China News Service Moscow, January 15 Title: Bai Sihong: How to "The United States and the United States" in the exchange of literature and art between China and Russia in the new era?
China News Service reporter Tian Bing
The exchange of literature between China and Russia has a history of more than 300 years. In 1880, the Russian sinologist Vasiliev published the world's first "Outline of the History of Chinese Literature", and in 1924, Mr. Zheng Zhenduo wrote the "Outline of the History of Russian Literature", which occupy an important position in the history of cultural and ideological exchanges between China and Russia and even the world. How do you view the mutual influence and reference of Chinese and Russian literature and art and the enlightenment of historical transmutation? What are the cognitive implications of cultural differences on readers? How to realize the chinese and Russian literature and art from the beauty of each other to the united states and the United States in the context of the new era? Bai Sihong, a well-known Chinese writer and translator, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency's "East and West Question" to explore and think from the perspective of scholars.
On December 16, 2014, Bai Sihong (second from left) was awarded the Shukshen Medal of the Russian Writers Association. Courtesy of respondents
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: 2021 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Russian literary giant Dostoevsky, and various forms of commemorative activities have been held not only in Russia, but also in many parts of the world, including China. From the perspective of historical depth, how to understand the mutual influence and reference of different cultures between China and Russia in the field of literature?
Bai Sihong: From Dostoevsky's works, we can see the national character of Russia. He tortured the soul of Russia, from "The Poor" to "Crime and Punishment", from "White Night" to "Idiot", from "The Gambler" to "The Brothers Karamazov", and the image and psychological map of the Russian nation will emerge in the reader's mind. These are all common human emotions, so it is easy to be recognized by Chinese readers. However, after all, the cultural background and historical accumulation are different, in the West, the number of tors's readers is more than tolstoy's; in China, tors's readers are more than toto's readers. This is related to the culture and reading characteristics of readers in various countries.
Whether it is literature that focuses on dissecting human characteristics or literature that emphasizes narrative, each has its own advantages, and together they are a community of world cultures. Chinese and Russian readers obtain aesthetic enjoyment from each other's literary works and understand each other's national character characteristics, and Chinese and Russian writers draw wisdom and experience from each other's literary creations. This is the result of the subtle interaction between the two cultures.
China News Service: How do you view the "beauty of each other, the united states and the United States" in the field of literature and art?
Bai Sihong: Taking drama as an example, Sino-Russian theater art exchanges have a long history. As early as the 1930s, Master Mei Lanfang visited the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet government and had artistic exchanges with Soviet theater masters Stanislavsky and Meyerhold. Master Mei introduced the freehand aesthetics of Chinese drama to people from all walks of life such as Soviet literature, drama, and film, as well as ordinary audiences, and received high praise. Soviet drama is mainly realistic, and traditional Chinese drama Peking Opera is based on realism to extract the essence of freehand, sublimate theatrical art, and play a very good role in the development of Soviet theater. The discussion of "hypothetical" issues in soviet theater in the 1960s was a major step forward.
In the past ten years, Chinese theater troupes have participated in the Chekhov International Theatre Festival many times and have been widely acclaimed. For example, the Sino-Russian cooperative drama "Beautiful Scenery of Good Birthdays" has opened the eyes of Russian audiences, and critics have repeatedly marveled at the charm of Chinese theatrical art. The live-action garden Kunqu opera "Peony Pavilion" performed by Shanghai artists crossed the language barrier of the audience, allowing them to fully appreciate the artistic conception and charm of traditional Chinese art and culture.
When I studied in the Soviet Union, I majored in Soviet theater and literature. In the 1980s, China and the Soviet Union resumed theatrical exchanges, and in addition to introducing the diversity of Soviet theater aesthetics, I also translated and published a number of Soviet plays, many of which appeared on the Chinese stage. In 2016, the National Theatre of China performed "The Eldest Son" by the Soviet playwright Van Bilov, which I translated. This play writes about trust between people, and the lack of trust is a problem faced by modern people in life. In 2019, the Beijing People's Art Theater performed "Old-fashioned Comedy" by the Soviet playwright Arbudov, which I translated, and the venue was full. The sunset love of the elderly is the subject of Albudrov's attention. The elderly in China also have a need for love, but they are rarely seen on the stage, and this play fills this gap. "Old-fashioned Comedy" was staged in many countries around the world that year, because the sincere and warm emotions between people are common to human beings, so they are very popular. In 2021, Beijing Renyi staged another of Albudrov's translations, "My Poor Marat", which tells the story of young people looking for life and finding love in confusion, which has also been recognized by Chinese audiences. One of the inspirations of these Sino-Russian literary and artistic exchanges and cooperation is that human beings have many common languages and demands, which is the humanistic basis for jointly building a community with a shared future for mankind.
National Theatre of China performance poster
Beijing People's Art Theater performance poster
China News Service: You have translated and published a large number of works on Chinese and Russian literature, drama and art. How do you retain certain qualities in the context of the original work during the translation process? Or rather, how do you balance the cognitive impact of cultural differences?
Bai Sihong: In my personal experience, to overcome this problem, adopting image thinking is a good way. When we read Russian works, due to the experience of studying abroad and living in Russia for many years, the image depicted by the author is often naturally visualized. However, in other words, Chinese readers do not necessarily have this experience, which requires the use of Chinese in the translation process to express the same image, the same perception, and the same feelings in their thinking. When I translate the script, I will always consider that the dialogue of the characters meets the requirements of the stage, that is, when the people in the play perform, they can achieve the effect of the original on the Russian stage. When "Old-fashioned Comedy" was performed on the Russian stage, the characteristics of sunset love were described very delicately, the old man fell in love with each other, and the heart was excited, but on the outside he was reserved, more shy than the young man, and he took two steps further, and the "drama" was here. The translation reflects this feature, and the performance of Beijing Renyi highlights this feature, and the audience also feels this feature, so it is very popular with the audience. Cultural cognitive differences can be overcome by empathy, which can also be regarded as "beauty and commonality".
On July 23, 2021, "Old-fashioned Comedy" was once again on the stage of the Beijing Renyi Experimental Theater, with Li Youbin and Shi Lanya co-starring. History of China News Agency
China News Service: Russia is a country with a national reading habit, whether in the park or on the subway, people often see Russians holding books and reading. Based on your understanding, what kind of Chinese books do Russian readers like?
Bai Sihong: China and Russia have a long history of translating each other's humanistic works. In the 18th century, Russia published the Orahan Manchu Dictionary of Four Languages. In the 19th century, the Asian Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Royal Academy of Sciences, the Public Library, and the Archives of the Orthodox Academy collected a large number of Chinese documents. In the 19th century, the famous sinologist Bhikchulin translated and published nearly 100 works such as the Compendium of General Studies, the Four Books, the Three Character Classic, the Beijing Chronicle, and the History of Qinghai in Tibet, and presented their translations to Pushkin. The 20th century was a period of great development of cultural and artistic exchanges between China and Russia. In recent years, the mutual translation and publishing project developed by the publishing circles of the two countries with the support of the government has achieved remarkable success and has become a landscape at the book fairs of the two countries. However, the vast number of Russian readers rarely have the opportunity to see these books: first, most of the Chinese literary works published by the Russian side are still limited to the sinology circles; second, these new books are rarely seen on the counters of major bookstores.
On May 23, 2013, the Chinese Cultural Center in Moscow held a promotion meeting for the new book of the Russian version of the "Three Character Classic". Photo by Jia Jingfeng, a reporter of China News Service
Russian readers love to read books that introduce Chinese culture and art and tell the fate of ordinary Chinese people. At the Moscow International Book Fair, books published in China were very popular. The Russian translations of China's four classic novels have been printed again and again, but they still cannot meet the demand. There are web pages dedicated to classical Chinese poetry and contemporary poetry on the Internet, which are very rich in Chinese and Russian, and the number of readers is also very large. Some Russian singers like to sing songs composed of classical Chinese poetry. Sino-Russian friendship is the cognition of the majority of the Russian people, and correspondingly, understanding China and understanding Chinese is also the consensus of Russian readers.
China News Service: As a cultural scholar, what suggestions do you have for literary and artistic exchanges and cooperation between the two countries?
Bai Sihong: Since the reform and opening up, Chinese literature has blossomed into a hundred flowers, and many large works have appeared. Family epics such as "White Deer Plain" are connected with the "Forsy Family" and "Brothers Karamadov" in world literature, writing about the vicissitudes of the family and the changes of the times. People-oriented is the commonality of this type of work, and it is also accepted by readers around the world. Unfortunately, works like "White Deer Plain" have not yet been introduced to Russian readers. I personally recommend that when recommending Chinese works, we should first study the interests and value orientations of Russian readers and select works that suit their aesthetic requirements. Russian readers do not know much about newly published Chinese literary works, and it is recommended to increase promotion and distribution, such as organizing new book launches, writers signing and selling books, regularly promoting Chinese literary works to russian media, holding special film and television screenings of Chinese literary works adaptations, cooperating with local libraries, and holding reader forums. In short, diversified, multi-level promotion is very important. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Bai Sihong, a famous Chinese writer and translator, a member of the Chinese Writers Association (joined in 1984), a member of the Chinese Dramatists Association (joined in 1983), a member of the Council of the 4th Chinese Dramatists Association, a member of the International Economists Association, and an honorary professor of the School of Foreign Languages of Nanjing Normal University.