The work of Yan Fu, a well-known scholar and translator in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), is still relevant today, said Premier Li Keqiang while visiting Yan’s residence in Fuzhou, Fujian province on April 24.

The Premier said Yan, who was born in 1854 and died in 1921, was renowned for a global vision far ahead of its time and enlightened generations of Chinese by his translation of Western works. Every Chinese should study Yan and his works, he added.

Pointing at Thomas Henry Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics which was translated by Yan, the Premier mentioned that he also read the book when he worked and lived in the countryside, and said that Yan’s translation was indeed a work of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance”, attributes that Yan promoted in translation.