Bookish Shanghai New Atmosphere ⑤ | When American and Russian students study together at Du Fu's Poetry and Book Exhibition | Shanghai | Du Fu
"Floating like a seagull in heaven and earth."
"Driving, driving, where shall I lie, A sea full between sea and sky?"
On August 20th, the English translation of Du Fu's Complete Poems premiered at the Shanghai Book Fair. Golden haired and blue eyed American student Wang Chen and Russian student Viri recited Du Fu's five character regulated poem together. This complete collection of Du Fu's poetry, translated by Zhao Yanchun, a professor at the School of Foreign Languages at Shanghai University and director of the Translation Research and Publishing Center, not only includes 1500 poems retained by Du Fu, but also serves as the first rhyme translation of all of his poems, showcasing the beauty of Du Fu's poetry in terms of phonetics and rhythm in English.
If publishing is an important link in content production, dissemination is even more essential for publishing. How to tell Chinese stories well and spread Chinese culture? The various new books presented at this year's Shanghai Book Fair have been put into practice in both academic and mass publishing fields. In the words of Zhu Zhenwu, a professor and translator at Shanghai Normal University, Chinese culture not only needs to "go out", but also needs to "go in" and "integrate". "At present, Chinese literature and culture need to" go out "accurately and relatively authentically. It is the right time. We need more bilingual talents who are rooted in Chinese culture, have the ability to think critically and have patriotism. We need more high-quality works that deeply explore the connotation of Chinese culture and meet the acceptance habits of the target language audience."
There is no shortage of books on Chinese stories, what's important is how to tell them
"When it comes to the benefits of learning English, many students may say it broadens their horizons, but few people mention what kind of Chinese culture learning English can bring out." Bi Xiaonan, a judge of English speech and debate competitions such as the 21st Century Cup, discussed this regret at the premiere of "Speculation and Speaking to Tell the Story of China in English".
The Shanghai Education Publishing House has launched "Telling the Story of China in English through Speculation and Speech" as a "2023 Shanghai Key Book", which includes six volumes including "Wisdom", "Philosophy", "Legend", "Poetry", and "Idioms". The content covers various aspects such as Chinese celebrity stories, philosophical stories, folk legends, classical poetry, idiom stories, and stories since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Cao Yongjun, the editor in chief of the Chinese language series and a senior Chinese teacher, mentioned that the Chinese team gradually clarified the selection principle when discussing sample chapters: to have a high reputation in Chinese culture, including speculative space, and to have the English team translate "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance" to form the final version. Chinese editor Liu Xiao mentioned that the Chinese team needs to transform Chinese cultural stories, especially classical Chinese and ancient poetry, into easy to understand vernacular language in order for the English team to better translate and express themselves. He gave an example, "If you can't be the Poet, be the Poet." The literal translation of this English sentence is "If you can't be a poet, live a more poetic life."; If we associate Chinese culture, translating it into Chinese would be more poetic and resonant: "If we can't be Li Bai, we'll turn into the bright moon.". The Chinese team has also made such efforts in the process of converting classical Chinese into vernacular.
"There is no shortage of Chinese story books on the market, but how and why they are told is still of utmost importance," said Bi Xiaonan.
"Chinese history books often revolve around the succession of dynasties. The advantage of writing in this way is that the time clues are clear. However, after reading too many such history books, a confusion arises: is the succession of dynasties, combined with a detailed list of emperors, something that ordinary readers need to pay special attention to?" Writer Sun Yong's new book "A Thousand Sails Across the Yangtze River - The Source of Chinese Cultural Thought" in both simplified and traditional Chinese versions appeared at this year's Shanghai Book Fair. The original intention of Sun Yong was to write a personalized history book. The traditional Chinese version of the book was published by Hong Kong Zhonghe Publishing Co., Ltd. It was well received by readers as soon as it was listed at the Hong Kong Book Fair this year. Chen Wanxiong, Honorary President of the Hong Kong Publishing Association, believes that this book elaborates on the values of Chinese cultural thought from a modern and global perspective. It is concise and easy to understand, especially for young people who are eager to understand the full picture of China's 5000 year cultural thought.
"Many industry insiders have expressed their expectation that contemporary readers who narrate Chinese culture from a novel, concise, and profound perspective can have multilingual dissemination.".
To tell the story of China well and contribute Shanghai's wisdom
"There are too few people who can translate and also teach translation, and there are too few who are familiar with both the culture of their own country and the culture of the target language country." At the opening ceremony of "The Complete Works of Du Fu's Poetry in English Translation", Zhu Zhenwu bluntly stated that he had read a scholar's translation of Li He's poetry, "I advised him to give up, and what he translated has little to do with Li He."
The Chinese Story English Communication Trilogy, completed by Zhu Zhenwu over a period of 10 years, was presented to readers at this year's Shanghai Book Fair. "With the spread of Western learning to the east and the transmission of Chinese literature and culture to the west, there is diversity in literature and culture in order to achieve true cultural exchange." Zhu Zhenwu said that in order to make target language readers recognize, accept, like, and absorb Chinese literature and culture, it is necessary to conduct in-depth and detailed substantive research on their thinking patterns, cognitive patterns, reception contexts, and reading habits, and adopt corresponding translation strategies. "There should be experts, scholars, and translators who are culturally conscious, creative conscious, and translation conscious. At the same time, it is important to collaborate with scholars and translators from target language countries, as the level of target language proficiency and thinking patterns often determine how far a translation can go."
Writer Zhao Lihong's new work "Du Fu and Caotang" and the Japanese version of "Tree Child" held a sharing session at the Jing'an District Library at the book fair. "The Japanese translator of" Tree Child ", Chichiko Narita, is proficient in Chinese and loves Chinese culture very much. She likes this book and is willing to translate it, constantly asking me questions during the translation process, with a rigorous attitude," Zhao Lihong said.
"Translators' choices are not primarily driven by market objectives or reputation factors, as many people think. Often, they are purely driven by interest and obligation. They have a love and sense of responsibility for spreading excellent literature and culture from other regions." Zhu Zhenwu analyzed, "We need authors who are culturally conscious to create excellent works that reflect the essence of Chinese culture. We need to uphold cultural confidence, respect target language translators, recognize and encourage sinologists and translators' cultural dissemination work, so that the world can further read China and understand China."
At the signing of the "Strategic Cooperation Agreement" and "Copyright Overseas Joint Operation Agreement" by China News Publishing Media Group, East China Normal University Press, and China New Kuanwei Media Technology Co., Ltd., Wang Yan, Chairman of East China Normal University Press, said, "We hope that the high-quality copyright resources of the publishing house can directly reach overseas end audiences through the technology and platform of our partners, so that foreign friends can enhance their recognition of China through the perception and infiltration of Chinese culture."
Zhou Hanmin, President of the Shanghai Public Diplomacy Association and Chairman of the Shanghai Institute of Public Diplomacy, edited the latest translations of "Good and Respected Friendship - Shanghai Public Diplomacy Practice" and "Public Diplomacy Translation Series", "Public Opinion and Diplomacy in the 20th Century" and "New Economic Diplomacy", which were also presented at this year's book fair. "Good and Respecting People for a Long Time" focuses on the story of local public diplomacy in Shanghai; The Public Diplomacy Translation Series focuses on an international perspective. Huang Qiang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Shanghai Century Publishing Group, believes that choosing to debut at the Shanghai Book Fair, a platform that combines Shanghai's characteristics and international influence, is timely and timely. "We hope to take the publication of two sets of books as an opportunity to share the fresh stories and innovative experiences of Shanghai's public diplomacy practice with the world, and contribute Shanghai's wisdom to further telling the story of China well."
