scholarly journals Fighting COVID-19 in East Asia: The role of classical Chinese poetry

Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 565-576
Author(s):  
Xi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Intercultural Relationships ◽  
National Image ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
The Face ◽  
Power Game ◽  
Poetic Texts

AbstractIn the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, new global challenges have been presented to all affected countries, underlining the importance of international communication and co-operation. This study examines a particular linguistic means, classical Chinese poetry, used successfully by China, Japan and South Korea to facilitate their intercultural relationships. Specifically, poetic texts were pasted onto boxes of COVID-19 prevention supplies. An analysis of these texts in the context of the pandemic points to their role in establishing an ‘expressive tie’ between the countries (Hwang, Kwang-kuo. 1987. Face and favor: the Chinese power game. American Journal of Sociology. University of Chicago Press 92(4). 944–974) and demonstrating emotional resonance in the midst of mixed-tied intercultural relationships. The texts also helped to conceal the requirement of reciprocity, while highlighting morality of a country for its favour-giving behaviour. Through practicing reciprocity in a culturally appropriate way, the three countries were able to promote their national image (i.e. national face). The findings provide insights into East Asian ways of managing intercultural relationships, that can be applied to navigate international co-operation for future challenges.

Semiotics East and West: an aesthetic-semiotic approach to translating the iconicity of classical Chinese poetry

Semiotica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangxu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Sacrifice

Abstract For some Western translators before the twentieth century, domestication was their strategy to translate the classical Chinese poetry into English. But the consequence of this strategy was the sacrifice of the ideogrammic nature of these poems. The translators in the twentieth century, especially the Imagist poets and translators in the 1930s, overcame the problems of their predecessors and their translation theory and practice was close to that of the contemporary semiotic translators. But both Imagist translators and contemporary semiotic translators have the problem of indifference to the feeling of the original in their translations. For the problem of translating the classical Chinese poetry by the Westerners before the twentieth century and the Imagist poets and translators of the twentieth century, see Zhao and Flotow 2018. This paper attempts to set up an aesthetic-semiotic approach to the translation of the iconicity of classical Chinese poetry on the basis of the examination of both Eastern and Western translation studies.

Translating iconicities of classical Chinese poetry

Semiotica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (224) ◽  
pp. 19-44
Author(s):  
Guangxu Zhao ◽  
Luise von Flotow
Keyword(s):  
Ezra Pound ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
Amy Lowell ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
History Of

Abstract In the history of translating classical Chinese poetry, there are two kinds of translators. The first kind translate classical Chinese poetry “by way of intellectual, directional devices” (Yip, Wai-lim. 1969. Ezra Pound’s Cathay. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: 16). What these translators are concerned with most is the coherence of their translations. They give little attention to the ideogrammic nature of Chinese characters. I call them traditional translators. These translators include those in the history of translating classical Chinese poetry from its beginning to the first decade of the twentieth century, although there are still some who translate classical Chinese poetry in this way later. The second kind of translator is highly interested in the images created by ideogrammic Chinese characters and tries to convey them in target language. We call them modernist translators. These translators are represented by some American modernist poets such as Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, Florence Ayscough, etc. From the point of view of iconicity, modernist translators’ contribution lies in their concern with the iconic characteristics of Chinese characters. But they did not give enough attention to syntactical iconicity and textual iconicity in classical Chinese poetry.

The lyric oeuvre of Afanasy Fet and Chinese idyllic poems

2021 ◽  
pp. 222-232
Author(s):  
Zh. Lu
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Lyric Poetry ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
Man And Nature ◽  
Chinese Texts ◽  
The Ancient Chinese ◽  
Light And Shadow

There are compelling similarities between Afanasy Fet’s lyric poetry and classical Chinese lyric poetry. This connection is traced in the article with specific examples. Fet, carried away by the ideas of Schopenhauer, argued that thepoetic feeling lives in every person and can be called the sixth and highest feeling. In classical Chinese poetry, the Confucian concept of ‘the sense of things,’ the Taoist formula ‘words and forms’ and the idea of the unity of man and nature played an important role. With characteristic fixation of subtle changes of light and shadow, with the transmission of flushed feelings, Fet’s oeuvre reminds the readers of the ancient Chinese lyric poetry. Like classic Chinese texts, Fet’s poems are textbooks where the idea of the unity of man and nature is developed. In both Chinese poetry and Fet’s works, human life goes into natural life, gaining eternity in the nature. As a result, although Fet was not familiar with Chinese culture, the intuitions that fed his work surprisingly coincided with pictorial techniques as a way of conveying emotion in classical Chinese poetry, separated from him by many centuries.

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