On September 4, 2025, at the 23rd World Congress of Translators in Geneva, Switzerland, Yang Wuneng, retired professor of Sichuan University and former Vice President of Sichuan International Studies University, is awarded the Aurora Borealis Prize for Outstanding Literary Translation. He is the second Asian translator to earn this distinction, following Xu Yuanchong.

Established in 1999 by the International Federation of Translators (FIT), the Aurora Borealis Prize recognizes outstanding achievements in literary translation and intercultural exchange. In its award citation, the FIT Awards Committee commended Yang for more than six decades of work in German–Chinese literary exchange, noting that his translations have deepened Chinese readers’ understanding of German Classics and literature.

Yang is widely regarded as one of China’s foremost translators of German literature. Over his career, he has translated more than one hundred works, including Faust, The Sorrows of Young Werther, The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and The Magic Mountain. He also compiled the Collected Works of Goethe and the Collected Works of Heine, and published several scholarly monographs and essay collections. His translations, noted for their accuracy and literary merit, have greatly advanced Chinese–German literary exchange.