Portrait of Sidney Rittenberg

Sidney Rittenberg

Authors · Business leaders · interpreter · linguist

🇺🇸 United States

American academic (1921-2019)

About Sidney Rittenberg

Sidney Rittenberg (Chinese: 李敦白; pinyin: Lǐ Dūnbái; August 14, 1921 – August 24, 2019) was an American journalist, scholar, and Chinese linguist who lived in China from 1944 to 1980. He worked closely with Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and other leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Chinese Communist Revolution, staying with them at Yan'an. Working for the Xinhua News Agency and Radio Peking afterwards, much of his time in China was spent in long periods of solitary confinement. According to his book, The Man Who Stayed Behind, Rittenberg was the second American citizen to join the CCP, the first being Ma Haide.

Quick facts

Born
1921-08-14
Died
2019-08-24

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