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The translation of Chinese writer Jia Pingwa’s controversial novel The Abandoned Capital was recently completed by Chinese and English scholars.
“There should be more outstanding Chinese novels reaching world readers，” said Hu Zongfeng， Vice Dean of the School of Foreign Studies， Northwest University in Xi’an in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province， and also one of the two translators， on July 24.
According to Hu， his partner， British scholar Robin Gibank， had taken the translated text to his teacher， a famous critic in the U.K.， for further refining.
Hu cooperated with Gibank for three years， translating the once banned novel into English， which should be published by the end of this year.
Background
In 1993， The Abandoned Capital was first serialized in October， a bimonthly literature magazine based in Beijing. Later it was released by Beijing Publishing House with a first run of 500，000 copies. With its publication， the novel immediately drew tremendous attention across Chinese society for its bold sexual depictions， making Jia the center of much controversy and criticism.
“The shadow of the novel haunted me during all of the 1990s and even today， which has affected me a lot，” said Jia.
He said that a lot of readers and critics labeled his novel vulgar and accused him of being an indecent rogue， mainly due to its sexual content.
Set in Xi’an， capital city of Shaanxi Province， the novel centers on the life of its hero Butterfly and his affairs with several women. It gives a vivid description of Chinese society in the 1980s.
Before this novel， Jia was already a wellknown writer. Unlike his previous works about peasantry in northwest China， The Abandoned Capital has an urban setting. It sensitively captured the latest changes in Chinese society， and described the mental states of intellectuals in reaction to this.
“The Abandoned Capital reflects the collapse of an era and a distrust in faith. The book reached a new height in interpreting the destiny of intellectuals and their predicaments，”commented Xie Youshun， a literary critic from Zhongshan University in south China’s Guangdong Province.
However， the novel was banned in 1993 for its bold sexual depictions.
Despite this， pirate versions were widely available. It was so popular that Jia estimated that at least 12 million copies had been sold. Meanwhile， the novel was well received abroad and won the Prix Femina award， a French literary award， on November 3， 1997. It has been translated into several languages， including Japanese， French and Russian. “The novel has attracted overwhelming attention. Many critics wrote articles on it，” said Jia.
“But it was soon banned. Later， it was released in Hong Kong， but many parts were removed. In the second half of 1993， the whole nation was debating the book，” Jia said.
The banning of the novel has always been a sore issue. It was not revoked until July of 2009.
Jia explained that acceptance of the republished novel was a reflection of modern society and showed that China’s literary circle had improved.
“A book’s fate reflects the track of social progress，” the writer said， talking about his book just like a child. “Over the past years， social values have gradually changed， and people’s knowledge about literature has also been enhanced.”
When The Abandoned Capital was first published， Chinese society was considered conservative， with novels depicting sexual scenes able to cause a sensation.
Nowadays， however， neither readers nor critics make a fuss when works like Jia’s hit the shelves. Censorship of such novels has also become more relaxed. The Abandoned Capital is now regarded as part of Jia’s famous trilogy， alongside Turbulence and Qin Qiang.
“Writers are observers of society. They watch over the pace of a nation as it moves forward. They should narrate social ethics. What’s more， they should face reality and truth. In this way， they will fulfill their responsibilities as writers.”
A ray of light
Hu Zongfeng had thought about translating The Abandoned Capital as early as 1993 when it was first published. But he didn’t get it started because he was afraid of taking up such a daunting task.
In 1987， he translated six pieces of prose by Jia， whom he subsequently befriended. “In person， I like Jia’s work very much， and I have always wanted to introduce them abroad.”
Fortunately， Hu met Gibank， which rekindled his dream of translating The Abandoned Capital. Gibank， a doctor of literature， specialized in medieval British literature.
“Robin has an amazingly big vocabulary，”said Hu. “At that time， he had taught British and American literature appreciation in the Northwest University for more than a year. And he supported me when I translated Jia’s medium-length novel The Country Wife. The translated book was published in New Letters in 2010. He then told me he wanted to meet the writer， so we visited Jia on Robin’s birthday with a copy of New Letters. It was that conversation that gave me the idea of translating The Abandoned Capital.” New Letters is one of the oldest literary magazines published in the United States that continues releasing award-winning poetry and fiction. The novel occupied 56 pages of the publication’s 150.
As both Hu and Gibank were busy at work， the two had to do the translation in their spare time. An agreement was reached that each of them spend a day on it per week. Thus it took the two more than three years to complete the 400，000-word novel， The Abandoned Capital.
For this translation， Jia had only one requirement： don’t delete one single sentence. The resulting English version is based on the 1993 version of the novel.
Process of translation
Indeed， translation is no easy work. All of Jia’s trilogy—The Abandoned Capital， Turbulence and Qin Qiang—proved to be headaches， because of their distinctive local characteristics.
So far， only Turbulence has been translated into English by Howard Goldblatt， a famous American sinologist and translator who has won the Mobil Pegasus Prize for Literature in the United States. Goldblatt also tried to translate Qin Qiang， but finally gave it up due to an abundance of native phrases in the original version.
Luckily， things were different for The Abandoned Capital.
“Robin is specialized in medieval literature， and I am very familiar with Shaanxi dialect. So we don’t find this kind of translation too difficult，” said Hu.
Annotations are necessary in translation.“Many names， places and events that Chinese people are familiar with are totally new to foreigners， such as the Wild Goose Pagoda， Yang Yuhuan， and so on. In this case， Robin is definitely a detector. When he doesn’t understand something， we would discuss whether or not and how to add annotations，” Hu added.
Language is also a big problem. “Take the book’s name for example， we tried several translations， and finally chose The Abandoned Capital. The name of the hero Zhuang Zhidie， we chose the phonosemantic translation technique and changed it into Butterfly. Of course， this name relates to Zhuangzi， a Chinese Taoist philosopher who lived during the Warring States period （475-221 B.C.）. So we added an annotation to it.”
During the translation process， Jia gave his support. “I took Robin to his study at least five to six times for in-depth discussions，” Hu explained.
“Jia has approved of our work. He once sent Robin an ancient eaves tile with an inscription as a present.
Goldblatt expressed the difference between Chinese and Western writers. He pointed out that the former loved to describe the background of a story first. For Chinese people， hometowns are important. But Westerners found this verbose. They love to impress readers with the very first sentence.
“There should be more outstanding Chinese novels reaching world readers，” said Hu Zongfeng， Vice Dean of the School of Foreign Studies， Northwest University in Xi’an in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province， and also one of the two translators， on July 24.
According to Hu， his partner， British scholar Robin Gibank， had taken the translated text to his teacher， a famous critic in the U.K.， for further refining.
Hu cooperated with Gibank for three years， translating the once banned novel into English， which should be published by the end of this year.
Background
In 1993， The Abandoned Capital was first serialized in October， a bimonthly literature magazine based in Beijing. Later it was released by Beijing Publishing House with a first run of 500，000 copies. With its publication， the novel immediately drew tremendous attention across Chinese society for its bold sexual depictions， making Jia the center of much controversy and criticism.
“The shadow of the novel haunted me during all of the 1990s and even today， which has affected me a lot，” said Jia.
He said that a lot of readers and critics labeled his novel vulgar and accused him of being an indecent rogue， mainly due to its sexual content.
Set in Xi’an， capital city of Shaanxi Province， the novel centers on the life of its hero Butterfly and his affairs with several women. It gives a vivid description of Chinese society in the 1980s.
Before this novel， Jia was already a wellknown writer. Unlike his previous works about peasantry in northwest China， The Abandoned Capital has an urban setting. It sensitively captured the latest changes in Chinese society， and described the mental states of intellectuals in reaction to this.
“The Abandoned Capital reflects the collapse of an era and a distrust in faith. The book reached a new height in interpreting the destiny of intellectuals and their predicaments，”commented Xie Youshun， a literary critic from Zhongshan University in south China’s Guangdong Province.
However， the novel was banned in 1993 for its bold sexual depictions.
Despite this， pirate versions were widely available. It was so popular that Jia estimated that at least 12 million copies had been sold. Meanwhile， the novel was well received abroad and won the Prix Femina award， a French literary award， on November 3， 1997. It has been translated into several languages， including Japanese， French and Russian. “The novel has attracted overwhelming attention. Many critics wrote articles on it，” said Jia.
“But it was soon banned. Later， it was released in Hong Kong， but many parts were removed. In the second half of 1993， the whole nation was debating the book，” Jia said.
The banning of the novel has always been a sore issue. It was not revoked until July of 2009.
Jia explained that acceptance of the republished novel was a reflection of modern society and showed that China’s literary circle had improved.
“A book’s fate reflects the track of social progress，” the writer said， talking about his book just like a child. “Over the past years， social values have gradually changed， and people’s knowledge about literature has also been enhanced.”
When The Abandoned Capital was first published， Chinese society was considered conservative， with novels depicting sexual scenes able to cause a sensation.
Nowadays， however， neither readers nor critics make a fuss when works like Jia’s hit the shelves. Censorship of such novels has also become more relaxed. The Abandoned Capital is now regarded as part of Jia’s famous trilogy， alongside Turbulence and Qin Qiang.
“Writers are observers of society. They watch over the pace of a nation as it moves forward. They should narrate social ethics. What’s more， they should face reality and truth. In this way， they will fulfill their responsibilities as writers.”
A ray of light
Hu Zongfeng had thought about translating The Abandoned Capital as early as 1993 when it was first published. But he didn’t get it started because he was afraid of taking up such a daunting task.
In 1987， he translated six pieces of prose by Jia， whom he subsequently befriended. “In person， I like Jia’s work very much， and I have always wanted to introduce them abroad.”
Fortunately， Hu met Gibank， which rekindled his dream of translating The Abandoned Capital. Gibank， a doctor of literature， specialized in medieval British literature.
“Robin has an amazingly big vocabulary，”said Hu. “At that time， he had taught British and American literature appreciation in the Northwest University for more than a year. And he supported me when I translated Jia’s medium-length novel The Country Wife. The translated book was published in New Letters in 2010. He then told me he wanted to meet the writer， so we visited Jia on Robin’s birthday with a copy of New Letters. It was that conversation that gave me the idea of translating The Abandoned Capital.” New Letters is one of the oldest literary magazines published in the United States that continues releasing award-winning poetry and fiction. The novel occupied 56 pages of the publication’s 150.
As both Hu and Gibank were busy at work， the two had to do the translation in their spare time. An agreement was reached that each of them spend a day on it per week. Thus it took the two more than three years to complete the 400，000-word novel， The Abandoned Capital.
For this translation， Jia had only one requirement： don’t delete one single sentence. The resulting English version is based on the 1993 version of the novel.
Process of translation
Indeed， translation is no easy work. All of Jia’s trilogy—The Abandoned Capital， Turbulence and Qin Qiang—proved to be headaches， because of their distinctive local characteristics.
So far， only Turbulence has been translated into English by Howard Goldblatt， a famous American sinologist and translator who has won the Mobil Pegasus Prize for Literature in the United States. Goldblatt also tried to translate Qin Qiang， but finally gave it up due to an abundance of native phrases in the original version.
Luckily， things were different for The Abandoned Capital.
“Robin is specialized in medieval literature， and I am very familiar with Shaanxi dialect. So we don’t find this kind of translation too difficult，” said Hu.
Annotations are necessary in translation.“Many names， places and events that Chinese people are familiar with are totally new to foreigners， such as the Wild Goose Pagoda， Yang Yuhuan， and so on. In this case， Robin is definitely a detector. When he doesn’t understand something， we would discuss whether or not and how to add annotations，” Hu added.
Language is also a big problem. “Take the book’s name for example， we tried several translations， and finally chose The Abandoned Capital. The name of the hero Zhuang Zhidie， we chose the phonosemantic translation technique and changed it into Butterfly. Of course， this name relates to Zhuangzi， a Chinese Taoist philosopher who lived during the Warring States period （475-221 B.C.）. So we added an annotation to it.”
During the translation process， Jia gave his support. “I took Robin to his study at least five to six times for in-depth discussions，” Hu explained.
“Jia has approved of our work. He once sent Robin an ancient eaves tile with an inscription as a present.
Goldblatt expressed the difference between Chinese and Western writers. He pointed out that the former loved to describe the background of a story first. For Chinese people， hometowns are important. But Westerners found this verbose. They love to impress readers with the very first sentence.