ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Arthur Waley

Arthur Waley was a very smart and talented grown-up who lived a long time ago. He was born in 1889 and died in 1966. He loved reading and writing and was very good at learning new languages. He especially loved Asia and spent a lot of his time studying Chinese and Japanese cultures and languages.

Arthur Waley was really good at translating things from Chinese and Japanese into English. This means he could read books and stories that were originally written in Chinese or Japanese and then make them into English so that other people who didn't speak Chinese or Japanese could read them too. This was really important because it helped people in other parts of the world learn more about Chinese and Japanese cultures.

Arthur Waley wrote many books himself too, and some of his most famous ones are called "Monkey" and "The Tale of Genji." These books are really old stories that were written in China and Japan a long, long time ago. Arthur Waley made them into English so that kids and grown-ups who spoke English could read them and enjoy the stories too.

Overall, Arthur Waley was a very smart and talented man who loved learning about other countries and cultures. He was famous for translating Chinese and Japanese books into English, which helped people in other parts of the world learn more about those cultures too.