Xu Yuanchong (; 18 April 1921 – 17 June 2021) was a Chinese translator, best known for translating Chinese ancient poems into English and French. He was a professor at

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charte ...

since 1983.

Early career

Xu Yuanchong was born in

Nanchang County Nanchang County () is a county of Jiangxi Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Nanchang, the provincial capital. The population in 1999 was . Administration Nanchang County has 11 towns and 7 townships ...

(now Nanchang),

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into h ...

. 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 Hsiung Shih-I (; also S. I. Hsiung or Xiong Shiyi; 1902–1991) was a writer, biographer, translator, academic, and playwright in Beijing and London. He was the first Chinese person to direct a West End play, and the founder of Tsing Hua Academy ...

was a translator, who translated the play ''

Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui ''Wang Baochuan and Xue Pinggui'' (), also known by many other names such as ''The Red-Maned Stallion'', ''Wujiapo'', ''Returning to the Cave'', and ''The Story of the Colourful Tower'', is a Chinese legend commonly played out in Chinese opera thea ...

'' into English, which was a hit in the UK. Xiong's achievement gave Xu a strong interest in learning English. 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 When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Unive ...

. 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" ().

Style

His translation style is characterized by favouring domesticating translation. Xu introduced the ''Creation for Loss'' and the ''three beauties''-concept to translation theory: the idea that a translation should be as beautiful as the original in three ways: *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."

Achievements

His 30 Poetries were selected as teaching materials by foreign universities. After reading his English translation "Selected Poems of

Li Bai Li Bai (, 701–762), also pronounced as Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (), was a Chinese poet, acclaimed from his own time to the present as a brilliant and romantic figure who took traditional poetic forms to new heights. He and his friend Du F ...

" (1987), Qian Zhongshu said: If you live in the same age with

, you'll become good friends. The British Press, "Romance of The Western Bower", which is thought as great as "

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

" 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 Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous En ...

's masterpiece, " Remembrance of Things Past" (1990) and translated

Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaube ...

'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 Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production an ...

's "John Kristof" (1999). Xu was awarded the "Lifetime achievements in translation" from the Translators Association of China (TAC) in 2010. 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.

Works

* ''My Most Beloved: Tang &

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetiti ...

Verses'' * ''Selected Poems and Pictures of

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

'' * ''Laws Divine and Human and Pictures of Deities'' * ''Gems of Classical Chinese Poetry'' * ''Romance of The Western Bower'' * ''

Classic of Poetry The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

'' (《》) * ''

Chu Ci The ''Chu ci'', variously translated as ''Verses of Chu,'' ''Songs of Chu'', or ''Elegies of Chu'', is an ancient anthology of Chinese poetry including works traditionally attributed mainly to Qu Yuan and Song Yu from the Warring States perio ...

'' (

Qu Yuan Qu Yuan ( – 278 BCE) was a Chinese poet and politician in the State of Chu during the Warring States period. He is known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry and verses, especially through the poems of the ' ...

) (《》) * ''

Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion d ...

'' (

Laozi Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state of ...

) (《》) * '' Analects'' (

Kongzi Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Co ...

) (《》) * ''

The Story of the Western Wing ''Romance of the Western Chamber'' (), also translated as ''The Story of the Western Wing'', ''The West Chamber'', ''Romance of the Western Bower'' and similar titles, is one of the most famous Chinese dramatic works. It was written by the Yuan d ...

'' ( Wang Shifu) (《》) * ''

The Peony Pavilion ''The Peony Pavilion'' ( zh, t=牡丹亭, s=牡丹亭, p=Mǔdān tíng, w=Mu-tan t'ing), also named ''The Return of Soul at the Peony Pavilion'', is a romantic tragicomedy play written by dramatist Tang Xianzu in 1598. The plot was drawn from the sh ...

'' (

Tang Xianzu Tang Xianzu (; September 24, 1550 – July 29, 1616), courtesy name Yireng (), was a Chinese playwright of the Ming Dynasty. Biography Tang was a native of Linchuan, Jiangxi and his career as an official consisted principally of low-leve ...

) (《》) * '' The Palace of Eternal Life'' (

Hong Sheng Hong may refer to: Places * Høng, a town in Denmark *Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and specia ...

) (《》) * '' The Peach Blossom Fan'' ( Kong Shangren) (《》) * ''Poetry of Li Bai'' (

) (《》) * ''

Three Hundred Tang Poems The ''Three Hundred Tang Poems'' () is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). It was first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722–1778Yu, 64–65), who was a Qing Dynasty scholar and was also known as Hengtang Tuishi ...

'' (Sun Zhu) (《》) * '' One Hundred Song Poems'' (《》) * ''Poetry of Mao Zedong'' (

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

) () * ''

The Red and the Black ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' (; meaning ''The Red and the Black'') is a historical psychological novel in two volumes by Stendhal, published in 1830. It chronicles the attempts of a provincial young man to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing t ...

'' (

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de ...

) (《》) * '' Jean-Christophe'' (

) (《》) * ''

Madame Bovary ''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and em ...

'' (

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaube ...

) (《》) * '' In Search of Lost Time'' (

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous En ...

) (《》)

Awards

* Chinese Translation Association - Competent Translator (2004) * Chinese translation Culture Lifetime Achievement Award (2010)

Personal life

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

turned 100 A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living cente ...

on 18 April 2021 and died just under two months later, on 17 June in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

References

External links

Television show about Xu
'' CCTV-10'' (in Chinese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Xu, Yuanchong 1921 births 2021 deaths Republic of China translators Chinese centenarians People's Republic of China translators Writers from Jiangxi Educators from Jiangxi People from Nanchang Peking University faculty English–Chinese translators Chinese–English translators French–Chinese translators Chinese–French translators 20th-century Chinese translators 21st-century Chinese translators National Southwestern Associated University alumni Men centenarians