Yang Tsung-han
Son of the prominent Mongol Bannerman statesman and bibliophile Enhua ®¦µØ (1879-1954). Born in 1901, Yang Tsung-han graduated from Tsinghua University, and went to Harvard in 1921 to study Political Science. After graduation, he returned to Beijing, where he held various academic posts, including that of Head of the Department of Foreign Languages at Peking Normal University. Later he taught at Sichuan University, where he was Dean of the Faculty of Arts. After the Second World War he worked in the Chinese Embassy in Athens. He moved to Hong Kong in the early 1950s, and served briefly as Principal of the Evening School of Higher Chinese Studies. He also taught for a time at Chung Chi College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was an Honorary Research Fellow at the Research Centre for Translation, CUHK from 1985 to 1990. He died in Hong Kong in November 1992. His translation of Tracks in the Snow is published in Renditions No. 51.
Yang Tsung-han's family background made him the ideal translator of Tracks in the Snow. Like the book's author Linqing, Yang was a bannerman. Thus he brought to the translation his unique knowledge of life in Manchu China as well as an attention to detail which testifies to his cultural heritage. After Yang's passing away, Dr John Minford edited parts of his translation for publication.