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Br. Leo Leeb, SVD, Builds Bridges Through German Translation of Chinese Author
Mag. Ursula Mauritz
For the first time, the experiences and reflections of a Chinese Muslim on Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam are available in German. The work by prominent Chinese author and intellectual Zhang Chengzhi was translated by Divine Word Missionary Br. Leopold (Leo) Leeb, SVD.
The Austrian missionary joined the Society of the Divine Word at St. Gabriel in 1985. Since 1995, he has lived and worked in Beijing as a teacher and translator. Leeb teaches Latin, Greek, and Ancient Hebrew at universities and high schools in China and earned a doctorate in Chinese philosophy in 1999. He also teaches calligraphy and epigraphy and has published books on Christianity in East Asia.
During the book presentation on August 26, 2026, at the Tyrolia bookstore on Vienna’s Stephansplatz, Leeb emphasized his desire to introduce Chinese intellectuals, authors, and scholars to Western audiences. His encounter with Zhang Chengzhi, who has become a “close friend” over the past two years, was, he said, a “stroke of luck” in this effort. “I want to understand what people in China think about us in the West and about the various religions.”
Leeb also expressed his respect for Islam and his hope that his work can contribute to dialogue between Christianity and Islam. Among his role models are theologians such as Fr. Andreas Bsteh, SVD, and Adel Theodor Khoury.
At the book presentation, Prof. Franz Gmainer-Pranzl of the Center for Intercultural Theology and the Study of Religions at the University of Salzburg described Leeb as “the most prominent Austrian living abroad in China” and a “bridge-builder.” He also recalled that the Society of the Divine Word has been active in China since its early history. The Center publishes the series Salzburg Theological Studies—Intercultural, in which Prophets and Liberation appears.
Leeb had been trying to contact Zhang Chengzhi for some time before finally meeting him in 2024. Born in Beijing in 1948 into a Muslim family, Zhang grew up in a secular society and rediscovered the faith of his ancestors at the age of 35.
As a student during the Cultural Revolution, Zhang was inspired by communist ideals. He spent four years in the Mongolian steppe during his youth, experiences he later drew upon in his writing. He studied archaeology, lived in Japan for several years, and received literary awards for works exploring the cultures of different ethnic groups in China. For four decades, he has repeatedly visited Muslim villages in northwestern China to understand and portray the lives of ordinary people.
Together with his wife, Suo Sa, an expert on Latin America, Zhang traveled through Spain and several Latin American countries and studied the work of liberation theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez. “The dignity of the oppressed and the rights of the disenfranchised are close to his heart,” Leeb said.
Prophets and Liberation has not yet been published in China. For Leeb, its publication in German represents an important milestone: “A comfort for Zhang Chengzhi and, for me, the fulfillment of a dream.”
Main corrections made: I standardized quotation marks and italics for the book title, corrected the typo “Prophets and Liberatio,” improved several awkward constructions, removed repetition, clarified the chronology, and made the biographical sections flow more naturally. I also changed “Steyler Father Andreas Bsteh” to “Fr. Andreas Bsteh, SVD” for consistency with Arnoldus Nota usage.
