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Henri Jean François (Henri) Borel (Dordrecht, November 23 1869 - The Hague, August 31 1933) was a Dutch novellist, journalist and translator.

Family
Borel was a son of major general and governor of the Koninklijke Militaire Academie George Frederik Willem Borel (1837-1907) and Suzanna Elisabeth Marcella (1839-1910). His mother was the granddaughter of general Bernardus Johannes Cornelis Dibbets, who was commander-in-chief in the fortification of Maastricht during the Belgian Revolution. He had an older sister, Julie Desirée Borel (1867-1933), who was married to assistent-resident Edward Ludwig Kühr. A younger brother, Eduard Arnold Borel (1877-1893) died at the age of nearly 16 years. Borel married tree times; first on June 8 1892 with Maria Christina zur Haar, the second time on December 10 1902 with Helena Maria de Hartog and the third time with Anna Maria Huffstad. From his marriage with Helena Maria de Hartog Borel had a son, who became a famous actor, Louis Borel. He also had a daughter, Machteld, from his third marriage.

Biography
Borel was born on November 23 1869 in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. He attended the H.B.S. in The Hague, Goes and Roermond. He passed the examination for the training to become a dragoman and started a study Chinese at the University of Leiden. He left for China in 1892, where he continued his studies at the eiland of Ku Lang Su. He was made available to the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies by the Ministry of Colonial Affairs in June 1892, so that he could (after a years training period in China) become a translator of the Chinese language in the Dutch East Indies.

During his time in China the First Sino-Japanese War started (1894) and Borel was appointed war correspondent; in this position he wrote letters about the war to the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant. After he returned to the Dutch East Indies in October 1894 he was appointed as a translator for Chinese affairs in Tanjung Pinang. In February 1895 he wrote in a letter to the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant that he did not agree with the anti-Japan articles of professor Schlegel in the same newspaper (his former professor at the University of Leiden).