Guan Yuqian, who ＂defected＂ during the Cultural Revolution, died of illness in Berlin

(Reported by Sing Tao Daily) The famous scholar Guan Yuqian (see photo) who was accused of "defecting" to China passed away on November 22 local time in Berlin, Germany at the age of 87 due to illness.China's official China News Agency also released news of his death yesterday, saying that he had made great contributions to Sino-German friendship and the spread of Chinese culture.

China News Agency transferred the news from the Wechat account of the German Chinese Business Daily yesterday, saying that Mr. Guan Yuqian is a master of history, doctor of literature, current affairs critic, linguist, writer, and translator from the University of Hamburg, Germany.

Guan Yuqian was born in Guangzhou in 1931.Before 1949, he studied in Shanghai, then studied English at the Department of Western Languages of Yenching University in Beijing, and was transferred to Beijing Foreign Studies University to study Russian.After graduating in 1953, he was assigned to the Central Ministry of Finance as a Russian translator.

However, Guan Yuqian was labeled as a rightist in 1957 and sent to Qinghai for labor reform.In the early 1960s, he was transferred back to Beijing to do foreign liaison work. In 1968, he took an opportunity of a foreign visit, refused to return to China, and started wandering in Egypt and other African countries.Ph.D., and then stayed on to teach at the University of Hamburg.

After China's reform and opening up, Guan Yuqian's relationship with China thawed. He published 26 books introducing Chinese and Western cultures in Chinese, German, English, and Italian.Compiled the German version of Lu Xun's anthology; his documentary literature Wave and the German version of Life Under Two Skies were rated as five-star works by the German publishing industry.With the support of the Fok Ying Tung Foundation, large-scale activities such as Chinese and Western cultural seminars and Chinese cultural festivals have been hosted in major European cities.He is currently the chairman of the European Chinese Association and the chairman of the German-Chinese Cultural Exchange Association.