John Minford
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John Minford (born 22 June 1946) is a British
sinologist Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilizatio ...
and literary translator. He is primarily known for his translation of Chinese classics such as 40 chapters of '' The Story of the Stone'', ''
The Art of War ''The Art of War'' is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is compos ...
'', the ''
I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...
'' and the ''
Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' () or ''Laozi'' is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship and date of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated por ...
''. He has also translated
Louis Cha Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), was a Hong Kong wuxia novelist and co-founder of ''Ming Pao.'' Cha authored 15 novels between 1955 and 1972 and became one of the most popul ...
's
wuxia ( , literally "martial arts and chivalry") is a genre of Chinese literature, Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fantasy literature, its popularity ha ...
novel''
The Deer and the Cauldron ''The Deer and the Cauldron'', also known as ''The Duke of Mount Deer'', is a historical novel by Jin Yong. It is his last and longest novel, originally serialized in the Hong Kong newspaper ''Ming Pao'' from 24 October 1969 to 23 September 1972 ...
'' (highly abridged in 28 chapters) and a selection of
Pu Songling Pu Songling ( zh, t= , 5 June 1640 – 25 February 1715) was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty, best known as the author of '' Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' (''Liaozhai zhiyi''). Biography Pu was born into a poor merchant famil ...
's ''
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio ''Liaozhai zhiyi'', sometimes shortened to ''Liaozhai'', known in English as ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'', ''Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'', ''Strange Tales from Make-Do Studio'', or literally ''Strange Tales from a Studio o ...
''.


Life


Early years and education

John Minford was born in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, UK, in 1946. The son of a career diplomat, Leslie Mackay Minford, he grew up in
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
,
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
and
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, before attending
Horris Hill School Horris Hill, is an independent day and boarding preparatory school for boys aged 4–13. It is located in Hampshire in England, south of Newbury in Berkshire and near the village of Newtown. The school was founded on its present site in 1888 ...
,
Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in West Berkshire, England, in the valley of the River Kennet. It is south of Oxford, north of Winchester, southeast of Swindon and west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. It is also where West Berkshire Council is hea ...
, and then
Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...
(1958–1963), where he studied
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
and
Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literatur ...
. He is the younger brother of prominent economist Patrick Minford. At Winchester he took piano lessons with Christopher Cowan. In 1963-4, he continued his piano studies with Walter Kamper in Vienna, and from 1964 to 1966 with David Parkhouse in London. He entered
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...
, in 1964 on a classical scholarship and obtained first class honours in Chinese Literature in 1968. He completed his PhD at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
in 1980, under the supervision of Dr Pierre Ryckmans and Professor Liu Ts'un-yan.


Career

He has held a number of teaching posts in mainland China, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. In 1982, he joined the staff of the Research Centre for Translation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, working closely with Stephen Soong, 宋淇, and eventually taking over from him as editor of the journal Renditions. His later positions included that of Chair Professor of Chinese at the
University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...
(1986–1991) and at the Australian National University (2006–2016), Chair Professor of Translation at the
Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU or HKPU) is a public research university in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The university is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded in 1937 a ...
(1994–1999) and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2011–2013). In 2006, during his tenure as Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at the Open University of Hong Kong, he was one of the founding members of the Civic Party of Hong Kong. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Chinese at The Australian National University, and Sin Wai Kin Distinguished Professor of Chinese Culture and Translation at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. In November 2016 he was awarded the inaugural Medal for Excellence in Translation by the Australian Academy of Humanities, for his ''I Ching''. He now divides his time between Featherston, New Zealand, and Fontmarty his old home near
Tuchan Tuchan (; ) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France. Population See also * Fitou AOC * Corbières AOC * Communes of the Aude department The following is a list of the 433 Communes of France, communes of the Aude Departmen ...
, in the Corbières hills of the Languedoc. In 2020-1 he finished editing a series of six titles from Hong Kong Literature for publication by the Chinese University Press of Hong Kong. This series consisted of Liu Yichang's stream-of-consciousness novel ''The Drunkard'', two volumes of selected poetry and fiction by P. K. Leung (''Lotus Leaves'' and ''Dragons''), Xi Xi's contemporary book of biji sketches ''The Teddy Bear Chronicles'', the personal memoir ''Ordinary Days'' by Leo Ou-fan Lee and Esther Lee, and a compendium of Hong Kong essays from 1840 to the present, ''The Best China''.


Marriage

Minford was married in 1969 to Nickie Curteis, and they had two children, Emma and Luke. Nickie died in 1973. In 1977 he married Rachel May, the daughter of the noted sinologist David Hawkes. They had two children, Daniel and Laura. Rachel died in January 2015. Hawkes was also Minford's teacher at Oxford University. Together, the two translated
Cao Xueqin Cao Xueqin ( ; 4 April 171010 June 1765Briggs, Asa (ed.) (1989) ''The Longman Encyclopedia'', Longman, ) was a Chinese novelist and poet during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of '' Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four G ...
's '' The Story of the Stone'', with Hawkes translating the first eighty chapters (Volumes 1–3) and Minford the last forty (Volumes 4–5).


Main publications

* 1980 Miao Yüeh 繆鉞, The Chinese Lyric 論詞, in Soong ed., ''Song Without Music: Chinese Tz’u Poetry'', Hong Kong, Chinese UP, 25–44 * 1982 Cao Xueqin 曹雪芹 & Gao E 高鶚, ''The Story of the Stone'' 紅樓夢, vol 4, The Debt of Tears. Penguin Classics & Indiana University Press, 400 pp. * 1982 (assistant editor, for Liu Ts'un-yan柳存仁) ‘Chinese Middlebrow Fiction’, a Renditions book, Washington University Press. * 1984 (edited with Stephen C. Soong 宋淇) ''Trees on the Mountain: An Anthology of New Chinese Writing'', Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, 396 pp. * 1986 (edited with
Geremie Barmé Geremie R. Barmé (born 1954) is an Australian sinologist and film-maker on modern and traditional China. He was formerly Director, Australian Centre on China in the World and Chair Professor of Chinese History at Australian National Universit ...
) ''Seeds of Fire: Chinese Voices of Conscience'' 火種, Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong, 347 pp. * 1986 Cao Xueqin & Gao E, ''The Story of the Stone'' 紅樓夢, vol 5, The Dreamer Wakes. Penguin Classics & Indiana University Press, 385 pp. * 1987 (edited, with Siu-kit Wong) ''Chinese: Classical, Modern and Humane – Collected Essays of David Hawkes'', Hong Kong, Chinese University Press, 327 pp. * 1987 (with Pang Bingjun & Séan Golden) ''One Hundred Modern Chinese Poems'' 中國現代詩一百首. Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 348 pp. * 1995 Pieces of Eight: Reflections on Translating The Story of the Stone, in Eoyang and Lin eds., ''Translating Chinese Literature'', Indiana University Press, 178–203. * 1997 Louis Cha (Jin Yong 金庸), ''The Deer and the Cauldron: A Martial Arts Novel'' 鹿鼎記, The First Book. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, xxxiii & 475 pp. * 1998 The Chinese Garden: Death of a Symbol, in ''Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes'' (vol 18, no. 3), 257–268. * 1999 Death in Macau: In Defence of Orientalism, in Günter Wohlfart et al. eds., ''Translation und Interpretation'', Munich, Wilhelm Fink, 143–156. * 1999 Louis Cha (Jin Yong 金庸), ''The Deer and the Cauldron: A Martial Arts Novel, The Second Book''. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, xxxi & 564 pp. * 2000 (edited, with Joseph S.M.Lau) ''Chinese Classical Literature: An Anthology of Translations''. 1st vol, New York & Hong Kong, Columbia UP & Chinese UP, lix & 1176 pp. 2nd vol, forthcoming. * 2002 ''Sunzi, The Art of War'' 孫子兵法. New York, Viking Books. Lvi & 325 pp. (subsequent paperback, Penguin Classics, 2003) * 2002 Louis Cha (
Jin Yong Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), was a Hong Kong wuxia novelist and co-founder of '' Ming Pao.'' Cha authored 15 novels between 1955 and 1972 and became one of the most pop ...
金庸), ''The Deer and the Cauldron: A Martial Arts Novel, The Third Book''. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, xlix & 535 pp. With Rachel May * 2003 (edited with Rachel May) ''A Birthday Book for Brother Stone: For David Hawkes at Eighty''. Chinese University Press, xi & 365 pp. * 2005 Soong Hsun-leng 宋訓倫, ''The Fragrant Hermitage 馨菴詞稿. Twenty-nine Lyric Poems, translated from the Chinese'', Taiwan, SKS. 5–86. * 2006 Pu Songling 蒲松齡, ''Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'' 聊齋誌異, London, Penguin Classics, xxxviii + 562 pp. (translations, including lengthy introduction, glossary and bibliography) * 2007 (with Brian Holton and Agnes Hung-chong Chan) Leung Ping-kwan, ''Islands and Continents''. Hong Kong University Press, xviii and 128 pp. * 2008 'One Moon One Heart:Thirty Ancient Chinese Fables' (Monte James Fine Art, San Francisco) * 2014 ''The I Ching: Book of Change 周易: A New Translation'', New York, Viking/Penguin. * 2018 ''Laozi, Daodejing 道德經: A New Translation'' New York, Viking/Penguin. * 2020-2021 General Editor, 6-volume series, Hong Kong Literature, CUHK Press, Hong Kong.


References


External links


John Minford's personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minford, John 1946 births Living people People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Australian National University alumni Chinese–English translators British sinologists Academic staff of the Australian National University Academic staff of the University of Auckland People from Birmingham, West Midlands