Chinese Literary System Research Articles

The translation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales and his intertextual world in China1

AbstractThe retranslations of Andersen's fairy tales in the twentieth century have promoted the canonization of Andersen in the modern Chinese literary system. Today, Chinese readers of different ages are fascinated by Andersen's works and the images created by him. However, the literary and cultural significance of Andersen to China lies in his influence. In this paper, the authors will first review the history of translating Andersen's fairy tales in China and then analyze some cases from Chinese literature and culture within the theoretical framework of intertextuality, in an attempt to specify the influence of Andersen on modern Chinese literature and culture. It is argued that Andersen's fairy tales have been cross‐culturally woven into Chinese children's as well as adult literature when the intertextual devices are applied by writers in their own literary creations; meanwhile the fictional elements of the tales are intertextually merged, as symbols, into other forms of cultural products where they are involved in a critical construction of modern Chinese culture.

Translating and publishing French theatre in China

This article examines transformations in the literary translation environment in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) specifically in relation to French-language theatre. After an initial survey of literary translation in the PRC from its foundation to the present, the article studies how French-language plays have been translated and adapted for publication. In particular, it considers how French theatre has occupied a favoured position in the Chinese translation literary system over the past four decades. It then focuses on three emblematic cases, those of Molière, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Samuel Beckett. Regarding the latter, two Chinese translations of En attendant Godot/Waiting for Godot will be examined to determine how contextual factors affected translation choices. In this way, the article seeks both to contribute to current discussions on ‘translatability’ and to consider the reception of canonical French-language writers in the Chinese literary system.

Notes on Contributors

Notes on Contributors

From a political order to a knowledge structure: the influence of western library science on Chinese classical literary system

The classical Chinese literary system owns no independent status because of its affiliation to catalogue books under the dual pressure from politics and Confucianism. Thus, political and ideological connotations come before the aesthetic value in its creation and interpretation. And Ji, one of the four categories in the Imperial Catalogue, had long been the synonym for classical literary system. Such situation remained stable until the importation of the cataloguing type in modern Western library science that changed the essence of the system into a knowledge structure from a political order. What’s more, it also helped to promote the specialization and discipline of literature, an essential link in the modernization of Chinese thinking and education. Despite the various advantages in this process, this paper argues that we should not neglect the more serious disadvantages in simplifying the essence of classical Chinese literary system into the plane aesthetic value, blind of its multi-dimensional functions indicated by the setting and ranking of categories and also the works’ location in cataloguing, both of which matter much more for the interpretation of classical Chinese literature.

Translation, Modernity, Acceptability—From Language Reform to Cultural Resistance in Translation Practice in China

This paper compares the linguistic acceptability in the Chinese translations of Peter Pan from a diachronic perspective, in terms of how changing socio-cultural factors over different time periods influence the linguistic acceptability of the target text. Linguistic acceptability is defined in relation to the extent to which translation conforms to dominant conventions and expectations in the target language. Relating to the polysystem theory, the paper first analyses the different roles translated literature has played in the Chinese literary system from the 1920s to the present, highlighting how, as translated literature moves from a central to a peripheral position, the preferred method of translation changes from innovative methods compromising the acceptability of the target text to conservative methods prioritising high acceptability. As part of the target literature polysystem, translation practice inevitably bears the mark of history. Three translations of J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, completed respectively in 1929 (Liang’s), 1991 (Yang’s) and 2011 (Ren’s) are compared in terms of their linguistic acceptability, illustrating how the changed position of translated literature results in the change of preferred translating methods, signalling a move from language reform to cultural resistance in the prevalent translation norms in China. Keywords: translation; polysystem theory; linguistic acceptability; language reform; China

Chinese literary thesis punctuation error analysis

In this paper, I examined the punctuation errors in the four academic journals of Chinese literature and doctoral theses at three universities in Korea. First, It is an error to use double quotes where you need to use single quotes. For Korean, use single quotation marks(` `) for the part to be emphasized. On the contrary. in Korean, double quotation marks (“ ”) are used for quoting someone`s words or writings directly. Second, According to Korean spelling regulations, you can use single angle brackets( ) instead of Korean single quotation marks(「 」). You can use double angle brackets(≪ ≫) instead of Korean double quotation marks(『 』). This itself is not a problem. However, it is confusing that the punctuation is not uniform for each school and each journals. The reason why the Chinese literary system uses single angle brackets ( ) and double angle brackets (≪ ≫) instead of a quotation marks is simple. First, the brackets is familiar. Second, there are no Korean quotation marks on the keyboard. Third, Korean high schools and universities are not sensitive to punctuation marks because they do not teach Punctuation mark. When a graduate student writes a thesis, an advisor should be careful about the Punctuation mark. In addition, Chinese literary journals should also be interested in punctuation marks. You should instruct the contributor to use the correct punctuation marks.

Writing on the assembly line: Informal labour in the formalised online literature market in China

Emerging as a non-commercial, grassroots alternative to the state-controlled publishing businesses, online literature in China has formalised based on the freemium business model and with the influx of capital. However, little is known about the informality in the formal market and their mutually shaping relationship. This article approaches online literature production in China as case study of the interconnection and interactions between the formal and informal in the wider context of the creative labour debate. It begins with an analysis of the inception of online literature in the context of Chinese literary system before unpacking the formalisation process. It then examines precarity associated with the informal labour, particularly the augmented precarity under the sway of capital. Then, it focuses on surrogate writing as a new form of informality arising from the formalised market, reveals the formality therein and its economic and socio-cultural implications including its impact on the formal market.

The Formation, Development, and Transformation of Contemporary Chinese Literary Criticism

In the formation of the contemporary Chinese literary system, literary criticism manifested the demands of “Socialist Literature” and established its basic paradigms in the development of Marxist critical activities. Aimed squarely at interpreting the central values of the contemporary literary system, literary criticism plays a role in the entire process of literary production. Therefore, the relationship between criticism and ideology is one of the most basic issues in the history of literary criticism. In the last three decades, the paradigm of literary criticism has been transformed, but it has not become an independent discipline. The success of this transformation is dependent upon the emergence of sinisized critical theories and the methodical nurturing of reality.

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System. Perry Link

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsThe Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System. Perry Link Kam LouieKam Louie Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 47Jan., 2002 Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/3182122 Views: 19Total views on this site Copyright 2002 The China JournalPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System (review)

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System (review)

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System

The uses of literature: life in the socialist Chinese literary system

The uses of literature: life in the socialist Chinese literary system

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System

The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System