WHEN Xu Yuanchong, born in 1921, stood up with the assistance of a few helpful hands to exit the hall where he had just delivered a speech on translation, the hundreds of audience members in attendance sat quietly, watching his movements with respect and affection, and no one left the room until he was out of sight.

    It happened at an awards ceremony for the Chinese Foreign Languages Publishing Administration and Translator Association of China on Friday.

    The ceremony was to celebrate the 93-year-old’s winning of the 2014 FIT Aurora Borealis Fiction Award, one of the highest honors a translator can receive, in Germany on Aug. 2.

    It is the first time that an Asian received the award, which was established in 1999. Considering Xu is too fragile for a long-distance flight, the FIT decided to let China International Publishing Group (CIPG) and the association present the award and honor to the master in China.

    “In an international environment in need of effective communication, Xu devoted his career to the translation of Chinese, English and French works and continues to contribute greatly to the field of international communication,” said Zhou Mingwei, the president of the CIPG.

    “Xu’s masterful accomplishments over the past 70 years, both in translation and the perfection of translation theories, show how he deserves this supreme award without any doubt.”

    Xu has long been a household name in China because his translation works between Chinese, English, and French, including literature and political essays by Chinese leaders, are considered among the best.

    He is also the only person in China who translates ancient Chinese poetry into English and French poetry and vice versa in a very precise and beautiful way. His books and works are often used as textbooks for foreign languages learners. Guo Xiaoyong, the deputy president of the translator association, said winning the award is not only quite another achievement for Xu, but also brings pride to the industry.

    He noted that Xu won the association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and he called on young translators to learn from his devotion to translation as a career and his diligence in building a communications bridge between the Chinese and the rest of the world.

    Yang Zhenning, the first Chinese-American Nobel Prize laureate, and Wang Xiji, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, both of whom were Xu’s college classmates in the 1930s, and Li Zhaoxing, former minister of foreign affairs and president of the association, also attended the ceremony. (SD-Agencies)