Xu Yuanchong
Native name
许渊冲
Born(1921-04-18)18 April 1921
Nanchang County, Jiangxi, Republic of China
Died17 June 2021(2021-06-17) (aged 100)
Beijing, People's Republic of China
OccupationTranslator, Professor, Scholar
LanguageChinese, English, French
Alma materNational Southwestern Associated University
University of Paris
Period1948 - 2021
GenreNovel, poetry
Notable worksThe Red and the Black
SpouseZhao Jun
ChildrenXu Ming

Xu Yuanchong (simplified Chinese: 许渊冲; traditional Chinese: 許淵沖; pinyin: Xǔ Yuānchōng; 18 April 1921 – 17 June 2021) was a Chinese translator, best known for translating Chinese ancient poems[1] into English and French.[2] He was a professor at Peking University since 1983.

Early career

Xu Yuanchong was born in Nanchang County (now Nanchang), Jiangxi.[3] His mother, who was well educated and good at painting, had great impact on Xu in his pursuit of beauty and literature. His uncle Xiong Shiyi was a translator, who translated the play Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui into English, which was a hit in the UK.[3] Xiong's achievement gave Xu a strong interest in learning English.[3] When studying at the Provincial Nanchang No. 2 High School, he excelled in English. In 1938 he was admitted to the Department of Foreign Languages, National Southwest Associated University.[3] In 1939, as a freshman, he translated his first work, Lin Huiyin's poem "Do not throw away" into English, which was published in the "Literary Translation News" (文学翻译报).[3]

Style

His translation style is characterized by favouring domesticating translation.[4] Xu introduced the Creation for Loss[5] and the three beauties-concept to translation theory: the idea that a translation should be as beautiful as the original in three ways:[6][7]

  • semantically (the -deeper- meaning)
  • phonologically (the style like rhyme and rhythm)
  • logically (amongst others: length)

According to Gao, "he advocates that the versions of poems should combine visual and aural beauties together, and they should reproduce the fusion of pictorial composition and musical arrangement."[8]

Achievements

His 30 Poetries were selected as teaching materials by foreign universities. After reading his English translation "Selected Poems of Li Bai" (1987), Qian Zhongshu said: If you live in the same age with Li Bai, you'll become good friends. The British Press,[9] "Romance of The Western Bower", which is thought as great as "Romeo and Juliet" in terms of artistic and attractiveness. British publishing company Penguin has published Xu Yuanchong's "300 China's immortal poems" (1994), which was launched in Britain, USA, Canada, Australia and other countries. That's the first time that the publishing company published a Chinese translation. Apart from translating the classical Chinese poetry into foreign languages, Xu Yuanchong also translated many of the British and French classics into Chinese. In his seventies, he was still involved in translating Proust's masterpiece "Remembrance of Things Past" (1990) and translated Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" (1992), Stendhal's "Red" (1993). At the age of 78 years, Xu also published a voluminous long masterpiece, the translation of Romain Rolland's "John Kristof" (1999). Xu was awarded the "Lifetime achievements in translation" from the Translators Association of China (TAC) in 2010.[10] On August 2, 2014, at the 20th World Conference of the Federation of International Translators (FIT), FIT conferred The "Aurora Borealis" Prize on Xu Yuanchong, who is the first Chinese winner of the award.[11]

Works

Awards

Personal life

Xu married Zhao Jun (照君) in 1959 in Beijing, they have a son, Xu Ming (许明), also a translator. His wife died in 2018, aged 85.

He turned 100 on 18 April 2021[29] and died just under two months later, on 17 June in Beijing.[30][31]

References

  1. ↑ Zhang Zhi-zhong (2005). "A Close Study on the Revision of Poetry Translation by Prof. Xu Yuanchong". Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University (Social Sciences) (4). Retrieved 21 December 2011. abstract
  2. ↑ "Xu Yuanchong". China Book International. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Wang Mengyue (王梦悦) (2014). 《老年人》 [Old Man]. Lao Nian Ren (in Chinese). Changsha, Hunan: Old Man Magazine. 11: 18–19. ISSN 1007-2616.
  4. ↑ Wenfen Yang (2010). "Brief Study on Domestication and Foreignization in Translation". Journal of Language Teaching and Research. 1 (1): 77. doi:10.4304/jltr.1.1.77-80. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  5. ↑ Wang Feng-xia (2008). "The Representation of Cultural Genes in Poetry Translation—A Case Study of Excursion on Eastern Fields Cheerless by Xu Yuanchong". Journal of Xihua University (Philosophy & Social Sciences (2). Retrieved 21 December 2011. (abstract)
  6. ↑ Chan Sin-wai (2009). A Chronology of Translation in CHINA and in the WEST from the legendary period to 2004. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. p. 216. ISBN 9789629963552.
  7. ↑ Dai Kai-hong (2006). "Translation of Poetry Approached by the Principle of "Beauty"—A Review of X.Y.Z.'s Translation of Grief beyond Belief". Journal of Huaihai Institute of Technology (Social Sciences Edition). abstract
  8. ↑ Lei Gao (January 2010). "On English Translation of Classical Chinese Poetry: A Perspective from Skopos Theory". Journal of Language Teaching and Research. 1 (1): 84–89. doi:10.4304/jltr.1.1.84-89.
  9. ↑ name of the website
  10. ↑ Chen Meng (translation) (20 May 2010). "Lifetime Achievement in Translation". EveryChina.com. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  11. ↑ Liu Wenjia (5 August 2014). "The first Chinese winner of 'Aurora Borealis' Prize: Translation changes the world". english.peopledaily.com.cn/. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  12. ↑ 老子; 许渊冲 (2006). 道德经与神仙画 (英汉对照). ISBN 9787508508467.
  13. ↑ "Your Store".
  14. ↑ 《诗经》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 中国对外翻译出版社. 2009-09-01. ISBN 9787500120209.
  15. ↑ 老子 (2007-01-01). 《道德经》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 中国对外翻译出版社. ISBN 9787500112006.
  16. ↑ 孔子 (2005-12-01). 《论语》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 高等教育出版社. ISBN 9787040186116.
  17. ↑ 王实甫 (2009-09-01). 《西厢记》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 中国对外翻译出版社. ISBN 9787500122678.
  18. ↑ 汤显祖 (2009-09-01). 《牡丹亭》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 中国对外翻译出版社. ISBN 9787500122685.
  19. ↑ 洪升 (2009-09-01). 《长生殿》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 中国对外翻译出版社. ISBN 9787500122890.
  20. ↑ 孔尚任 (2009-09-01). 《桃花扇》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 中国对外翻译出版社. ISBN 9787500122692.
  21. ↑ 李白 (2008-11-01). 《李白诗选》 (in Simplified Chinese). Changsha: 湖南人民出版社. ISBN 9787543850019.
  22. ↑ 许渊冲 (2012-01-01). 《唐诗三百首》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 五洲传播出版社. ISBN 9787508521916.
  23. ↑ 许渊冲 (2007-12-01). Tang Song ci yi bai shou 《宋词一百首》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 中国对外翻译出版社公司. ISBN 9787500118114.
  24. ↑ 毛泽东 (2006-01-01). 《毛泽东诗词集》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 五洲传播出版社. ISBN 9787508508474.
  25. ↑ 司汤达 (2012-06-01). 《红与黑》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 译林出版社. ISBN 9787544727761.
  26. ↑ 罗曼·罗兰 (2010-12-01). 《约翰·克里斯托夫》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 中央编译出版社. ISBN 9787511706867.
  27. ↑ 福楼拜 (2011-08-01). 《包法利夫人》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 译林出版社. ISBN 9787544722360.
  28. ↑ 乔伊斯·普鲁斯特 (2011-03-01). 《逝水年华》 (in Simplified Chinese). Beijing: 外语教学与研究出版社. ISBN 9787513506106.
  29. ↑ 翻译家许渊冲：一生"诗舟"播美，百岁仍是少年. sohu.com. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  30. ↑ 翻译泰斗许渊冲逝世，享年100岁 (in Chinese)
  31. ↑ "翻譯泰斗許淵沖逝世 享年100歲 被譽「詩譯英法唯一人」" (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Ming Pao. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
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