Shaanxi Fiction via French Comics One of China’s best-selling, classic works of “rural fiction,” the White Deer Plain by Chen Zhongshi (白鹿原，陈忠实), has still not been translated into English, but is available in French (Au pays du cerf blanc) in a rendition by Shao Baoqing and Solange Cruveillé. This month, the comics version (连环画, right) made its … Continue reading Ethnic ChinaLit Briefs (Feb 11)
Author: xumushi
Chinese-to-English literary translator. Interested in topics such as fiction by the non-Han peoples of China, storytelling by Altaic peoples, and Silk Road cultures.
“Funeral of a Muslim”: Korean and Serbian Rights Purchased
With sales of some 2.5 million copies, Funeral of a Muslim (穆斯林的葬礼，霍达著), Huo Da’s tale about three generations of a Hui family in Beijing, is quite possibly the most popular ethnic-themed novel ever published in China. It spans the turbulent years of the Japanese invasion, World War II and part of the Cultural Revolution. I … Continue reading “Funeral of a Muslim”: Korean and Serbian Rights Purchased
Light Reading for Tibetans: “1984” and “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”
Orwell’s 1984 — in Tibetan (གཅིག་དགུ་གྱ་བཞི།, at left) — is now available in the PRC, confirms French Tibetologist Françoise Robin in an e-mail today. I assume it has the official stamp of approval, because it is published by the state-run Gansu Nationalities Publishing House, according to a news item in Tibetan (here). It was translated by Dorje … Continue reading Light Reading for Tibetans: “1984” and “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”
“Hegemonic Mindset” Hampering Recognition of Manchu Contribution to China’s Literature
Once in a blue moon I come across a well-argued scholarly essay which openly criticizes mainstream thinking about ethnic literature in New China. 不在场的在场：中国少数民族文学的处境 (Presence of Absence: Situation of China’s Ethnic Minority Language Literature) by Li Xiaofeng (李晓峰) is an outstanding example. He cites the words of author He Qifang (何其芳), and adds that precious little has … Continue reading “Hegemonic Mindset” Hampering Recognition of Manchu Contribution to China’s Literature
Qing Dynasty Translations of Han Classics into Various Languages of China
The four classics of Chinese vernacular literature during the Ming and Qing Dynasties — Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber — were all more or less fully translated into Manchu under the Qing, writes Yiming Abula (伊明·阿布拉) in Minority Translators Journal (民族翻译). Translations into … Continue reading Qing Dynasty Translations of Han Classics into Various Languages of China
By the Numbers: Non-Han “Literary Families” during the Qing
In much the same way as modern gender studies have exploded the myth that great writers throughout human history were necessarily male, contemporary research into literary production by non-Han authors is slowly lifting the veil on their role in China’s pre-20th-century literary life. In a recent piece on the current state of research into so-called … Continue reading By the Numbers: Non-Han “Literary Families” during the Qing
11th-Century Turkic Classic “Kutadgu Bilig” Recited in Chinese at the Great Hall of the People
Wish I could have been there along with former Minister of Culture Wang Meng — a Han who spent part of the Cultural Revolution in Ili laboring among Uyghurs — and central government and Xinjiang dignitaries. I was briefly in Beijing but unaware of the event: On January 18, a new Chinese rendition of the … Continue reading 11th-Century Turkic Classic “Kutadgu Bilig” Recited in Chinese at the Great Hall of the People
Compiling New 150,000-entry Tibetan Dictionary: Any Role for the Tibetan Diaspora?
Xinhua reports that the first 3 volumes of a new all-Tibetan dictionary will be published within 2015, with another 27 to be gradually launched through the end of 2018 (新版《藏文大辞典》). The aim seems to be to create the Tibetan equivalent of the much respected《辞海》(Cihai), the large-scale dictionary and encyclopedia of the Chinese language. Anyone who follows the … Continue reading Compiling New 150,000-entry Tibetan Dictionary: Any Role for the Tibetan Diaspora?
Bilingual Han Cadres: Coming Soon to Tibet Autonomous Region?
In Han Cadres Required to Learn Tibetan Language, the Global Times reports that Xi Jinping and company are getting serious about implementing the “bilingual policy” (藏、汉双语方针) that was legislated in Tibet way back in 1987: Mastery of the Tibetan language will become a requirement for non-native cadres in China's Tibet Autonomous Region. All seven prefecture-level … Continue reading Bilingual Han Cadres: Coming Soon to Tibet Autonomous Region?
Note to “The Diplomat” and Shannon Tiezzi: Uyghur is Not a Dialect of Chinese
In her Dec 24 analysis of a document designed to guide China’s future ethnic policies, China’s Prescription for ‘Improving Ethnic Work’, Shannon Tiezzi makes a reference to “local dialects”: The document attempts to address governance and policy issues as well, starting with the sensitive topic of language. Beijing reiterates that all officials, including those from … Continue reading Note to “The Diplomat” and Shannon Tiezzi: Uyghur is Not a Dialect of Chinese
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