John Minford

John Minford (Chinese: 閔福德; pinyin: Mǐn Fúdé; born 1946) is a sinologist[1] and literary translator. He is primarily known for his translation of Chinese classics such as The Story of the Stone, The Art of War and I Ching. He also translated Louis Cha's The Deer and the Cauldron and a selection of Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio.

Biography

Early years and education

John Minford was born in Birmingham, UK, in 1946. The son of a diplomat, Leslie Minford, he grew up in Venezuela, Argentina and Egypt, before attending Horris Hill School, Newbury, and then Winchester College (1958-1963), where he studied Ancient Greek and Latin literature.

He entered Balliol College, Oxford, in 1964 on a classical scholarship and obtained first class honours in Chinese Literature in 1968. He completed his PhD at the Australian National University in 1980, under the supervision of Professor Liu Ts'un-yan.[2]

Career

He has held a number of teaching posts in mainland China, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In 1982, he joined the staff of the Research Centre for Translation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, working closely with Stephen Soong, 宋淇, and eventually taking over from him as editor of the journal Renditions. His later positions included those of Chair Professor of Chinese at the University of Auckland (1986-1991)[3] and at the Australian National University (2006-2016), Chair Professor of Translation at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (1994-1999) and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2011-2013). He is currently Emeritus Professor of Chinese at The Australian National University and Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture and Translation at the Hang Seng Management College, Hong Kong.

Marriage

Minford was married to Rachel May, the daughter of the noted sinologist David Hawkes. She died in January 2015. Hawkes was also Minford's teacher at Oxford University. Together, the two translated Cao Xueqin's The Story of the Stone, with Hawkes translating the first eighty chapters (Volumes 1-3) and Minford the last forty (Volumes 4-5).

Main publications

References

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