Sidney Rittenberg

Sidney Rittenberg (; August 14, 1921 – August 24, 2019) was an American journalist, educator, and Chinese linguist. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He lived in China from 1944 to 1980. He worked closely with Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and other leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Chinese Communist Revolution.
He was imprisoned in solitary confinement, twice, for a total of 16 years. He was the first American citizen to join the CCP.
Rittenberg died on August 24, 2019 in Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 98.