Translator Sidney Shapiro dies aged 98

Members of CPPCC Li Dongdong, Sidney Shapiro(M), Gong Yafu and Yang Lan are pictured at Sidneys home in Beijing, China, 12 March 2012.[Photo/IC]

Sidney Shapiro, a famed U.S.-born translator who was one of the few Westerners to gain Chinese citizenship and become a member of a high-level parliamentary body, died on the weekend in Beijing, his granddaughter Stella Guo said. He was 98.

Shapiro was born in New York in 1915 and first came to China in 1947. Then he got married with a Chinese actress Feng Zi.

He became a Chinese citizen in 1963 - an honor reserved only for a select few foreigners judged to have performed special services for China.

He was best known for his English translations of the Chinese classic novel "Outlaws of the Marsh", as well as works by the more modern authors Ba Jin and Mao Dun.

"Translators like us have the responsibility to let the world know that China has the richest tradition of virtue," he told the official Xinhua news agency in 2010, after being bestowed a lifetime achievement award by the Translators Association of China.

Better known in China by his Chinese name, Sha Boli, he was appointed in 1983 to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Shapiro died on Saturday morning, just two months short of his 99th birthday, his granddaughter said in an email.

"As his granddaughter, I am blessed with so many memories - his quirky humor, wonderful stories, great taste in music, appreciation for old movies, his American-Jewish heritage, energetic debates, love of new technology and so much more," she wrote.