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D. C. Lau

1921 – 2010

Chinese sinologist and author

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About D. C. Lau

Lived 1921 – 2010 (aged 89). D. C. Lau was a Chinese philosopher, philologist, linguist and sinologist.

Din Cheuk Lau (; 8 March 192126 April 2010), commonly known by initials as D. C. Lau was a Hongkonger sinologist and author of the widely read translations of Tao Te Ching, Mencius and The Analects and contributed to the Proper Cantonese pronunciation movement.

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). 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.

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Important facts

Birth century
Education
University of Hong Kong
Employers
University College London, SOAS, University of London
Awards
Honorary doctor of the University of Hong Kong; Honorary doctor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Also known as
Lau Din Cheuk, Din Cheuk Lau

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped D. C. Lau's

Frequently asked questions

Who was D. C. Lau?

Chinese sinologist and author (1921–2010)

When was D. C. Lau born?

D. C. Lau was born on 8 March 1921 in British Hong Kong.

When did D. C. Lau die?

D. C. Lau died on 26 April 2010 in Hong Kong.

What was D. C. Lau's occupation?

D. C. Lau was a philosopher, philologist, linguist and sinologist.

What nationality was D. C. Lau?

D. C. Lau was Chinese.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: D. C. Lau

· Wikidata: Q5203530

· DBpedia: D. C. Lau

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). D. C. Lau. https://biography.guide/d-c-lau/

MLA: "D. C. Lau." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/d-c-lau/.

Chicago: "D. C. Lau." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/d-c-lau/.

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