Dong Yansheng, a Spanish literary translator and translator of Don Quixote, passed away in Beijing on January 2, 2024, at the age of 86.
On January 3, Beijing University of Foreign Chinese announced that Comrade Dong Yansheng, an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China, a famous professor of Spanish at the School of Spanish and Portuguese Languages (formerly the Department of Spanish) of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, a doctoral supervisor, a translator of Spanish literature, and a Spanish educator, passed away in Beijing on January 2, 2024 at the age of 86 due to ineffective medical treatment.
A leader in the field of Spanish language teaching
Dong Yansheng edited a number of Spanish textbooks during his lifetime, and made outstanding contributions to the development of Spanish majors in Chinese universities and the cultivation of talents. The Education Department of the Spanish Embassy in Beijing issued a message of condolences, saying, "Professor Dong is one of the greatest Spanish scholars in China".
In the past half century, Dong Yansheng's textbooks have not only become classic textbooks for professional Spanish education in Chinese universities, but also widely used in various teaching institutions at all levels, and have also enjoyed a high reputation in the international Spanish teaching community, becoming one of the important symbols of China's Spanish teaching model.
At the Instituto Cervantes, Dong Yansheng showed the Chinese translation of Don Quixote to the king and queen of Spain
According to public information, Dong Yansheng, male, was born in Beijing on June 24, 1937, and is of Han nationality. In 1956, he was admitted to the Spanish major of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, stayed on to teach in 1960, began to recruit master's students in 1978, served as the head of the Spanish Department from 1984 to 1987, became the first doctoral supervisor of Spanish language and literature in China in 1996, taught Chinese language and culture courses at the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain from 1989 to 1990 and 1998 to 1999, and retired in 2008. During his tenure, he was also a director of the Chinese Association for the Teaching and Research of Spanish and Portuguese. In 2007, he was elected President of the Asian Association of Spanish Language Workers.
Dong Yansheng is an important founder of the Chinese Spanish teaching model. He has compiled a number of Spanish textbooks, made outstanding achievements, and made outstanding contributions to the development of Spanish majors in Chinese universities and the cultivation of talents. Since 1985, his book "Spanish" has become a common textbook for Spanish oral and written practice courses in colleges and universities across the country, and won the second prize of excellent textbook of the State Education Commission in 1992. Since 1999, he has presided over the compilation of Modern Spanish, which won the second prize of "National Excellent Textbook for Ordinary Colleges and Universities" in 2002 and the second prize of Beijing Education and Teaching Achievement (Higher Education) in 2004, and from 2014 to 2023, he sharpened his sword for another ten years and launched a new edition of "Modern Spanish".
Dong Yansheng has made outstanding achievements in the field of translation. In 1992, he translated Mo Yan's Red Sorghum into Spanish and published it, in 1994 he translated and published Nobel Prize-winning Guatemalan writer Asturias's masterpiece Mr. President into Chinese, in 1995 he presented Don Quixote as the first complete translation directly from Spanish to Chinese for Chinese readers, and in 1996 he translated and published many works from The Complete Works of Cervantes in Poetry and Drama Volume I, Comedy in Volume III (co-translation) and Interlude in Volume IV. Based on his translation of Don Quixote, many publishers have adapted and published many editions for readers of different ages, which has had a wide and far-reaching impact.
Dong Yansheng's outstanding achievements in Spanish teaching and research, talent training, literary translation, and cultural exchange have been highly recognized by the governments of China and Spanish-speaking countries, as well as all sectors of society. In 2000, he was awarded the Queen Isabel Medal by King Juan Carlos of Spain, and in 2001, his translation of Don Quixote won the 2nd Lu Xun Literature Award and the National Rainbow Award for Outstanding Literary Translation issued by the Chinese Writers Association. In 2006, he was awarded the 2nd Beijing Famous Teacher Award and the "Contribution Award for Spanish-Chinese Exchange" issued by the "Foundation for Spanish-Chinese Consultation" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain. In 2009, he was awarded the "Order of Literature and Art" by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. In 2010, he won the Friendship Envoy Award in China issued by the Spanish Federation of Famous Brands. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Lleida, Spain. In 2015, he was awarded the Order of Alfonso X the Wise by the Spanish Government. In 2017, he received an honorary award from the "Zhihua Lecture Hall" in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the introduction of Spanish literature to Chinese readers. In 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Distance de Madrid.
All walks of life at home and abroad issued condolences
"It can be said that Professor Dong's Spanish level is really second to none in our country, and I am afraid that no one else can match it, mainly because he not only teaches, but also tirelessly conducts in-depth research. On the 3rd, Xu Yicong, former deputy director of the Department of Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, issued a message of condolences, saying that Dong Yansheng's students could not be counted, and his contribution was incalculable. "Respecting him, respecting him, and treating him as one of the idols in the Spanish-speaking world, even the biggest idol, is indeed the content and imagination that will never be erased in my heart. ”
On the same day, the Education Department of the Spanish Embassy in China issued a message of condolences, saying that Dong Yansheng is one of the greatest Spanish scholars in China, who has devoted his life to the cause of Spanish teaching in China and has cooperated with the Education Department to carry out teacher training activities many times. According to the Education Department, thousands of Chinese students have learned Spanish Xi thanks to the textbook "Modern Spanish" edited by Dong Yansheng, and generations of Chinese students will continue to Xi use the textbook to learn Spanish.
In addition, several Spanish-language media outlets reported on Dong Yansheng's death. Spain's official news agency EFE reported that "the Spanish-speaking world mourns the outstanding Chinese teacher and translator Dong Yansheng" and called him "the 'best' translator of the Chinese version of Don Quixote"