George Kao George Kao ( ; 29 May 1912 – 1 March 2008 ) was a Chinese American author , translator , and journalist . He is best known for translating English - language classics into Chinese and for his efforts to bring Chinese classics to English - speaking audiences . Biography . Kao was born in Ann Arbor , Michigan in the United States to parents who were studying as Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program students and moved with them to China at age three , living in Nanjing , Beijing , and Shanghai . He graduated from Yenching University in 1933 and returned to the United States , enrolling in the University of Missouri School of Journalism , where he received a masters degree in 1935 , and Columbia University , where he received a masters degree in 1937 . From 1937 – 47 , Kao worked for the Publications Section of the Chinese News Service , Inc . , a news agency sponsored by the Republic of China ' s Board of Information and Ministry of Foreign Affairs . There he edited a daily news bulletin called " The Voice of China " based on radio reports from Chongqing , the Republic ' s capital during World War II . From 1947 – 49 , he worked for China ' s newly formed Government Information Office as director of the West Coast office and , later , as editor - in - chief of " The Chinese Press " ( 華美周報 " Huá - Měi Zhōubào " ) . From 1951 – 53 , Kao was a Chinese - language instructor at the United States Department of Defense ' s Defense Language Institute in Monterey , California . In 1957 , he became chief editor for the Washington , D . C . Voice of America ' s radio Chinese Broadcast and resided in nearby Kensington , Maryland . In 1972 , he moved to Hong Kong as a visiting senior fellow at the newly founded Research Centre for Translation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong . He returned to Kensington , Maryland in 1976 and lived in Rockville , Maryland and in Florida for the remainder of his life . His wife of 57 years , Maeching Li Kao ( born ca . 1920 ) , died on 25 July 2003 and Kao himself died at a retirement home in Winter Park , Florida in 2008 . Before his death , Kao established the George and Maeching Kao Endowment for Chinese Studies at Rollins College in Winter Park , Florida . The memorial funding , a living testimony to Kao ' s lifelong dedication of promoting mutual understanding between American and Chinese peoples , provides funding for scholarship , language learning and library purchases each year . Writings and translations . Kao was prolific as a translator from both English to Chinese and Chinese to English . He is known in the Chinese world as the translator of several classics of English - language literature and as the author of several books on the English language and about the United States . With his brother Irving K . Y . Kao , he was editor of a popular " New Dictionary of Idiomatic American English " . He also translated numerous Chinese works into English . At the Chinese University of Hong Kong , he founded ( in 1973 ) and served as editor of the highly regarded " " which translates classical and contemporary Chinese literature into English . He also contributed a number of translations to the journal himself . He edited or translated several of Taiwan author Pai Hsien - yung ' s collections into English . Selected works . Some works written or edited by George Kao include :