, had previously been involved in leftist theater and writing, which aligned with Shapiro's emerging sympathies for the communist cause. Their union represented an early intercultural marriage amid China's civil war, blending American Jewish heritage with Chinese revolutionary ethos; Shapiro later described it as a pivotal personal commitment that anchored his decision to remain in China permanently.