Ning-tsu Malmqvist

Ning-tsu Malmqvist (née Ch'en; Chinese: 陳寧祖; June 9, 1931 – November 5, 1996.[1]) was a pioneering Chinese-Swedish cultural intermediary, translator, author, and educator. Born in Beijing and raised in Chengdu, Sichuan, she was one of the founding members in the Department of Chinese at Stockholm University. Beyond her work as an educator of Chinese language and heritage, she was a foundational figure in translating Chinese culture for the Swedish public. She was one of the rare non-European appearances in the Swedish public sphere during the mid-20th century, notably through her 1972 and 1980 cookbooks.[2] and televised demonstrations as early as 1967[3]

Early life

Ning-tsu Ch'en was born in 1931 in Beijing but grew up in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Her father, Ch'en Hsing-k'o, was a professor, and her mother, Liu K'o-chuang, was a school principal.[4]

In 1948, Swedish sinology student Göran Malmqvist arrived in Chengdu on a Rockefeller Fellowship to study Chinese dialects, and lodged with the Ch'en family.[5] The two married on 24 September 1950 at Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre (道風山) in Hong Kong.[6]

Career

Academic

Malmqvist served as a tutor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, at the Australian National University, Canberra.[7]

In 1965, Göran Malmqvist was appointed Professor of Sinology at Stockholm University. Together, they established the newly created Department of Chinese within the Faculty of Oriental Languages.[8] She taught Chinese there from the department's founding until her retirement,[9]: 53 [6][10][11] teaching generations of Swedish students the Chinese language and culture, including Torbjörn Lodén, the head of the Stockholm China Center.

Malmqvist co-translated Zhang Xianliang's novel Half the man is the woman into Swedish with Lena Jönsson,[12][13][14] and co-edited Leva i Kina: 45 kineser berättar öppenhjärtigt om sig själva (Tr: Living in China: 45 Chinese people talk candidly about themselves) with Göran Malmqvist (Forum, 1988)[15][16] and edited a collection of Chinese short stories in 1977.[17]

Culinary

In 1967, she made a landmark appearance on Swedish television demonstrating Chinese cooking in Swedish.[3] This represented one of the earliest instances of a non-European cultural intermediary presenting their heritage to Swedish audience, predating the country's shift toward multiculturalism. At a time when the Swedish palate was highly homogenized and access to East Asian spices was severely limited,[18] her work represented a foundational act of cultural translation. Malmqvist authored two foundational cookbooks that adapted traditional Sichuanese methods to locally available Swedish ingredients: Att äta med pinnar i Sverige (Forum, 1972)[19] and Ningtsus kinesiska kokbok (Forum, 1980).[2] These works served as essential cultural and pedagogical guides, introducing the philosophy of Chinese gastronomy to a predominantly monocultural Swedish society[20]

Family

Ning-tsu Malmqvist and Göran Malmqvist lived in London, New York, Beijing, and Canberra before eventually moving back to Stockholm. They had three sons: Anders, Per and Gunnar.[9] She died of cancer in Stockholm on 5 November 1996.[9]

Legacy

Ning-tsu Malmqvist's cookbook Att äta med pinnar i Sverige, originally published in 1972, was reprinted in 2011. Her culinary legacy has been continued by her family through Ningtsus Sichuanolja, a Sichuan chili oil distributed across Stockholm and Mälardalen.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Malmqvist, Ning-Tsu". Svenska gravar (in Swedish). Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  2. 1 2 "Malmqvist, Ning-tsu. Ningtsus kinesiska kokbok. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Forum, 1980. ISBN 91-37-09583-8. Libris catalogue record: https://libris.kb.se/bib/7254605."
  3. 1 2 "Husmors filmer hösten. Husmors Filmer AB, 1967. Filmarkivet.se, Swedish Film Institute. https://www.filmarkivet.se/movies/husmors-filmer-hosten-1967/ Accessed April 2026. Ning-tsu Malmqvist appears demonstrating Chinese cooking at 41:06"
  4. ↑ "Malmqvist, Ningtsu (född Ch'en) (1931–1996)." Digitalt Museum, Etnografiska Museet. https://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-em/web/object/4580844
  5. ↑ "Malmqvist, Göran . 另一種鄉愁. Taipei: 聯合文學, 2002. ISBN 9575223985."
  6. 1 2 孔慧怡 (Eva Hung). 不帶感傷的回憶 [Memories Unburdened by Sorrow]. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2017. ISBN 9780190828189. pp. 139–156.
  7. ↑ Bielenstein, Hans. "News of the Profession." The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 21, no. 2, 1962, pp. 257–61. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2050558. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
  8. ↑ "Chinese language and culture at Stockholm University." Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Stockholm University. https://www.su.se/...
  9. 1 2 3 "Lodén, Torbjörn. "Göran Malmqvist." Kungliga Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademiens Årsbok 2020. Stockholm: KVHAA, 2020. pp. 50–59. Available at https://www.vitterhetsakademien.se/download/18.378ecb1217ce9d33db8539f/1636461597811/KVHAA%20ÅB%202020%20Minnesord%20Malmqvist.pdf"
  10. ↑ Lodén, Torbjörn. “Kinaforskare med hemkänsla” [China scholar with home feeling]. Ningtsu Malmqvis in memoriam. Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, November 22, 1996. https://www.dn.se/arkiv/familj/kinaforskare-med-hemkansla/
  11. ↑ Lodén, Torbjörn; Wirén, Annika (1996-11-15). "Ning-tsu Malmqvist". Svenska Dagbladet (Obituary) (in Swedish). Stockholm. p. 21. Kinaforskare med hemkänsla... [worked as an "utländsk lektor i kinesiska" (Foreign Lecturer in Chinese) at Stockholm University from the very beginning of the department until her retirement]
  12. ↑ Zhang, Xianliang. Halva mannen är kvinnan. Translated by Malmqvist, Ning-tsu and Lena Jönsson. Stockholm: Forum, Centraltr. 1990. ISBN 9789137098968, 9137098969. Stockholms Stadbibliotek: https://biblioteket.stockholm.se/titel/8457094
  13. ↑ Gustafsson, Madeleine (1990-09-19). "Med horisonten som gräns". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish).
  14. ↑ Zetterholm, Tore (1990-10-30). "Lägerfångens psyke". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish).
  15. ↑ "Malmqvist, Ning-tsu, and Malmqvist, Göran, eds. Leva i Kina: 45 kineser berättar öppenhjärtigt om sig själva. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Forum, 1988. Libris catalogue record: https://libris.kb.se/bib/7255458."
  16. ↑ Gustafsson, Madeleine (1989-03-29). "Hemma hos kineserna". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Translated by Göran Malmqvist Ningtsu Malmqvist
  17. ↑ "Malmqvist, Ning-tsu, ed. Den klara källan : noveller från dagens Kina. Stockholm: Publicerad, 1977. ISBN 9170211639. Libris catalogue record: https://libris.kb.se/bib/7591094?vw=full."
  18. ↑ Frithiofsson, Bengt (1980-06-27). "Kinesens mål: Alltid en ny krog" [The Chinese goal: Always a new restaurant]. Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Stockholm. p. 1.
  19. ↑ "Malmqvist, Ning-tsu. Att äta med pinnar i Sverige: 61 recept. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Forum, 1972. Reprinted 2011. ISBN 9789174512465. Libris catalogue record: https://libris.kb.se/bib/12079643."
  20. ↑ Lindblå, Maud (29 October 1980). "När Ningtsu lagar mat blir det spännande" [When Ningtsu cooks, it gets exciting]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Stockholm. p. 25.
  21. ↑ "Svensson, Jenny. Ningtsu Food i samarbete med Gården Direkt. https://www.food-supply.se/article/view/117755/ningtsu_food_i_samarbete_med_garden_direkt."
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