Translating the socialist nation

FORUM ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuhua Ni
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Nation Branding ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Modern Chinese Literature ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Sociology Of Communication

Abstract The first seventeen years of the People’s Republic of China (PRC, 1949–1966) was a critical period for the newly established nation to gain international recognition. The period witnessed a unique translation activity, i.e. SL-generated translation of a large number of classical and modern Chinese literature into English and other foreign languages. These state-sponsored translations were mainly undertaken by teams of Chinese and foreign translators in the Foreign Languages Press (FLP) in Beijing. This paper aims to explore how literary translation was used for nation branding and promoting Chinese communism abroad. It reveals the political agenda behind the outward translation activity. It goes on to probe into the patronage of the FLP to disclose the relationship between the translating institution and the political discourse on the nation. Lastly, the study of the English translation of Linhai Xueyuan (林海雪原), i.e. Tracks in the Snowy Forest, a bestseller representative of the ‘revolutionary novel’ of the time, will show that the adaptations aim at recasting revolutionary characters as “perfect” heroes so as to project an ideal image of the modern Chinese nation. The paper concludes with a call to integrate outward translation into TS. Based on Luhmann’s sociology of communication it provides a preliminary observation on the reception of the PRC’s export enterprise, which, more often than not, turned out to be counterproductive.

“HOW MUCH TRUTH CAN A BLADE OF GRASS CARRY?”: Ch'en Ying-chen and the Emergence of Native Taiwanese Writers

1973 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph S. M. Lau
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Modern Chinese Literature ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
The West ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Ying Chen ◽  
Nationalist Government

Though Taiwan has since 1949 been the seat of the Nationalist Government and the domicile of several millions of exiled Chinese, no serious literature has been produced until the late fifties.1 Explanations are not difficult to give. For one thing, since nearly all the important figures of modern Chinese literature have remained in the People's Republic of China,” their works are therefore proscribed for political reasons. Cut off from their mainland base, the disinherited young Taiwanese writers, having no native idols to emulate and anxious to create a tradition of their own, could only import from the West whatever “isms” they considered to be the literary fashions of the day—symbolism, surrealism, existentialism, futurism, modernism, phenomenalism, etc. Quite often, however, what they regarded as daring experiments at the time of initiation later turned out to be

Literary Translation and Modern Chinese Literature

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
JI Jin
Keyword(s):  
World Literature ◽  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Modern Chinese Literature ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Literary Creation ◽  
Late Qing ◽  
Narrative Structures ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Cultural Alterity

Since the late Qing, literature in translation and modern Chinese literature have maintained a symbiotic relationship. Translation, understood as an entirely new means of creation and expression rather than a mere change in language, profoundly influenced modern Chinese literature with regard to narrative structures and techniques as well as generic and formal innovations. Literature in translation can be considered from the dual perspectives of cultural alterity and sameness; even as the process of translation was influenced by modern literature, translation played an important role in the development of modern Chinese literature. To regard literature in translation as an integral part of modern Chinese literature challenges how we define the “Chineseness” of Chinese literature. It allows for a new understanding of the dialectic relationship between literature in translation and modern Chinese literature in the broader context of world literature and thus opens up new possibilities for literary creation.

Fantastic Laughter in a Socialist-Realist Tradition?

2019 ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
Yun Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Modern Chinese Literature ◽  
Film Adaptation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Milieu ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Socialist Realist ◽  
Realist Model

With an aim to shed some light on the regulated yet not necessarily homogenized laughter of the pre-Cultural Revolution Maoist years, this chapter examines the nuanced deployment of laughter in the popular children’s novella The Magic Gourd (Bao hulu de mimi) by the literary humorist Zhang Tianyi (1906–1985) and its eponymous film adaptation by Yang Xiaozhong (1899–1969). Contextualizing these texts both in the larger tradition of modern Chinese literature and culture and in the specific socio-cultural milieu of the late 1950s and the early 1960s, I look into how, without apparently challenging the dominant socialist-realist model, they tactfully relieve the stress between the politically repudiated comic mode of “satire” (fengci) and the purposefully promoted mode of “extolment” (gesong). Whether intended or not, the keen relevance the texts bear to the political and economic hyperboles of the Maoist era adds further ambiguities and ironies to the already layered laughter.

scholarly journals The Introduction of Naturalism in China, the Role of Mao Dun and the Debate in the Press

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Lombardi
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Modern Chinese Literature ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
The Press

This article presents the introduction of Naturalism in China and its first mentions since the end of the nineteenth century. It examines the main terms of the debate on Naturalism (1920-21), after Mao Dun proposed his translation project of Naturalist and Realist works (1920), and the reflections and notes by some writers-translators on this issue. It is argued that Mao Dun’s translation proposal constitutes the first model of planned literary translation to carry out specific political-cultural projects. It is also argued that Naturalism underwent a process of localisation in China to serve as a tool for making the transition toward a modern Chinese literature.

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