文學(xué)與翻譯

“文學(xué)與翻譯”是一個很大的題目，很難在我與韓靜博士的這個時間有限的對話中詳細(xì)討論。我只想就我從事澳大利亞文學(xué)翻譯30多年來的感受，和韓靜博士對話，同時想借此機(jī)會談一談我對中國文學(xué)如何走向世界的粗淺看法，與大家分享。

一、我在翻譯澳大利亞文學(xué)過程中遇到的困難和挑戰(zhàn)

我是從上世紀(jì)八十年代初期開始走上澳大利亞文學(xué)翻譯道路的。那時候，國內(nèi)譯介的澳大利亞文學(xué)作品不多，我自己對澳大利亞文學(xué)也知之甚少，沒有和澳大利亞作家有過任何接觸，更沒有踏上過那塊遙遠(yuǎn)而又陌生的土地。而文學(xué)翻譯因為也屬文學(xué)創(chuàng)作（即使是再創(chuàng)作），對譯者就有相似于對作者的要求。那就是都要非常熟悉你所創(chuàng)作或再創(chuàng)作的對象。如果說作家創(chuàng)作的源泉是生活，文學(xué)翻譯者“再創(chuàng)作”的源泉就是原著。因此，正如作家只有在生活中摸爬滾打，熟悉作品中每一個人物的思想感情、行為方式、歷史淵源、生存背景，才能寫出好小說一樣，翻譯者也只有像作家一樣熟悉眼前這本原著包含的風(fēng)土人情、文化歷史、社會生活，才能奉獻(xiàn)出好的譯品。而我初涉澳大利亞文學(xué)翻譯這一領(lǐng)域的時候，面臨的最大挑戰(zhàn)就是這種“不熟悉”、“沒生活”。舉個簡單的例子，澳大利亞著名作家亨利·勞森的短篇小說The Drover’s Wife，我曾經(jīng)依據(jù)自己的生活經(jīng)驗，不假思索翻譯成《牧羊人的妻子》。等我對澳大利亞人的生活習(xí)慣、生產(chǎn)方式有了更多的了解，才發(fā)現(xiàn)這是錯譯，正確的翻譯應(yīng)該是《趕牲口人的妻子》。再舉個簡單的例子，英國植物學(xué)家華萊士在南回歸線以南畫了一條線，后人把它叫做華萊士線。華萊士線南邊的飛禽走獸、花草樹木和北半球有很大不同。如果我們不身臨其境，光憑想象，胡編亂造，就很難把那些奇花異獸準(zhǔn)確地呈現(xiàn)給中國讀者。bottle brush就很典型。這種花的形狀和瓶刷子毫無二致，像我這種北方長大的人絕對想象不出花會長成這樣。所以最初在澳大利亞文學(xué)作品中看到這個詞的時候，百思不得其解。1988年，我有幸在澳大利亞著名作家、詩人羅德尼·霍爾（Rodney Hall）家住了半個月。他的家面對南太平洋、背靠原始森林。他每天帶我到森林里轉(zhuǎn)悠，告訴我不同種類的桉樹，不同鳥兒的叫聲，袋鼠藏身的蟻冢，鴯鹋棲息的沙丘，等等，等等。這次較長時間近距離地接觸澳大利亞的大自然使我受益無窮，為我后來翻譯澳大利亞文學(xué)作品解決了許多難題。

三十多年來，作為一個文學(xué)翻譯工作者，我很幸運(yùn)，因為我結(jié)識了許多澳大利亞作家，和他們建立了深厚的友誼。這種友誼對我的翻譯有巨大的幫助。比如在座的周思先生，我們相識相知已經(jīng)快30年。我先后翻譯過他四本小說。翻譯過程中，每每遇到困難，就向他求教，避免了許多錯誤。但是作為譯者，你翻譯的書的作者不可能個個都是你熟悉的朋友。而且即使是朋友，有許多東西，如果不是你內(nèi)心的領(lǐng)悟，光憑一問一答，也還是無法從根本上解決問題。我在翻譯亞歷克西斯·賴特（Alexis Wright）的《卡彭塔利亞灣》（Carpentaria）的時候，就遇到新的更大的挑戰(zhàn)。作為一個自己也寫過將近二十年小說的文學(xué)翻譯工作者，這本書的純文學(xué)性和新穎的創(chuàng)作手法以及這種手法所表現(xiàn)出的藝術(shù)魅力，無疑是我喜歡它的原因之一。而它植根于澳大利亞原住民生活沃土之上，把古老的傳說、神話以及原住民信奉的“夢幻時代”的原始圖騰和現(xiàn)實生活的種種矛盾糅合在一起，描繪出一幅幅難得一見、色彩瑰麗的畫卷，更讓我嘆為觀止！然而，從翻譯的角度看，正是它的純文學(xué)性、正是它新穎的創(chuàng)作手法、正是它的“難得一見”、“色彩瑰麗”，給我豎起一道道屏障。

亞歷克西斯·賴特似乎預(yù)料到我將遇到的困難。她說：“我寫這本書的時候，并沒有夢想誰會讀它，我只是想寫一個告慰祖宗亡靈的故事，盡管心旌蕩漾的時候，也曾希望世界各地的人都能閱讀和理解它。但我并沒有想到，那就意味著需要有人把它翻譯成別的文字。更沒有想到，要把這本書里那么多原住民的方言土語以及表現(xiàn)我的家鄉(xiāng)卡彭塔利亞灣的風(fēng)土人情、反映我的同胞的世界觀的文字翻譯成另外一種語言是何等艱難！”

她說的沒錯兒。這本書真的有“那么多原住民的方言土語”！這是它的特色之一，無可回避。但是，所謂“方言土語”畢竟是形式和表面的東西。我可以把它們積攢起來，隔一段時間去向作者請教，弄清那些話是什么意思。像查字典一樣，雖然費(fèi)事，但并不難。真正困難的是，她所說的“卡彭塔利亞灣的風(fēng)土人情”，是“反映我的同胞的世界觀的文字”，特別是他們古老的傳說和神話、他們部落間由來已久的矛盾和現(xiàn)實生活中的沖突！面對這一道道難題，我仿佛走進(jìn)一片沼澤，步履艱難。然而，千難萬險，也還得向前跋涉。正式翻譯前，我先大量閱讀關(guān)于澳大利亞原住民文化、歷史、宗教、藝術(shù)、風(fēng)俗、習(xí)慣的書。其中一本是澳大利亞最著名的“沙漠藝術(shù)家”—— 原住民吉米·派克（Jimmy Pike）的傳記《沙漠之子》（In the Desert , Jimmy Pike as a Boy）。我還向畫家周小平先生請教。他是惟一在澳大利亞土著人部落中生活多年，熟悉他們的語言、社會結(jié)構(gòu)、風(fēng)土人情，并且用相機(jī)和畫筆記錄下他們生存狀態(tài)的華人藝術(shù)家。我沒有機(jī)會像他那樣去澳大利亞原住民聚居區(qū)“深入生活”，只能通過他和他的作品，積累一些“間接經(jīng)驗”。漸漸地，我從周小平用幾十年的心血和汗水描繪的一幅幅土著人的生活畫面中，看清了我要開掘的《卡彭塔利亞灣》這座“礦山”的“礦脈”。沿著這些脈絡(luò)往前走，我發(fā)現(xiàn)原住民生活的地方到處都是故事。每一眼水井，每一塊巖石都是故事中的“人物”。就連沙丘和樹木也有許多傳奇。了解了這些，亞歷克西斯·賴特筆下的蛇神、海怪、魚群、鸚鵡、巨浪滔天的大海、拔地而起的龍卷風(fēng)都在我的眼里變得那么鮮活、那么生動，都成了一種象征，都充滿生命的活力。而與之血肉相連的故事中的人物，也驟然間變得栩栩如生，躍然紙上。他們一個個走到我的面前，開始用心靈和我對話。只有這時，我才懂得了他們的喜怒哀樂、愛恨情仇；我才走進(jìn)他們的內(nèi)心世界，聽到靈魂的聲音。換句話說，也只有這時，我才具備了翻譯這本洋洋灑灑四十萬言的長篇小說的能力。

我花了兩年多的時間翻譯《卡彭塔利亞灣》，書譯得不能說好，但從中學(xué)到了許多有用的東西：一是對澳大利亞原住民有了更多的了解，二是對文學(xué)翻譯本身有了更深刻的理解。

二、下面，我想借此機(jī)會談一談我對中國文學(xué)如何走向世界的粗淺看法。

從近代起，外國的漢學(xué)家、中國的有識之士，都為傳播中華文明、中國文學(xué)做出巨大的貢獻(xiàn)。他們艱苦勞動的成果也使得中國文學(xué)對外國讀者、外國作家產(chǎn)生了一定的影響。在座的周思（Nicholas Jose）先生在為我翻譯的《紅線》（The Red Thread）撰寫的前言中就說，他因早年在牛津大學(xué)讀書時讀到林語堂翻譯的《浮生六記》，而喜歡上中國文學(xué)。他寫的《紅線》就是在《浮生六記》的基礎(chǔ)上，加以想象而寫成的一部反映中澳兩國青年一代友好交往的小說。貫穿全篇的“紅線”就是《浮生六記》中沈復(fù)與蕓相濡以沫的愛情故事。堪稱中澳文學(xué)交融的典范。

但是，毋庸諱言，中國文學(xué)的“走出去“和外國文學(xué)的”走進(jìn)來“相比，不成比例。其中的原因很多。鑒于這個話題不是今天我與韓靜博士對話的主旨，暫且不表。我想說的是，為適應(yīng)社會的發(fā)展，我們現(xiàn)在大力提倡中國文學(xué)走向世界。這當(dāng)然是值得我們每一個文學(xué)工作者為之歡呼雀躍的事情。但是在這個把中國文學(xué)推向世界的大潮中，我隱隱約約感到一絲憂慮。那就是翻譯質(zhì)量堪憂。稍微的疏忽和不慎，都會影響我們的作品和作家的形象。比如我最近看到2016年12月美國某出版集團(tuán)出版的一本《微型小說集》就有一些令人遺憾的不足。僅舉一例，譯者在翻譯一篇小說時，把“臨走時，他留下一偶語：‘泥佛不渡水，金佛不渡爐，木佛不渡火，真佛內(nèi)里坐’。”簡單地翻譯成“When he was about to leave, he left a message, ‘True Budda lives nowhere but in your heart.’.”還原成漢語，就是“他臨走時留言：‘真佛只在你心中’。”缺失得太多。如果翻譯成 ：The clay Budda stays away from the river, the golden one away from burner, the wooden one away from fire, but the real one stays in my heart.也許稍微好一點。

那么，什么樣的譯者才有資格擔(dān)當(dāng)起“走出去”的重任。許多人寄希望于漢學(xué)家。滿腔熱情、熱愛中華文化的漢學(xué)家無疑是一支需要我們依靠的力量。但是漢學(xué)家也會有其局限性。比如賽珍珠，她生在中國、長在中國，還寫過一本反映中國農(nóng)村生活的小說《大地》（Good Earth）。但她翻譯的《水滸》也漏洞百出。比如：她把“三四個篩酒的酒保都手忙腳亂，搬東搬西。”翻譯成：But the serving men were so busy, their hands and feet were all in confusion, and they were moving things here and there, east and west.譯者顯然對中國人喜歡說的“東西”，不甚了了。其實翻譯成：The waiters were very busy, bringing first one thing and then another.  就很達(dá)意了。還有一句“如今江湖上歹人多”，翻譯成 In these days, there are men ——evil men by river and the lake.譯者對我們所說的“江湖”的意思也不明了。

我舉這些例子絕無貶損譯者之意，我只是想說譯介中國文學(xué)這副擔(dān)子不輕。無論漢學(xué)家還是中國學(xué)者在挑起這副重?fù)?dān)的時候，都必須對中國文化背景有深刻的了解，并且是能十分嫻熟地使用外語進(jìn)行創(chuàng)作的文學(xué)工作者。我最近拜讀了韓靜博士翻譯的葉辛的長篇小說《孽債》。我覺得是一本難得的優(yōu)秀譯作。韓靜因為了解中國的國情，所以她能把“獻(xiàn)了青春獻(xiàn)終身，獻(xiàn)了終身獻(xiàn)兒孫”這樣極具時代感的話準(zhǔn)確地翻譯成：Dedicating your youth to socialism leads to dedicating your entire life, and dedicating your entire life means dedicating your children and your grand children to the cause.她能把頗具中國特色的“被譽(yù)為三朵金花”翻譯成“They were known as The Three Beauties”而不是“The Three Golden Flowers”。能把“發(fā)發(fā)嗲”這樣的俗語恰到好處地翻譯成“He knew Mei liked him to cuddle and cares her.”能把外國讀者難解其意的“上海的政策是‘兩丁抽一’”翻譯成the policy in Shanghai was ‘one out of two’.If there were two boys in a family, one had to go to countryside.”對上世紀(jì)60年代中國不了解的譯者很難能做出這樣的翻譯和解釋。由此可見，時代需要韓靜博士這樣的學(xué)者擔(dān)負(fù)起中國文學(xué)走出去的重任。我們也祝愿韓靜將后翻譯出更多、更優(yōu)秀的作品。

最后我特別想強(qiáng)調(diào)的一點就是，漢學(xué)家也好，中國學(xué)者也罷，在翻譯介紹中國文學(xué)作品的時候，都不能以外國讀者不熟悉、不了解、看不懂某一作品的時代背景、文化內(nèi)涵為借口，就肆無忌憚地刪節(jié)、修改中文原著。翻譯的功能之一，恰恰就是要把別的民族不熟悉的東西，包括所謂時代背景、文化內(nèi)涵，介紹給他們。背離這一原則，就是對翻譯的背叛。我接觸的國外的出版社和作者沒有一個人允許譯者肆意刪改他們的作品，為什么我們的作家，我們的作品走出國門時就要遭到這種不公平的待遇？把中國文學(xué)推向世界是具有戰(zhàn)略性的長期任務(wù)，不能一蹴而就，不能急于求成。這是需要我們世世代代走下去的偉大事業(yè)。作為文學(xué)翻譯工作者應(yīng)該肩負(fù)這一崇高的歷史使命，抓住機(jī)遇，迎接挑戰(zhàn)，讓我們的作家、讓我們的作品，有尊嚴(yán)地走向世界。

我就講這么多，謝謝大家！

Literature and Translation

Li Yao

“Literature and translation” is a rather vast topic, which could hardly be elaborated during the limited time of this dialogue between Dr. Han Jing and me. On this occasion, I would like to discuss with Dr. Han Jing my experience of translating works of Australian literature in the past thirty-odd years, and also share with you my views on introducing Chinese literature to the world.

I.Difficulties and challenges of translating Australian literature 

I started to translate Australian literature in the early 1980s, when only a few translated Australian literary works could yet be found in China. My understanding of this literature was very limited, and I had neither communicated with any Australian writers, nor travelled to that strange and distant land. However, as a kind of literary creation (or recreation), literary translation imposes a similar requirement on translators as on writers, which is that they should possess a deep understanding of the object of their creation or recreation. If life is the source of a writer’s creation, then the original work is the source of a literary translator’s recreation. A good story can only be produced when the writer, through his explorations of life, has gained a deep understanding of the thoughts, emotions, ways of behaving, past experiences, and living backgrounds of each character; likewise, a good translation can be created only when the translator has a thorough knowledge of the customs, culture, history, and social life present in the original work. However, as I began my career as a translator of Australian literature, the biggest challenge I faced was that I was not “familiar” with the content of these works, and had no relevant “l(fā)ife experience”. For example, I once translated the title of The Drover’s Wife, a short story by the famous Australian writer Henry Lawson, as《牧羊人的妻子》(literally, The Shepherd’s Wife) by relying on my own life experience, without further consideration. But I found it to be a mistranslation after I grew more familiar with Australian living habits and systems of production, and understood the appropriate title should be 《趕牲口人的妻子》 (literally, The Wife of the Man Who Droves the Livestock). As another example, the Wallace Line, a faunal boundary line to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn, was drawn by the British botanist Alfred Russel Wallace. Animals and plants on the south side of the Wallace Line are markedly different from those in the Northern Hemisphere. It is therefore difficult for Chinese translators to present these exotic animals and plants to Chinese readers by imagination and storytelling, when one cannot see these things oneself. Callistemon (Bottle brush) is a good example. People like me, living in Northern China, can hardly imagine a flower that looks just like a bottle brush, and I was so confused when I first saw this flower name in an Australian literary work. Later, in 1988, I had the honor of staying for half a month at the renowned Australian writer and poet Rodney Hall’s home, which faces the South Pacific and has its back to a primeval forest. He showed me around the forest every day and introduced many interesting things to me, such as various eucalypti, the warbles of different birds, anthills where kangaroos hide, and sand dunes populated by emus. This relatively long stay enabled me to get closer to nature and life in Australia, and helped me resolve many difficulties in my subsequent translations of Australian literature.

During the past three decades, as a literary translator, I have been fortunate to get acquainted and make friends with many Australian writers who have offered me great support in my translation. Mr. Nicholas Jose is one of them, and he is present here today. We have known each other for nearly 30 years, during which I have translated four novels of his. In the process of translation, I asked him for help when difficulties occurred, and his answers kept my translation clear of many mistakes. But in fact, it is impossible for translators to be friends with the writers of all the books they translate. Even if they are, many issues still cannot be fundamentally solved only by questions and answers, and what really matters is the translator’s comprehension. For instance, translating Carpentaria (《卡彭塔利亞灣》), by Alexis Wright, has posed new and bigger challenges for me. As a literary translator who has also been writing novels for nearly 20 years, I was attracted to the pure literariness and new creation methods, as well as the artistic appeal of these new methods employed in Carpentaria. Rooted in the land where Australian aborigines live, this book is full of rare and splendid scenes illustrating the contradictions between the primitive totems worshiped by local aborigines, as well as their ancient legends and myths, and real life, which I found truly wonderful. Nonetheless, in terms of translation, it was precisely this pure literariness, these new creation methods, and these “rare” and “splendid” scenes that proved to be major obstacles. 

It seems that Alexis Wright had already thought of the difficulties I would meet. She said, “I just wanted to write a story to pay respect to our ancestors. I had no extravagant hope that this book would attract a considerable number of readers, although I still expected people around the world could read and understand it when I wrote and immersed in it. But I was unaware of the difficulties in translating it into other languages, as it is an arduous task to express the dialects of aborigines, customs of my hometown Carpentaria, as well as the world view of my compatriots into another language.”

She is right. One of the characteristics of this book is indeed that it contains various aboriginal dialects, which must inevitably be translated. However, all in all, translating these dialects is a matter of simple formal transformation, as one can list these expressions and occasionally ask the writer for their meaning, which is like querying a dictionary, troublesome but not difficult. The real difficulties lie in translating the content of the customs of Carpentaria and the world view of the writer’s compatriots, especially their ancient legends and myths, as well as the protracted conflicts within the tribe and their clashes with real life. And I had to forge ahead in the swamp of these difficulties. Before translating, I had read a great deal of books on the culture, history, religion, art, customs, and habits of Australian aborigines, among which In the Desert: Jimmy Pike as a Boy (《沙漠之子》), the biography of Jimmy Pike, Australia’ s most famous aboriginal artist. In addition, I also consulted the painter Zhou Xiaoping, the only Chinese artist who lived among Australian aboriginal tribes for many years, and captured the aboriginal life on his camera and with his paintbrush. Therefore, he knows much about the languages, social structure, and customs of Australian aborigines. As I had no chance to live with Australian aborigines and engage in any in-depth exploration of their life, I could only gain some indirect experience from Mr. Zhou Xiaoping and his works. Gradually, thanks to the paintings of Australian aboriginal life that Zhou Xiaoping created by the sweat of his brow, through decades of effort, I found the right path to follow in translating Carpentaria. In this process, I found that the land where aborigines live is full of stories. Each rock and well act as the “characters” of certain stories, and even sand dunes and trees have witnessed legends. Having understood this, I found that the Great Serpent, sea monsters, fish, parrots, heavy seas and violent tornados in Alexis Wright’s book became vivid symbols to me, full of vitality, and characters closely related to those vivid symbols in the story became lifelike at once. I started to approach them and engage in heartfelt conversations with them. By then, I finally understood their spectrum of emotions, their loves and hates; I entered their inner world, and listened to their soul. In other words, by then I was finally capable and ready to translate this magnificent novel of around 400 thousand words.

It took me over two years to translate Carpentaria. Although my translation still has room for improvement, I have learned much from it: first, I have grown more familiar about Australian aborigines, and second, I have gained further understanding of literary translation.

II.A few simple observations on the way to introduce Chinese literature to the world

Since the modern times began in China, foreign sinologists and insightful Chinese have made great contributions to the spread of Chinese civilization and literature, and their considerable efforts have also granted Chinese literature a certain influence among foreign readers and writers. Mr. Nicholas Jose wrote in the preface to my translation of The Red Thread (《紅線》) that he has loved Chinese literature since he read Lin Yutang’s translation of《浮生六記》 (Six Chapters of a Floating Life) when he studied at the University of Oxford in his early years. His work The Red Thread, based on Six Chapters of a Floating Life and peppered with the fruits of the author’s imagination, is a novel describing the friendship between Chinese and Australian youths. The “red thread” running through the whole book is the profound love story between Shen Fu and Yun that is found in Six Chapters of a Floating Life. The Red Thread can be viewed as a model of literary exchange between China and Australia.

However, as we all know, there are far less Chinese literary works being introduced to the world than foreign works being translated into Chinese, for several reasons that I will not further discuss here. What I want to express is that as we strongly promote Chinese literature abroad to accompany the development of our society, which certainly is a pleasant thing for everyone working in the literary field, I feel a little worried about the issue of translation quality, because even the slightest carelessness may degrade the image of our works and writers. Recently, I found some regrettable deficiencies in a “flash fiction” anthology published in December 2016 by a publishing group in the United States. Here is an example. The translator simply translated the sentence “臨走時，他留下一偶語：‘泥佛不渡水，金佛不渡爐，木佛不渡火，真佛內(nèi)里坐’。” in a story into “When he was about to leave, he left a message, ‘True Buddha lives nowhere but in your heart.’.” The translated sentence only means “他臨走時留言：‘真佛只在你心中’。” if we translate it back to Chinese, and we can see that much of the original content is missing. Instead, translating this passage as “The clay Buddha stays away from the river, the golden one away from burner, the wooden one away from fire, but the real one stays in my heart” may be a better version.

So, who is qualified to translate and introduce Chinese literature to the world? In many people’s view, the answer is Sinologists. There is no doubt that Sinologists who are full-hearted devotees of Chinese culture are reliable contributors to the translation of Chinese literary works; nevertheless, they also have their limitations. For example, Pearl S. Buck, who was born and grew up in China, and wrote The Good Earth—a novel depicting life in rural China—still made some mistakes in her translation of Water Margin. For instance, she translated the sentence “三四個篩酒的酒保都手忙腳亂，搬東搬西” as “But the serving men were so busy, their hands and feet were all in confusion, and they were moving things here and there, east and west”. Obviously, she did not know much about the meaning of “東西”, which is commonly spoken by Chinese people. This sentence can be translated as “The waiters were very busy, bringing first one thing and then another”, which conveys the original meaning better. Another example is the sentence “如今江湖上歹人多”, which she mistranslated as “In these days, there are men—evil men by river and the lake,” for she did not understand the meaning of “江湖”。

By mentioning these examples, I do not mean to disparage those translators—only to emphasize how difficult it is to translate Chinese literature. To do so, Sinologists and Chinese scholars should all have an intimate knowledge of Chinese culture, as well as be skilled at creating literature in a foreign language. Recently, I read Dr. Han Jing’s translation of the novel《孽債》 (Educated Youth) by Ye Xin, which I think is an excellent translation. Thanks to her knowledge of the national conditions of China, she was able to carefully preserve a strong sense of the times and to convey Chinese characteristics in carrying out her translation work. For example, “獻(xiàn)了青春獻(xiàn)終身，獻(xiàn)了終身獻(xiàn)兒孫” was translated as “Dedicating your youth to socialism leads to dedicating your entire life, and dedicating your entire life means dedicating your children and your grandchildren to the cause”, and “被譽(yù)為三朵金花” was translated as “They were known as The Three Beauties” instead of “The Three Golden Flowers”. Sayings like “發(fā)發(fā)嗲” was appropriately turned into “He knew Mei liked him to cuddle and caress her”. She also explained to foreign readers expressions like “上海的政策是‘兩丁抽一’”, which she translated as “the policy in Shanghai was ‘one out of two’. If there were two boys in a family, one had to go to countryside.” Such precise translation and explanations could be difficult for other translators without the knowledge of conditions of China in the 1960s. Therefore, scholars like Dr. Han Jing can shoulder the task of translating and introducing Chinese literature to the international stage. I wish Dr. Han Jing many more excellent translations.

In conclusion, I want to point out that no one, including sinologists and Chinese scholars, may arbitrarily delete or change the original content under the pretext that foreign readers are unfamiliar with it, and cannot understand the historical background or the cultural connotations of Chinese literature. One of the missions and principles of translators is precisely to convey to people of another nation the information unknown to them, such as historical backgrounds and cultural connotations. To deviate from this principle is to betray one’s mission as a translator. No foreign publishing houses and writers I know allow translators to delete or change their works at will. Why do Chinese writers have to accept such an unfair treatment when their works are promoted abroad? It is a long-term strategic task to present Chinese literature on the world stage, which cannot be accomplished one fell swoop. It is a great cause to which people from several generations must devote themselves. Faced with this challenge, literary translators should remain committed to this historic mission, and grasp this opportunity to introduce Chinese writers and their works to the world in a dignified way.

This is all I want to say. Thank you!