A photo of China's pioneering Russian-language literature translator and writer Wang Zhichong Photo:Sina Weibo

Wang Zhichong, China's pioneering Russian-language literature translator and writer, passed away at the age of 86 on Saturday. 

The news was announced by the Shanghai Writers' Association on Sunday in a post on its WeChat platform. According to the post, Wang passed away Saturday afternoon at his home. Suffering from arthritis of the spine since the age of 15, the veteran translator was famous for his Chinese translation of How the Steel Was Tempered, which has touched many readers in China. 

Wang was given the nickname "the Chinese Korchagin" after the protagonist Pavel Korchagin in the novel. 

To find inspiration to fight his disease, Wang began reading Nikolai Ostrovsky's socialist-spirited novel How the Steel Was Tempered, which follows Pavel Korchagin, a young revolutionary soldier, who survives the Russian Civil War through bravery and resilience. 

The story inspired Wang to learn Russian on his own and this paved the way for his successful translating career as a Russian-language literature expert. 

In addition to Ostrovsky's well-known classic, Wang also translated the novelist's other work Born of the Storm. Another collection of Ostrovsky letters, some 800, 000 words in length, was also translated by Wang at the age of 74 and published in 2010. Featuring a total of 636 letters written over 22 years, it is a complete collection of Ostrovsky's letters to date in Chinese language.  

Wang once told media,"Though I'm over 80, I still want to take steps forward. Even if I can't run fast, I'll still move, little by little."  

"Ever since I was little, my dad always urged me to read How the Steel Was Tempered. I barely listened because the story was very distant from my life. But, after learning about Wang's story, I want to  read it again. Now I know that its value is not just the narrative, but how it gives people  spirit and hope," said Li Liming, a 30-year-old reader in Beijing.