the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, which was one of the most significant conferences marking the end of the World War II. In May 1945, Xiao gained fame after writing a piece of exclusive news about Vyacheslav Molotov inviting T. V. Soong to sign the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance during his trip to San Francisco while reporting on the United Nations Conference. He was also involved in the reporting of the trials of Nazis in Nuremberg, Germany. Literary friends According to Xiao's autobiography, he met the English novelist E.M. Forster, on 9 May 1941 at the Tagore Memorial Meeting. The event was organized by the English PEN Club. The two became very close friends and often exchanged letters. They disagreed with each other over the issue of homosexuality (Xiao was opposed to legalization). The friendship, however, did not last. Xiao, fearing for the safety of his family during the Cultural Revolution, destroyed all the letters he had received from Forster and asked Forster not to contact him again. Because Forster might have assumed that Xiao was ignoring him, he burned some of the letters he had kept as a memento of their friendship. Bibliography (Translations) Selected Master Pieces by Xiao Qian 萧乾作品精选 (ed. Wen Jieruo 文洁若) Beijing : Beijing Language and Culture University Press 北京语言大学出版社, 2001. 382 pages. . (Bilingual version with Chinese original and English translation: 《蚕》、《篱下》、《雨夕》、《破车上》、《雁荡行》、《血红的九月》、《矛盾交响曲》、《银风筝下的伦敦》等近二十篇文学作品。) References External links China Culture Information Net Letters Reveal Writer's Later Years Prize of Chinese Books Website A very Recent Comment on the character by an editorial in China Portrait of Xiao Qian (Cambridge, England. 1941) by Spanish painter Gregorio Prieto 1910 births 1999 deaths Catholic University of Peking alumni Academic staff of Yenching University Academics of University College London Republic of China journalists People's Republic of China journalists Writers from Beijing Republic of China essayists People's Republic of China essayists Republic of China translators People's Republic of China translators Chinese people of Mongolian descent 20th-century Chinese translators International Writing Program alumni 20th-century essayists Victims of the Anti-Rightist Campaign