China and the West

Max Springweiler ist Bordmonteur und Funker der deutsch-chinesischen Eurasia Aviation Corporation in China.

George Roerich forscht in Westtibet.

Edouard Paréjas ist Professor für Geologie an der Universität Nanjing.

Henry Whitfield Guinness ist als Missionar der China Inland Mission in China.

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and punishment in China. [Zui yu fa].
Han Ruihui : Many modern Russian literary works are well-known and red in Chine, but some Russian literary works are not well accepted by China readers. Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novels, especially his Crime and punishment are among those works. The readers in China have less interest in Dostoyevsky compared with other Russian writers such as Pushkin, Termotov, Gogol, Turgeev, Tolstoy and Chekhov.
There are many differences between China and Russia because of the factors such as environments, climates, population composition, econimcs, international circumstance, religious believes and customs. There are also many similarities between China and Russia. They both have the tradition emphasis on spirit, morality and ideal. The rich theories about ethics is the same characteristic of both. The aesthetics of the two countries are different from each other, Chinese poet emphasizes the beauty come from the moderate, on the contrary, Russian poet pursues for the wild spirit and the narrative is emphasized.
In the novel Crime and punishment, the punishment incurred by the crime is not the focus, on the contrary, the course of confession and atoning for the crime is emphasized the most. In the novel, Chinese readers can not find the plot of retribution for the crime the protagonist commits.
The common readers of China would not understand Russian orthodoxy culture background, so they qould not understand the relation between the suffering and redemption in Dostoyevsky's works. The consciousness of suffering and tragedy, focus on the eternity are not understood. That is why Dostoyevsky's works is not popular in China. The consciousness of suffering and tragic endings in the works of his contemporary writers are less than that in Dostoyevsky's works.
In Crime and punishment, the protagonist does not believe he is guilty, because the old woman must die for her usurious lend. Dostoyevsky's explanation for the protagonist's crime is that his heart is away from God. So only the punishment can bring the peace and comfort for him.
Dostoyevsky's works believe that the unfortunate of human being is not because of the circumstance but the crime human being committed. The effective way to gain the happiness is through the suffering and hardship of redemption. All those are not understood by common China readers because of the cultural and historical background.
In the end of the 1970s China began to take a more opening attitude toward the foreign. So the literary criticism about Dostoyevsky changed accordingly. In many articles he was described asw one humanitarian writer and philosopher. But for many China readers, he was still strange. One of the reason for that phenomenon was that the economy-oriented society in China prevailed. The political propaganda in the Great Cultural Revolution is also one factor that causes the strangeness of Dostoyevsky's works to China readers.

Qu Qiubai. On translation : a letter to Lu Xun [ID D38987].
Dear Comrade
The publication of your translation of Razgrom (The rout) [by Aleksandr Alexandrovic Fadeev] was of course a truly memorable event in China's cultural life. Translating masterpieces of proletarian revolutionary literature from around the world and introducing these works to Chinese readers in a systematic fashion (especially masterpieces from the Soviet Union, which through concrete images present in an artistic way the 'heroes' of the great October Revolution, the Civil War and the Five-year Plans) – this is one of the crucial tasks of writers working for proletarian literature in China. Producing translations such as those of Razgrom and Zhelezhyi potok (Iron stream) [by Alexander Serafimovich] should be regarded as the responsibility of all Chinese revolutionary writers. Every revolutionary fighter on the literary front and every revolutionary reader should celebrate this victory, even though this is just a small victory…
Translation – in addition to introducing the content of the original to Chinese readers – has another important function, that is, helping us create a new modern Chinese language… Since we are engaged in the struggle for a new modern Chinese language, we cannot but set two standards for translation : absolute accuracy and absolute vernacular Chinese. This is to introduce the language of a new culture to the masses… The use of absolute vernacular Chinese for translation does not necessarily mean that we cannot 'preserve the spirit of the original'. Of course, this is difficult and painstaking. But we must never balk at difficulties ; we must make every effort to overcome them… Even if the new words have not yet been completely assimilated, the potential for such assimilation is already there. As for new sentence structures, it is more difficult. Still, sentence structure in the spoken language have changed and improved greatly…

Lu, Xun. A reply to Qu Qiubai [ID D38988].
My dear Comrade
I was very pleased to read your letter on translation. Since the appearance of a flood of translations last year, many people have raised their eyebrows, sighed, and even made sarcastic remarks. As one who translates from time to time, I should have made some comments, though I haven't so far…
Take, for an example, Old Master Zhao Jingsheng. On the one hand, he criticizes the translations of treatises written from a scientific perspective, saying that it is ludicrous for authors to be forced to remain anonymous. On the other, he proclaims that the common folk will probably not understand such translations…
First we need to decide what sort of readers among the common folk we are translating for. There are roughly three types : 1) the well-educated ; 2) the semi-literature ; and 3) the illiterates. The third group actually cannot be classified as 'readers', and it is the task of paintings, public lectures, drama, and movies to enlighten them. But the same books should not be given to the first two categories of readers, each of which should be provided with reading material appropriate for them. Even for the second group, we cannot give them translations. Adaptations are good enough, but creative works are still the best…
Why not Sinicize our translations entirely, and save our readers trouble ? Can an incomprehensible translation be called a translation at all ? My answer is : It is still a translation because it introduces not only new content but also new means of expression… Even in translating works for the second group of leaders, I think we should introduce new expressions and new syntax from time to time… Roughly speaking, our written language cannot yet be infused with the crude dialect of the different regions in China, and it should either be a special vernacular language, or the dialect of one special region…

Ausstellung chinesischer Maler der Jetztzeit [ID D39317].
Das chinesische Komitee bestand aus Zhu Jiahua, Cai Yuanpei, Liu Wendao, Chen Shuren, Liu Haisu, Gao Qifeng, Xu Beihong und anderen.

Eric de Montmollin unterrichtet in China.

Mary Matteson Wilbur und Hollis Adelbert Wilbur leben in Seoul, Korea.

Nicholas Fitzmaurice ist handelnder Generalkonsul des britischen Konsulats in Kashgar.

Michael Cavenagh Gillett ist Vize-Konsul der britischen Konsulate in Guangzhou (Guangdong), Hankou (Wuhan) und Nanjing.

Ronald Acott Hall wird britischer Vize-Konsul in China.

William Meyrick Hewlett ist Generalkonsul des britischen Konsulats in Hankou.

Humphrey Ingelram Prideaux-Brune wird Vize-Konsul in China.

Harry N. Steptoe wird Vize-Konsul des britischen Konsulats in Shanghai.

Culver B. Chamberlain ist Konsul des amerikanischen Konsulats in Harbin.

Neu-Bau des Lyceum Theatre in Shanghai nach Plänen von Davies & Thomas.

Heinz Lautenschlager ist Vize-Konsul des deutschen Konsulats in Guangzhou.

Josef Alois Hammerschmidt ist Architekt des Public Works Department des Shanghai Municipal Council.