Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 14 (Reporter Chen Qianci) "Duyun author is stupid, who understands the taste?" The poem "Dream of the Red Chamber" was applied to Qiu Suren, a retired professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Asian Studies at Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, but was evaluated by students as "so appropriate."
For decades, this veteran professor of Thai language and literature has not only cultivated generations of foreign language talents who are active in diplomacy, journalism, education, economy and trade, but also translated classic Chinese works such as "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", "Luoyang JialanJi", "Five Lantern Society Yuan" and so on. Her translations have been well received in thai literary circles and translation circles, and have aroused the discussion and resonance of Chinese enthusiasts on ancient Chinese literature, culture and civilization.
"On the Silk Road, which has been running for thousands of years day and night, language carries culture and literature exchange civilization," said Professor Qiu Sulun, who is now 74 years old, "with the help of Thai language teaching and literary translation, it is my obsession and obsession to tell the story of Chinese civilization well." ”
Convey culture with a translator and a pen
"In the eyes of many Chinese students who study Thai and Thai students who study Chinese, Professor Qiu Sulun has long been the 'ceiling' of Chinese-to-Thai translation," lamented Chen Li, an associate professor at the School of Asian Studies at the University of Foreign Chinese in Beijing.
The picture shows two translations published by Qiu Suren in Thailand, the left is "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" and the right is "Luoyang Jialan Records". (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Chen Qianci)
The real translation of Chinese literature into Thai began during the Qing Dynasty when the Thai literary giant Chao Phra Kham (Hung) completed the Thai translation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Since then, a number of Chinese literary works with strong storytelling, such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "Romance of the Western Han Dynasty", and "Water Margin", have entered thousands of households in Thailand and become household names in Chinese stories and re-creations. However, due to the limitations of non-lingua franca translation, some ancient Chinese cultural books that are difficult to understand and deeply philosophical have never reached the thai readers.
Qiu Sulun lamented that in the literary exchanges between the two countries, there are too many high-quality literary classics that have not been disseminated in time, and she has always hoped that she can add ink to the road of Sino-Thai literary exchanges.
In 2004, after four years, Qiu Suren's translation of the entire "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" was published in Thailand, which was the first full translation of the book to be independently completed by Chinese scholars in foreign languages. From the western city-states to the ancient countries of South Asia, from the legend of the Wild Goose Pagoda to the story of the Western Women, from the Bamiyan Buddha to the ancient temple of Luyeyuan, Thai readers who were once familiar with the "Story of the Tang Monks" saw for the first time the historical prototype and wonderful bibliography of Xuanzang, the Buddhist master and the translator, in the Thai version of the "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty".
More importantly, many Sanskrit translations in the "Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang" share the same origin as many Pali marks in Thai, and the ancient India and ancient Sri Lanka described in the Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty have inseparable historical origins with ancient Thai Buddhism. As soon as the translation was published, it immediately caused repercussions among Thai readers, scholars and Buddhist circles and was quickly reprinted, and many professors, senior monks, and people from the publishing circles came to Qiu Sulun for further study, exchange and discussion.
Master Xuanzang traveled west along the ancient Silk Road and translated many Sanskrit classics into Chinese; thousands of years apart, the literary Silk Road under the mutual learning of civilizations shines brightly, and Thai readers see not only the wisdom of the ancient Chinese through the translation, but also the strong vitality and appeal of oriental civilization.
After translating the Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, Qiu Suren spent another ten years translating the Luoyang Jialan Ji, one of the two bibi of Northern Dynasty literature, and the Zen masterpiece "Five Lanterns Huiyuan" in the history of Chinese culture, the former is equally loud after publication, and the latter is almost complete. At present, Qiu Suren is translating another high standard in the translation industry, "Dream of the Red Chamber".
"Every sentence in 'Dream of the Red Chamber' must be deliberated, and every poem has a deep meaning, so the translation of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' must be both literal and outside the text, both translating and deliberating, and hiding in deep meaning, so the overall translation progress is slower, but 'slow' is so that the translation can be more 'fast' understood and digested by Thai readers."
Ferry civilization with a boat
In 1975, China and Thailand established diplomatic relations, and in the same year, Qiu Sulun officially taught Thai at the University of Foreign Chinese in Beijing. Cultivating talents for friendship between the two countries has become the original intention she made on the first day of the podium. For more than 40 years, Qiu Sulun has witnessed the extensive participation of her students in sino-Thai official and non-governmental exchanges, saying, "This is the thing I am most proud of."
Not only using literary translation to promote the deepening of understanding between the two countries, Qiu Sulun also promoted close exchanges between the educational circles of the two countries through various means. During an interpreting mission to receive members of the Thai royal family to Visit China, Yau Sulun's excellent level of interpretation impressed the president of Chiang Mai Rajabhat University (then Chiang Mai Normal College) who was visiting with the group. Later, through the mediation of Qiu Suren, Chiang Mai Rajabhat University and Beijing Chinese University established an inter-university exchange relationship in 1990 and continues for more than 30 years.
In 1991, as the first exchange teacher of the project, Qiu Sulun went to Chiang Mai Rajabhat University in Thailand to help him open a Chinese major, and together with other experts from Beijing, he formulated a Chinese syllabus for the school. To this day, this is still the only teacher-training Chinese syllabus in Thailand. Her Practical Chinese Reader and Practical Intermediate Chinese Reader are now very popular among Chinese learners in Thailand and are constantly being reprinted.
On 6 May 2010, the current King of Thailand, Vajiralongkorn, who was then crown prince, awarded Yau Suren an honorary doctorate in Thai. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
On April 22, 2012, the Thai Translators Association awarded Cho Suren Thailand's highest translation award, the Surin Taracha Outstanding Translator Award. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
In the view of this ancient and rare old man, his own strength is limited, and only the continuous mission inheritance will he be able to blossom and make greater contributions to transnational cultural exchanges.
"China and Thailand are geographically close, humanistic and close to each other, and their understanding of education is relatively close," Qiu Sulun said, "Because of this, I hope that through the bridge of language, with the help of classroom education and literary translation, more people can read Chinese philosophy, thought, philosophy and wisdom, and even Chinese's behavior methods and ways of dealing with the world, which is the essence of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, and it is also to explore the practice of telling Chinese stories well and letting the world read China." ”
Qiu Sulun stands in front of the teaching building of the West Campus of Beijing Foreign Chinese University on November 25, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua news agency reporter Chen Qianci)
In a corner of the Northern Foreign Thai Language Teaching and Research Office, there is a mechanical Thai typewriter, and the handwriting on the keyboard tells her original intention and mission that spanned nearly half a century.
"The sea of life and death, who is the boat?" This question recorded by Master Xuanzang in the Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty seems to be breaking the essence of his westward journey and seems to be guiding future generations to make a difference. For Qiu Sulun, laying a new Silk Road for foreign readers to deeply understand Chinese culture is the boat that ferryes civilization. (Editors: Ling Shuo, Sun Hao, Cheng Dayu)