Baidu Encyclopedia First? Uyghur Author’s Name Noted in Uyghur Script

An entry I read today in Baidu Encyclopedia (百度百科), a domestic site which serves as a (politically correct) Wikipedia for mainland Chinese — the latter is often firewalled — may signal a change in the policy of referring to members of minority ethnicities by Chinese name only. Qurbanjan Semet, author/photographer of the recently launched I … Continue reading Baidu Encyclopedia First? Uyghur Author’s Name Noted in Uyghur Script →

One Belt, One Road: China’s Soft Power Campaign Quietly Inches its Way to Middle East and North Africa

A children's literature exhibition and copyright exchange for countries along the Silk Road were two of the major focuses of the just-ended Beijing Int’l Book Fair, reports the Global Times (Book Fair): Children's book publishers from 15 Arab countries and 18 domestic publishers signed deals that will see the best of children's literature from China … Continue reading One Belt, One Road: China’s Soft Power Campaign Quietly Inches its Way to Middle East and North Africa →

Aug 2015 Update: Strategies for Exporting More of China’s Ethnic Fiction

I was invited to the “2015 Sino-foreign Literature Translation & Publishing Workshop” (2015 中外文学翻译研修班) that just ended in Beijing, but didn’t make it. It looks like it was a major happening with more than 50 translation and publishing professionals attending from 30+ countries. Check out the site here. Most of it is in Chinese, but … Continue reading Aug 2015 Update: Strategies for Exporting More of China’s Ethnic Fiction →

Kurdish Dengbêjî and the ‘Nostalgia Industry’

Building the dengbêj ‘tradition’ . . . must also be considered in a wider context. Interest in memory is rapidly spreading in contemporary Turkey and is helping people explore personal and collective histories. These memories are also — within certain limits — fostered by official narratives that ‘rediscover,’ for instance, an Ottoman and multicultural past. … Continue reading Kurdish Dengbêjî and the ‘Nostalgia Industry’ →

Kurdish Storytellers Congregate in Southeastern Turkey’s Diyarbakır

In Few Dengbejs Remain to Sing Kurdish Stories, Mat Nashed reports from Turkey’s Diyarbakır on the “House of Dengbej,” established to provide a venue for performances by traditional Kurdish storytellers: “We sing stories of love and war,” [Mehmet] Ince told Al-Monitor while lighting a cigarette in the house of the dengbej. “We express our history through … Continue reading Kurdish Storytellers Congregate in Southeastern Turkey’s Diyarbakır →

Mongolian Shaman Songs of Praise Rendered in Chinese

Two poets have collaborated to publish a book containing 29 renditions of songs of praise traditionally chanted by shaman. The original odes in Mongolian were first translated into Mandarin by Mongolian scholar Ni Ma (尼玛), and then polished by Xi Murong (席慕蓉), who also knows Mongolian but was educated in Taiwan. The book is published … Continue reading Mongolian Shaman Songs of Praise Rendered in Chinese →

“Last Quarter of the Moon”: Evenki Odyssey Captured in Chinese Novel Set in the Greater Khingan Mountains

My translation of Chi Zijian’s Last Quarter of the Moon (额尔古纳河右岸) can be ordered — e-book, hard cover and paperback — online at various places, including Amazon. Read the opening for free here (click on the cover), or the author’s Afterword. For information on other editions, see: Dutch (Het laatste kwartier van de maan), French, Italian … Continue reading “Last Quarter of the Moon”: Evenki Odyssey Captured in Chinese Novel Set in the Greater Khingan Mountains →

Documenting Folk Songs of Yunnan’s Bai People in Multilingual Format

Chinese Ethnic Minority Oral Traditions: A Recovered Text of Bai Folk Songs, a new work in the Cambria Sinophone World Series, was published recently. A brief backgrounder on how it came into being: In 1958 while conducting fieldwork in Yunnan, a professor came across a rice paper booklet with strange script created from Chinese characters. … Continue reading Documenting Folk Songs of Yunnan’s Bai People in Multilingual Format →

One Belt, One Road: China Has the $, but Does it Have the Cross-cultural Expertise?

China's ambitious "One Belt, One Road" campaign (一带一路, OBOR) is a development strategy and framework that seeks to foster connectivity and cooperation between China and the countries along the ancient Silk Road that passed through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East and Europe. It also includes the lesser-known Maritime Silk Road. This global initiative … Continue reading One Belt, One Road: China Has the $, but Does it Have the Cross-cultural Expertise? →

Profile of Octogenarian Orochen: Folk Song Singer, Folk Tale and Dictionary Compiler

Among one of the first batches of young Orochen (鄂伦春) chosen to receive a formal Chinese-language education in Zhalantun in 1948, E’erdenggua (额尔登挂) was just 17 at the time. She had never been outside her village on the banks of Chuo’er River (绰尔河畔) in Inner Mongolia, and didn’t speak a word of Chinese. Now 84, … Continue reading Profile of Octogenarian Orochen: Folk Song Singer, Folk Tale and Dictionary Compiler →