Translating the Times

“In an international environ- ment in need of effective communication， Professor Xu Yuanchong has devoted his career to building bridges among Chinese， English and French-speaking people，”reads the prize announcement of the 2014 International Federation of Translators（FIT） Aurora Borealis Fiction Award. On August 2， FIT conferred the Aurora Borealis Fiction Award to Chinese translator Xu Yuanchong， who then became the first Asian honoree of the triennial award.

Xu has translated many Chinese novels， anthologies， verses and plays into English and French， enabling more readers to appreciate Chinese classics， culture and philosophy. Conversely， he has also translated many Western masterpieces like The Red and the Black and Madame Bovary into Chinese， opening a window for Chinese people to better see the world. Due to his age of 93， Xu did not attend the ceremony in Berlin， so on August 22， on behalf of FIT， Chinese International Publishing House （CIPG）， the Translators Association of China and the China Academy of Translation jointly held a ceremony to award Xu the prize. After the ceremony， Xu shared his translation experiences with attendees.

Great differences between Chinese and Western cultures are illustrated in their contrasting languages. “Chinese language is concise but Western languages are precise，” opines Xu. “Literary translation is art more than science. Science is 1+1=2， but art is 1+1>2.” Xu deems his translation experience “innovation and recreation within the rules.” “‘Innovation and recreation’ refer to wide subjective freedom， while staying‘within the rules’ means following objective law，” Xu explains.

Also， great cultural disparities are magnified by poetry. One poem from Book of Poetry， the oldest surviving Chinese poetry collection featuring works as old as the 11th-6th centuries B.C.， recounts antiwar thoughts of a soldier. Xu translated one line as：

When I left here， willows shed tears. But British translator Legge wrote： When we left home， the willows were fresh and green.

“Considering Western culture， it is easy to understand why he used ‘fresh and green，’” Xu explains. “Rather than speaking for pacifism， Western poetry about war usually praises its heroes.” For example， in Homer’s The Iliad， when Hector leaves his wife for the battlefield， he says：

Where heroes go to war， the foremost place I claim，

The first in danger is first in fame. Cultural differences lead to a translation discrepancies， but a translator as astute as Xu can bridge the cultural gap.“A Chinese translator should introduce Chinese culture and wisdom to the world，”remarks Xu， which is what he has done his entire career.

Nobel laureate Chen Ning Yang， Xu’s good friend， also attended the awards ceremony. “Most notably， he has translated classical Chinese poems into rhyming verses in both English and French，” remarked Yang in praise of Xu’s translation work. “The poems still sound like poems.”Xu and Yang studied together at the former National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming， Yunnan Province. After 1937 when Japan launched all-out invasion of China， in order to avert the devastation of Chinese education， many colleges in northern and coastal China moved inland. National Southwestern Associated Univer- sity was the most famous institution back then， established by educators from Peking University， Tsinghua University and Nankai University.

Against this backdrop， it isn’t hard to understand Xu’s attachment to his nation.“If I don’t translate， I feel a day is wasted，” says Xu. “Enduring the Japanese invasion， my generation faced the crisis of possibly losing our nation. When I was safe in Kunming， when I attended college and went abroad to study， my country provided me the tuition and living expenses. Now， I can finally do something for my people and my country. I am glad I can contribute myself to the prosperity of China.”

Despite his advancing age， Xu hasn’t stop translating. “When I retired from Peking University at age 70， I had 20 translated works， but I’ve finished 100 since retirement！” When he gets excited， his eyes light up and vigorously waves his hands like a young man. Xu’s most recent project is a new Chinese version of Shakespeare’s 40-volume canon of work， which he plans to finish within five years. Xu often works from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. every day. Five hours is no short period for a 93-year-old. However， he insists， “I don’t feel tired. The happiness of translation is like water and air for me.”