Various media including The China Daily (Bring Asian Magic to US) have reported the rumor—as yet unconfirmed---that China’s crowd-pleasing 76-part TV series Empresses in the Palace (甄嬛传) may soon be recut and dubbed in English for re-broadcast by a US firm. The TV adaptation of the historical novel of the same name depicts the intrigue … Continue reading “Empresses in the Palace”: Wrong Message for Guileless Western Audience?
Uyghur Authors in China
2023 4Q note Apologies for the links below, several of which are now "dead." Not sure how many died a natural death versus those that were pro-actively "disappeared" by the authorities in the wake of the large-scale incarceration of Uyghurs, including writers such as Perhat Tursun, implemented since 2017. In 2013, it’s not easy to … Continue reading Uyghur Authors in China
Translator of Best Sellers “Kite Runner” and “Conversations with God” Incenses Fellow English-to-Chinese Decoders
So much for the invisible translator. With the launch of his Chinese renditions of classics whose copyrights had expired (新译本), such as The Old Man and the Sea (老人遇害) and The Great Gatsby (了不起的的盖茨比), Li Jihong (李继宏) has managed to infuriate a host of fellow translators, hommes de lettres and even would-be readers. Partly due … Continue reading Translator of Best Sellers “Kite Runner” and “Conversations with God” Incenses Fellow English-to-Chinese Decoders
《额尔古纳河右岸》的英文译者: “因为书里的故事感动了我”
伦敦出版商 Harvill Secker 一月 17 日推出了东北作家迟子建的第一本译成英文的小说，《Last Quarter of the Moon》。为了《中华读书报》，慷慨先生找到我，进行了有关我翻译这本小说的采访： 《读书报》：为什么使用现在这个英译书名，而不是原书名《额尔古纳河右岸》的直译？ 徐穆实 [Bruce Humes]：首先要明白一个事实：书名一般由出版方来定，译者甚至原作家的想法只是建议罢了。要知道，外文版权是外国出版社拥有的，当然是他们说了算。 我的建议本来是直译：The Right Bank of the Argun。这书名不仅忠实原作，也方便引起西方读者的好奇心。因为用“右岸”表达河流的方位有点莫名其妙，西方读者习惯用东南西北来表达。就算西方读者 不知道这条河是几百年以来中俄边境的界线，单凭这种奇特的表达方式，也会引起他们的好奇心。 但英格兰的出版人被早些出版的《额尔古纳河右岸》意大利译文的书名 Ultimo quarto di luna 所吸引，就把它译成英文的 The Last Quarter of the Moon。 全文可以在此下载 PDF 版。
Teaching Mongolian in the PRC: Written Trumps Spoken & Befuddles the Foreign Learner
The khanbaliqist has written an informative and witty post, Spelling Pronunciations as a Method of Teaching, based on his own experiences learning Mongolian on the ground . . . in Inner Mongolia, I believe. His description of how written Mongolian is emphasized—almost to the point of banning spoken Mongolian from the classroom—reminds me of my … Continue reading Teaching Mongolian in the PRC: Written Trumps Spoken & Befuddles the Foreign Learner
Echoes of Samarkand: Salar Literary Conference Held in Qinghai
A conference highlighting writing by Salar authors (撒拉族文学) was held in January 2013 in Xunhua County (循 化), Qinghai Province, home to most of the 100,000 Salar (撒拉族) who consider themselves descendants of Muslims who migrated in the 13th century from Samarkand (present-day Uzbekhistan, and once home to Omar Khayyam) in search of religious freedom. Subsequent contacts … Continue reading Echoes of Samarkand: Salar Literary Conference Held in Qinghai
Eight Peoples of Northeast China Featured in Ethnography Series
The first 8 of 55 volumes—one for each officially recognized ethnic minority in the PRC—have been jointly launched by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Liaoning Publishing Group (辽宁出版集团). The series is titled <走进中国少数民族丛书> (Inside China’s Ethnic Minorities). Each book focuses on the culture and history of one ethnic group located in the northeast: … Continue reading Eight Peoples of Northeast China Featured in Ethnography Series
By the Numbers: Endangered Tongues in the People’s Republic
In <四成少数民族语言临危,> Wang Bo at Chinanews.com reports that up to four of ten languages native to minorities in China are threatened with extinction. Here are a few numbers that appear in the report: Non-han languages: 55 officially designated “peoples” (民族) speak an estimated 130 languages Scripts in use: 40, including Mongolian, Tibetan, Uighur, Kazakh, Kirghiz, … Continue reading By the Numbers: Endangered Tongues in the People’s Republic
Translator Shortage and Tired Tales of Chinese Exceptionalism
Writes Dong Fangyu at China Daily in Translators Leave China Lost for Words: “. . . many Chinese novels that have won top prizes and been well received in China face delays in getting published abroad due to a lack of good translators. Take the example of the novel Shou Huo (The Joy of Living，[受活]) … Continue reading Translator Shortage and Tired Tales of Chinese Exceptionalism
Chen Zhongshi’s “White Deer Plain”: Censored to Win Coveted Mao Dun Literary Prize
White Deer Plain, a newly launched movie based on Chen Zhongshi's novel of the same name (白鹿原, 陈忠实著), has aroused controversy both as a book and as a film. The novel tells the tale of two families, Bai and Lu, living through the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the beginning of the Republic and the rise of … Continue reading Chen Zhongshi’s “White Deer Plain”: Censored to Win Coveted Mao Dun Literary Prize
Altaic Storytelling 