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= Contemporary Chinese literature in translation = Chinese literature is increasingly available in translation- there are now several well-established websites sharing information, for example, Paper Republic, Writing Chinese, Chinese Short Stories, My Chinese Books, Chinese Books for Young Readers.

In 2005, the Chinese government started a sponsoring program for translations of government-approved Chinese works, which has already resulted in more than 200 books being translated from Chinese into other languages.

Translation and Publication
According to UNESCO in 2013, China was the second largest publisher of books among nations worldwide. Despite this, Chinese literature is translated into foreign languages at a slower rate than countries with much smaller publishing numbers. Since 2008 there have been 317 books published in the United States which have been translated from one of the Chinese languages; a notably small number compared to the 494 books published which had been translated from Japanese, a language whose country of origin turns out only 66.7% of the books published by China. The Chinese Writers Association has also released statistics showing that as of 2005, among their 6,128 members fewer than 300 had work which had been translated into a foreign language. Regardless of the small number of translated works however, many Chinese Authors have achieved great success with western audiences. For example, the rights to create a TV adaptation of Chinese author Liu Cixin’s science fiction books series The Three Body Problem book were acquired by Netflix in 2020.

Translation of English works into Chinese
The basis of cultural literary exchange from China to the west began with Chinese authors translating foreign works into Chinese. At the turn of the century, many Chinese intellectuals began to grow dissatisfied with the Chinese governmental model, and many looked to adopt western ideas in order to move China into a new age. Authors such as Lin Shu translated works that ranged from Alexandre Dumas to Charles Dickens from their original language into Chinese, believing that western culture could help influence and educate the Chinese people. After the May Fourth Movement, the industry of translation became a means for notable Chinese authors such as Lu Xun to add to the growing catalog of western literature translated into Chinese. This trend continued throughout the 20th century, with many of China’s most famous authors such as Eileen Chang beginning their careers by translating works of western literature into Chinese, and this cultural exchange created a channel which would eventually lead to the translation of Chinese literature into western languages.

Motivation and strategies for Modern translation 1919-1949
The May Fourth Movement was an ideological liberation movement. Western ideas, science and culture flowed into China through the platform of translation. Under the influence of Western thought, China underwent changes in the innovation of language and writing, the modernity of literature and the construction of a new culture. As Chinese students studied abroad, a small number of Chinese-English literary works entered the field of vision of English readers. Chinese literature aroused the interest of Westerners and sparked the demand for translation of Chinese literary works, leading to publications and translations.

The selection of texts for translation was influenced by unofficial personnel, including writers, diplomats, family members of diplomats, clerics and publishers. The May Fourth New Culture Movement aimed to change the ignorant thoughts of the people and enlighten them with new thoughts and new culture. Some progressives not only began to translate foreign literary works, but also translate Chinese literature and spread it overseas. During this time, two different translation strategies, domestication and foreignization, coexisted in the translation. The translation was guided by the May Fourth spirit of openness and conscious choice.

Selected translation works

 * The fourth chapter of A Dream of Red Chamber was translated by the missionary and Sinologist Robert Morrison. In the early 20th century, A Dream of Red Chamber translated and adapted by Chinese-American translator Wang Chi Chen.
 * Hsiung,S.I'. (Shih I) is a Chinese scholar who translated Lady Precious Stream,' a Chinese drama based on the Chinese folklore Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui, published in 1935.
 * With the help of Wang Tao, a Chinese scholar in the late Qing Dynasty,The Chinese Classics were translated in the 19th century by James Legge, including commentaries, was published in Hong Kong. The Chinese Classics consists of eight books. The fourth volume is the Book of Poetry (Shi Jing 诗经) . Analects (论语）translated in English and published in 1938.
 * Lu Xun is one of the founders of modern Chinese literature. His works have been widely (re)translated into many Western languages and have attracted great academic attention in the English-speaking world. Lu Xun's work The True Story of Ah Q was first translated by George Kin Leung in 1926. In 1936, Edgar Snow and Nym Wales selected seven short stories and a short biography of Lu Xun for publication, and became familiar to British readers.

The Founding of New China and Cultural Revolution 1949-1976
After 1949, the Chinese Communist Party came to power and established official departments to control the translation process. From the selection of translated texts, translators and translation strategies were centered on the source text rather than the acceptance of the target readers. Translated literary works were delivered with a political purpose. The translation of Chinese literature, produced by the China Foreign Languages Press, was given away free to Western diplomatic departments and related cultural institutions as a soft power. This China-centric translation strategy had prevented literary works from gaining wider acceptance among English-speaking audiences.

Selected translation works after 1949

 * Contemporary Chinese Novels and Short Stories (1949-1974). This book includes Sixty Stirring Years by Liu Liu-ju (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1961)，We Crossed the Bridge Together by Liu Shu-te (FLP, 1963)，A Snowy Day and Other Stories (FLP, 1960). Five of Hao Ran’s stories (FLP, 1960).
 * Spring Waters by Bing Xin.（春水，冰心，1929) . The Little Orange Lamp (小橘灯, 冰心,1957), translated by Gong Shifen, Renditions, Autumn 1989.
 * The Builder by Liu Ching （柳青） (1964)
 * Keep the Red Flag Flying by Liang Bin( 红旗谱， 梁斌), translated by Gladys Yang. Peking: Foregin Language Press.1961.

Scar Literature 1977-1979
Scar lLiterature generally refers to a literary creation thought that begins in China in the late 1970s during the period of "setting things right". It is a literary phenomenon that first appeared in China after the end of the "Cultural Revolution". It mainly expresses the great spiritual and material damage brought to people by the Cultural Revolution and reflects on the future of the nation. Its genre is short stories. However, discussing the phenomenon of the extreme left was a bold act at the time, and the tragic tone of scar literature was unprecedented. The English translation of the short story collection The Wounded( Lu Xinhua) was published in 1978 - hence the name for this type of novel, and the originator of this theme. The government phased out the publication of Scar literature in 1979 because of its criticism of Mao zedong and Chinese Communist Party. However, personal memoirs written by Chinese writers living abroad, recalling the spiritual trauma they suffered during the Cultural Revolution, were still going on and also included in the category of trauma literature.

Selected Work


 * The Wounded: new stories of the Cultural Revolution, 77-78 (ed, Hsin-hua Lu, Geremie Barmé, Bennett Lee). HC (ISBN 962-04-0007-0) PB (ISBN 962-04-0008-9) Includes Class counsellor .


 * Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. Jung Chang, Simon & Schuster, London, 1991.Anchor paperback, London, 1992, ISBN 0-385-42547-3.Harper Perennial, London, 2004, ISBN 0-00-717615-5.
 * Red Azalea, Anchee Min, Pantheon Books 1994, ISBN 1-4000-9698-7
 * Mao’s Last Dancer, Li Cunxin.

Contemporary Translations (2000-Present)
The 21st century has seen an upturn in Chinese literature being represented in the west. In 2000, Gao Xingjian became the first ever Chinese author to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in a year where fellow countryman Bei Dao was also favoured to win. This accomplishment was later followed up by Mo Yan, who won the honour in 2012. The work of Howard Goldblatt, the translator of Mo Yan's book Shengsi Pilao, has been used as an example of translation which puts the accessibility for the new audience over the representation of the original text. Goldblatt’s translations, when compared side by side to the original text, often re-narrate certain aspects of the original text through literary devices such as metalepsis. This methodology of translation aims to ease the acceptance of cultural subtext or allusive content with a foreign audience. Ken Liu, translator of Liu Cixin’s western success The Three Body Problem, also has spoken about his need to reinterpret source material when translating, citing Chinese literatures allusive nature regarding Chinese history and culture as a barrier for western readers.

Selected Works

 * Mo Yan and Howard Goldblatt. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out : A Novel. Arcade 2012.

Translated by Howard Goldblatt, this is possibly the most successful work of Mo Yan in translation


 * Bei, D., Huters, T., & Feng-Ying, M. (2000). Blue House. Zephyr Press.
 * Chang, E. (2007). Love in a Fallen City. Penguin.
 * Xingjian, G. (2000). Soul mountain. Harper Collins.

This novel was singled out in the nomination of Gao as the first Chinese winner of the Nobel prize in literature


 * Liu, C., & Liu, K. (2016). The three-body problem. Head of Zeus.

Yu, H., & Barr, A. H. (2016). The Seventh Day: A novel. Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.