D. C. Lau

D. C. Lau (Chinese: 劉殿爵; pinyin: Liú Diànjué; Cantonese Yale: Lau Din Cheuk; 6 March 1921 – 26 April 2010) was a Chinese sinologist and author of the widely read translations of Tao Te Ching, Mencius and The Analects and contributed to the Proper Cantonese pronunciation movement.^[1]

D. C. Lau
Lau Din-cheuk (劉殿爵)
Born	(1921-03-06)March 6, 1921 Hong Kong, British Empire
Died	April 26, 2010(2010-04-26) (aged 89) Hong Kong, China
Academic background
Education	King's College University of Hong Kong Glasgow University
Academic work
Discipline	Sinology
Institutions	S Oriental & African Studies London University Chinese U of Hong Kong TT Ng Chinese Language Research Centre

D. C. Lau
Traditional Chinese	劉殿爵
Simplified Chinese	刘殿爵
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Liú Diànjué Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Làuh Din-cheuk

D. C. Lau studied Chinese under Xu Dishan at the University of Hong Kong, but fled to Mainland China in 1941 just before the Japanese occupied Hong Kong. In 1946, he was offered one of the first scholarships for a British university and studied Western philosophy in Glasgow University (1946–49).^[2] In 1950, Lau would take up a post at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, developing SOAS into a world-renowned centre for the study of Chinese philosophy.

He was appointed in 1965 to the newly created Readership in Chinese Philosophy and in 1970 became Professor of Chinese in the University of London. In 1978 he returned to Hong Kong to take up the Chair of Chinese Language and Literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. On his retirement in 1989, he began to computerise the entire body of extant ancient Chinese works, with a series of sixty concordances.^[3]

Bibliography

• Lau, D. C. (1963). Tao Te Ching. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140441314.
• Lau, D. C. (1970). Mencius. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140449716.
• Lau, D. C. (1979). The Analects. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140443486.
• Lau, D. C. (2000). The Analects (New Bilingual ed.). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. ISBN 978-9622019805.
• Lau, D. C. (2001). Tao Te Ching (New Bilingual ed.). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. ISBN 978-9622019928.
• Lau, D. C. (2003). Mencius (New Bilingual ed.). Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. ISBN 978-9622018518.

References

1. Baker, Hugh (July 2010). "Professor D. C. LAU at SOAS" (PDF). Journal of Chinese Studies (51): 12–14.
2. Roger T Ames (31 May 2010). "DC Lau obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
3. Biographical information from Penguin Classics version of The Analects (1979)