Mei Shaowu, 1928-2005, originally named Mei Baozhen, was born in Beijing in 1928. He was a senior researcher at the Institute of American Studies in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a member of the Sixth to Ninth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committees, president of the Chinese Research Institute of Mei Lanfang Culture and Arts, honorary curator of the Mei Lanfang Memorial Museum, and also a member of the Chinese Writers Association, the Chinese Theater Association, the China Association for the Study of American Literature, the Association for the Study of English Literature, as well as the Translators Association of China. In 2004, he was given the title of senior translator by the Translators Association of China.

Mei Shaowu is famous for his translations of English and American Literature, as well as being a critic, a dramatist and a writer. His main translation works include The Complete Albanian Short Stories, A Hungarian Nabob, Lord Hellman, Silence of Ashes, Marx and World Literature, and The Thin Man.

Mei Shaowu died of an illness in Beijing on September 28, 2005 at age 77.

(China.org.cn July 29, 2008)