Hung Hing Ming studied English at China’s most prestigious university in the early 1960s and went on to work as an official interpreter and translator working with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

He taught English at Zhongshan University (Dr. Sun Yat San University), Guangzhou, in 1984 and again from 1987 to 1991, as an associate professor and an instructor for graduate students in the Foreign Languages and Literature Department. He was a visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and at the University of Kansas from late 1984 to 1987, when he earned his Masters degree in linguistics, before returning to Zhongshan University. In 1991, Mr. Hung moved to Hong Kong where he worked as a legal translator with international law firms for close to 20 years.

Mr. Hung is writing a series of biographies to introduce some of China’s most emblematic historical figures to the American public.

UN Translator Hung Hing Ming continues to bring Chinese history to an English-speaking audience through his translations of Chinese chronicles and the writings of the early historian Sima Qian. Here, he reviews some of the major episodes of the...

UN Translator Hung Hing Ming continues to bring Chinese history to an English-speaking audience through his translations of Chinese chronicles and the writings of the early historian Sima Qian. Here, he reviews some of the major episodes of the Han Dynasty, from its founding by Liu Bang to the Lü Clan Disturbance and subsequent diplomatic overtures and military campaigns against the minor Chinese kingdoms, the Mongols, and Gojoseon (the ancient Korean Kingdom).

Across the Gobi Desert and the vast expanses of Asia, drama was never in short supply. Murder and betrayals, battles and sieges, rebellion and surrender took place all while administrative innovations helped improve life for the people. Due to the astute observations and prudent conduct of a long-term hostage, the first of the Great Silk Road trade routes were opened, paving the way for today's Belt and Road Initiative that promises to boost the economies of all in its path.