David Tod Roy

David Tod Roy (simplified Chinese: 芮效卫; traditional Chinese: 芮效衛; pinyin: Ruì Xiàowèi; 1933 – May 31, 2016) was an American sinologist and scholar of Chinese literature who was Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago from 1967 until he took early retirement in 1999. Roy is most well-known for his translation of Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase, or, Chin P’ing Mei), published in five volumes by Princeton University Press from 1993 to 2013. It stands alongside the Four Great Novels of the Ming dynasty. Where earlier translations omitted many passages, especially the sexual ones, Roy was the first to render the whole novel into English.