On the English Translation of Contemporary Chinese Poetry

Shandong University of Political Science and Law,Jinan,China Email：yanhf@sdupsl.edu.cn

[Abstract]Poetry is a genre known for its intense structure and abundant emotions in literary works.Admittedly,contemporary Chinese poetry is known for its rich images,magical language and diversified forms,making its translation all the more difficult,challenging as well as inspiring.By analyzing the different translated versions of different translators and examining their translating procedure,this paper aims at illustrating how the translators reproduce the meaning and form of the original Chinese poems into target language.Since 1950s,the characteristics of contemporary poetry have become more and more manifest; analyzing the current characteristics of contemporary poetry is helpful for the stage summarization of the Chinese poetic circle and perspective observation.

[Keywords]contemporary Chinese poems;English translation;Self-translation

Introduction

At present,the foreign academic circles and readers begin to develop a deep interest in our classical literature,along with some Chinese contemporary literary works exemplified by those of Mo Yan after his success in Nobel Prize.In the latter sphere,contemporary Chinese poetry plays a significant role in foreign cultural exchange.Before the Liberation,the English translation of contemporary Chinese poetry was done mainly by English translators,while after liberation,it was carried out mainly by the American translators.This has something do with the change in the power of the two countries at that time and the style of the times,and so on,so the translated Chinese poems seem to put on a garment of certain bias.This paper analyses the development of contemporary Chinese poetry,its English translation,and discusses the process and methods of Chinese poetry translation through the analysis of different translation strategies by different translators.Since the 1950s,the diversities of contemporary poetry have become wider,and the analysis of the characteristics of contemporary poetry is helpful for the Chinese poetry circle to make a periodical summary and forward-looking observation.The paper tries to discuss the translating problems arising from different translating process.Such case studies can give us examples of how the translators reproduce the meaning and form of the original Chinese poems into target language.

Development and Condition of Contemporary Chinese Poetry

Emancipating from the strict rules and forms of classical poetic composition,modern Chinese poetry put more emphasis on the connotative meanings rather than formality:differing from the traditional debate on whether to maintain the“form”and“rhyme”of poems.However,modern Chinese poetry is different from those traditional ones and is characterized by its vernacular Chinese,rich imagery,free and diversified forms,thus the debate on whether the translator should maintain the form and rhyme of the source poem in the target language is an issue about translating modern Chinese poetry.Since the Beijing Pan-feng Poetry Festival in 1999,the creation of modern poetry has shown a contemporary tendency to be colloquial,and the communication of poets has become more and more dependent on the network.(Li,2013)

Developing Course on the Mainland China

The development of modern Chinese poetry has had an uneasy history.In addition to the upheavals that have affected all Chinese over the past 120 years,the pressures put on Chinese poetry and poets have been especially heavy.But this alone cannot account for the attitude toward modern poetry.Poetry in the modern era has undergone a profound transformation and now bears little resemblance to its illustrious forebears.(Cornell,2008,p.2)

After 1980s when China had undergone a great development,there was a new of poetry painstaking period to find a right enthusiasm.The first rise of Chinese contemporary poetry after the Cultural Revolution was the“obscure poem”at the turn of the seventies and eighties,followed by the“third-generation poem”of the“post-rise”in the mid-1980s.The Cultural Revolution is a devastating blow to contemporary poetry whose development has become bogged down in the traditional pattern of rigidity.However,contemporary poetry has survived in a difficult situation,which heralds a fresh turn.(Li,1995,p.72)

This is the rise of the misty poem,the awakening of the“man”and the awakening of the poem.It is profound in that it comes not from external enlightenment but from a renewed sense of itself.Poetry written in the 1980s broke the pattern of“one center”and the overall creation were“diversified”,which was very lively.The creation of obscure poems,be they by Bei Dao and Shu Ting in the early period,or Yang Lian who was indulging in the“oriental modern epic”,explores the historical and cultural traditions,reveals the pursuit of human freedom,rich people,literary ideals and humanism spirit.(Li,1995,p.74)

Then came the“third generation of poets”.The collective name of the third generation of poets,which are the avant-garde poets,just like Hai Zi,Luo Yihe,and the neoclassicism avant-garde poets such as Xi Chuan and Ouyang Jianghe,and feminist poets such as Zhai Yongming and Yi Lei.Some critics call it“postmodernism tendencies”.Its aesthetic principles can be summarized as follows:non-noble,non-graceful,non-harmonious.“The Third Generation”is no longer the“voice”of history.They do not remember the past or have any romantic illusions about the future.

The rise of feminist poetry in the 1980s is a great event in contemporary poetry.Zhai Yongming is a representative figure in her group poem The Woman and her masterwork The Pattern of Death.In the 1990s,the poetry of the new era has faced great difficulties.

With the establishment of the market economy in the mainland and the development of the deep,the 21st century will be a time of rapid development of Chinese commodity.The rapid expansion of commodity is bound to be a cultural landscape dominated by consumption and mass media.Therefore,the development of pure literature is bound to fall into the dilemma of internal and external difficulties,namely the end of the status of the cultural center of poetry.It is apparent that escape is not the way out,so the poet only has to bear the pressure inside and outside,seek the path of the poem's existence and development in the midst of difficulties.

Worldwide Influence and International Poetry Communication

While developing,modern Chinese poetry exerts influence on the outside through all kinds of poetry festivals,such as Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival,Shanghai International Poetry Festival,Zhuhai International Poetry Festival,Sanya International Poetry Festival,Chengdu International Poetry Week,etc.This kind of international festivals of poetry has become the communication hub of Chinese literature“going out”and“introducing”.On the one hand,the festival brings poetry into life as a means of improving the quality of life and promoting cultural selfconfidence;on the other hand,western poets and Chinese poets and people from all over the world are invited to communicate,a concentric bridge of poets and critics poetics was built.More importantly,the international festival of poetry has established an important platform for telling the story of China and building a national image.Usually,these international festivals of poetry are organized in the form of literary performances,the holding of poetry forums,the reading of classical poetry,cultural parades with local cultural characteristics,and the use of multimedia forms,creating a carnival-style synthetically effect and promoting the movement of poetry to the masses,to the grass-roots level.

The Translation of Contemporary Chinese Poetry

Despite a hundred years development,modern Chinese poetry didn’t enter the world poetry stage as expected.It is not until China’s opening up to the outside that contemporary Chinese poems had their day to go abroad more often than the past.Even so,most Chinese contemporary poems appear in the western translation and publishing field in the form of“collections”.(Liu,2012,p.93)

Brief Survey of English Translation of Contemporary Chinese Poetry

One of the important and probably the first English translation collection of Chinese poetry is Modern Chinese Poetry(1936),translated by Harold Acton and Chen Shixiang(Shih-Hsiang Chen).The collection contains 96 Chinese modern poems,the most of which are poems by 15 poets like Bian Zhilin,Lin Geng,Dai Wangshu,Xu Zhimo and He Qifang and so on.The second collection of translated poems is by Robert Payne,Contemporary Chinese Poetry(1947),is a compilation of 113 Chinese contemporary poems,selected from the works of nine poets,including Wen Yiduo,Xu Zhimo,He Qifang,Bian Zhilin,Baker,Feng Zhi,Ai Qing,Yu Mingchuan,and TianJian.

Prior to the end of the Cultural Revolution,the collection of poems was small and of good quality,for the editors were more authoritative.For example,Hsu Kai-yu of San Francisco State University,published in Doubleday,New York,in 1963,was the editor of Twentieth Century Chinese Poetry:An Anthology(1963).The book is also a masterpiece of early Chinese contemporary literature abroad.This poetry is very typical of the“Overseas Twentieth Century Chinese Literature”.

Other important collections of overseas poetry before the end of the Cultural Revolution include“New Chinese Poetry”,translated by Taiwanese poet Yu Guangzhong,published in 1960 in Heritage,Taiwan.In 1970,the University of Iowa published another collection by the famous Chinese scholar,Wai-lim Yip,Modern Chinese Poetry:Twenty Poets from the Republic of China(1970).

Since the beginning of the 21st century,the collection of poems has effectively remedied some of the demerits of the early publications.For example,in 2009 Sharpe published Twentieth-Century Chinese Women's Poetry:An Anthology(2009)by Julia C.Lin.The book features two hundred and forty-five poems from 1920s to the end of the 20th century in mainland China and Taiwan.Each poet has a concise personal profile,a wide variety of poems,and a more comprehensive introduction of the history and present situation of Chinese female poetry in the 20th century.The Eight Contemporary Chinese Poets,published in 2006 by Wild Peony in Sydney,by Naikan Tao and Tony Prince,includes Yang Lian,Jiang,Han Dong,Yu Jian,Zhai Yongming,Zhang Zhen,Nishikawa and Hai Zi.(Li,2013)

In addition to the form of the collection,more poets appear in various kinds of poems,magazines and online media in a piecemeal manner.Overseas poets such as Bei Dao,Yang Lian,who also enjoys a wide reputation abroad,are the focus of many scholars.Mainland Chinese poets like Gu Cheng,Shu Ting,Zhai Yongming and Xi Chuan are also introduced to overseas publishing and research fields.Some overseas journals also regularly release Chinese poetry albums,translating and introducing contemporary Chinese poetry.Through searching and browsing the status of translation and publication of Contemporary Chinese poems abroad,the overseas dissemination of Chinese contemporary poetry shows the increasing number and scope of poets'poems,and the translation channels are becoming wider and faster,the quality of translation is also improving.

Detailed Analysis into the Translation of Contemporary Chinese Poetry

Since the 1950s,a large number of scholars have devoted themselves to the translation of contemporary poetry,some in an attempt to translate their own works,thus forming the so-called self-translation,which have greatly promoted and enriched the translation of poetry.It has opened up a series of translation theories and practices with distinctive characteristics for poetry translation.The following section will discuss different translated versions by carefully probing into each of the draft versions created during the translating process.

1.Domestic poets’self-translation practice

As a well-known poet,translator and literary critic,Bian Zhilin is considered as an active frontier and practitioner in Chinese modern poetry,occupying an unusual position in Chinese literature.His poetry stands for the most typical orientation of Chinese poetry in 1930s.Early in 1936,the book Modern Chinese Poetry,published in London,contained 14 poems of Bian Zhilin,translated by the poet himself.Later,in different periods of history,Bian translated some other poems of him-self into English and published them in various periodicals.In his own English translations,Bian shows more of his nature as a poet and his special,reader-centered and flexible way of handling.

This essay takes Bian as a representative of domestic poets in self-translation to show how this kind of translation differs from“other-translation”.

1).Change of the form

Bian Zhilin's translation of the sentence pattern was flexible.For example,in the poem Peking(Bian,1979,p.111),the fifth stanza:

徒然的大呼,呼啊,呼啊,呼啊,

歸去也,歸去也,故都,

故都奈若何!..…

Crying vainly,Crying,crying,crying.

Homeward!Where?Homeward!Where?

Ancient capital,ancient capital,what can I do for you?

The original poem expressed a strong indignation in repeated expressions,and in translation,he dealt with it in a few strong questions with bold adjustments,which shows the absolute subjectivity of the author and translator.

2).Tempo and rhythm

The most typical example here is the Green Moths(Bian,1979,p.123).The sunset,rhymes with ABBA,CDDC,EFE,FGG.In the translation,however,he does not follow the rhyme of the original,but rather ABBA,CDEC,FGH,FGH.

And it was found that,in order to achieve a new rhythm,Bian also made bold changes.For example,“曉夢(mèng)后看明窗凈幾”is translated as“Awoke at dawn and back from all vagaries”.The phrase“back from all vagaries”is not found in the original poem.The other two lines,“小嶸蟲(chóng)在燈卜紛墜”and“待我來(lái)把你們吹空”are rendered separately as“A round the lamp you shower with hearts of fire”and“I'll blow off the empty desk your trace of night”,adding“with hearts of fire”and“your trace of night”,which clearly convey meaning and rhyme for the translation.

3).Wording-adding

In the eleven poems of self-translation,the text of the original poem was translated in wording-adding method.For example,Peking(Bian,1979,p.111)and its English translation:

黃毛風(fēng)攪弄大香爐,

一爐千年的陳灰

飛,飛,飛,飛,飛,

飛出了馬,飛出了狼,飛出了虎

Here it is again:The yellow-haired wind

Makes a mess of the immense incense-pot,

Stirring up the ashes of many centuries,

Sending them flying,flying,flying,

Driving them into frightened horses,fierce wolves,furious tigers

“馬”“狼”and“虎”are simple images in original poem,while“frightened”,“fierce”and“furious”are added separately in the translation versions.It reads with a rhyming beauty that rhymes with alliteration,while making clear the features of the imagery that is being put forward,reflecting the“cynicism of the ancient world”.

4).Omission

It is also for the needs of expression or rhythm,and there are some parts of the translation that are simplified or even abridged.If,traditionally and strictly speaking,it may not meet the requirements of equivalence or fidelity,however,in Bian Zhilin's eleven translations,the self-translation apparently enjoys a higher degree of freedom than he does.For example,The Peninsula(Bian,1979,p.118)and its English translation:

半島是大陸的纖手,

遙指海上的三神山。

The peninsula is slender finger

Pointing to the three fairy sea-hills.

The meaning of“大陸的”is omitted in the translation.Of course,this does not affect the original intention,because the peninsula is naturally extended from the mainland,and the translation of the translator is better to reproduce the original text of the concise style of expression.

After analyzing Bian Zhilin's self-translation strategies,it can be found that his translations of language forms,contents and styles of originals are flexible,such as the adjustment of expressions,sentence patterns and rhythms of originals,the amplification,omission or transformation of the contents.But the overall styles of originals are generally maintained in his translated poems.Bian Zhilin's self-translation practice has provided a new perspective for the research of the relationship between translations and originals,as well as that between translators and original authors.It is also an inspiration to other translators in translation strategy.

2.Foreign Translators’Practice

Arthur Waley is not only one of the most famous western sinologists and translators of the 20th century,but also a key figure in the movement of modern English poetry.During the translation of Chinese poetry,he developed a set of principles in which the content improved by association with the style reminiscent of the“the sprung rhythm”employed by the poet Hopkins of late 19th century in the creation of poetry.Another two important figures in translating Chinese poetry into English are Robert Payne and Wai-lim Yip,the former published Contemporary Chinese Poetry along with another important collection in the same year,The White Pony(1947),which covers a wide range from Zhou Dynasty till the present day.

Wai-lim Yip is also one of the most important representatives.For the sake of his main dedication and working sphere,the author of the paper puts him into the category of foreign translator.Yip's academic achievements are more fruitful and far-reaching than his creation,but in his poetry translation we see more of his identity as a poet than as a scholar.William Yip is a typical poet translator,and although he takes care of the different styles of different poets,his subjectivity is very strong.First of all,conceptually,he insisted that the translation of poetry should have a minimum requirement;the translation must first be poetry.The greatest advantage of the poet's translation lies in his ability to use his proficiency and sensitivity to the target language,and quickly and even instantaneously find an appropriate word to correspond to a word in the original text.With his deep English and Chinese background,Mr.Yip has a rich vocabulary of English and has outstanding diction.

Conclusion

With the aforementioned,the author had demonstrated the development of Chinese contemporary poetry and its English translation.Hence it is reasonable to reckon that the unique linguistic and cultural characteristics of contemporary Chinese poetry determine that literal translation of poetry is impossible.The translator must keep the target reader in mind,read between the lines of the poem and be familiar with the traditional habits of English poetry.A responsible translator,when translating,should consider not only the language but also the source text and its target readers.More importantly,when translating Chinese poetry into English,translators should not limit their scope of work within themselves,but should actively seek help and tests from others and communicate with different translators.It's best to present your translations to some native English speakers so they can really understand the reaction of the target audience and give some advice.Translators should never stop seeking better translations,and never cease to improve their practical and theoretical knowledge.However,for us Chinese translators,there are a lot of translation problems that need to be addressed,and the circumstances of each translation are unique,depending on a number of factors,including source text,target language,expected audience,etc.This paper does not,even cannot,cover every aspect of the translation issue on contemporary Chinese poems.It only serves as a case study to explore relatively new fields of research,compared with classical Chinese poetry.