Xu Fancheng

Xu Fancheng (Traditional Chinese:徐梵澄) (1909–2000) is a Chinese scholar and translator. He is famous for rendering 50 of the Upanishads into classical Chinese. He has also translated Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra, Kalidasa's lyric poem Meghaduuta (Cloud Messenger), and many of Sri Aurobindo's works into Chinese.

He was born into a wealthy family in Changsha, Hunan, and was a friend and student of Lu Xun in his early life. From 1927–1929, he studied History at Zhongshan University and then Western Literature in Fudan University. He studied Fine Art and Philosophy in Germany from 1929–1932.

From 1945–1978, he studied and taught in India, thus escaping the Cultural Revolution, the plight for that generation of Chinese intellectuals. After returning to China, he worked as a researcher in the Research Institute of World Religions of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Unlike some popularity-seeking Chinese indologists of his generation, he maintained a low profile throughout his life.

He was familiar with Greek, Latin, English, French, as well as Sanskrit and German. It is rumoured that he was planning to render the New Testament into Chinese just before his death.