(CFP)

Sidney Shapiro, a famed U.S.-born translator who was one of the few Westerners to gain Chinese citizenship, died on October 18 in Beijing at the age of 98, just two months shy of his 99th birthday.

Shapiro was born in New York City in 1915 and first came to China in 1947, having been selected by the U.S. army to learn Chinese during World War II. He remained in the country after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and became a Chinese citizen in 1963, an honor reserved only for a select few foreigners judged to have rendered special services to the nation at that time.

He was best known for his English translations of classical Chinese novels, and was bestowed a lifetime achievement award by the Translators Association of China in 2010.

Better known in China by his Chinese name Sha Boli, he was elected in 1983 to the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body of the country.