Source: Global Times
[Global Times special correspondent in Russia Zhang Guangzheng] "In Russia, the most read Chinese literary works today are the works of science fiction writers Liu Cixin, Chen Qifan and Bao Shu. A Russian "post-80s" female translator who studied at Dalian's foreign Chinese university, Alina Petrova, told the Global Times reporter. On October 2, the Moscow Museum of Cosmonautics held an online Sino-Russian literature exchange activity, in which Chinese and Russian science fiction fans interacted with Liu Cixin, guo fan, director of the movie "The Wandering Earth", and producer Gong Geer.
In russia's major bookstores, the sales of chinese writers' books are growing. At the Russian Nonfiction International Book Fair in March, The Cocoon by young Chinese female writer Zhang Yueran was recommended by organizers and Russian literary critics as "one of the most worthwhile books to read," and Petrova was the translator of the book. She told the Global Times that a friend living in China recommended Cocoon to her. She liked the book so much that she suggested that the Russian Phantom Publishing House translate it for publication. It is one of the best publishing houses in Russia to publish foreign literary works. "After the publisher bought the rights, I started translating, which took a total of 8 months."
Mu Ping, president of Shans International Publishing Group, said that the number of Chinese-themed books translated and published in Russia every year increased from 31 per year in 2012 to 166 in 2019, and the number of epidemics affected by the epidemic in 2020 decreased to 128. From September 24 to 27 this year, the 34th Moscow International Book Fair was held in a combination of online and offline, and 96 Chinese publishing companies participated in the book fair. During the book fair, many foreign representatives came to the Chinese book booth every day to negotiate, and they were interested in Chinese books, one was the literary works that had won international awards, such as the science fiction novel "Three-Body Problem", etc.; the other was the copyright of economic books and Chinese teaching tutorial books. In addition, according to the demand of the Russian book market, 6 Russian version of the new book promotion activities were also held on the spot, including "History of Chinese Civilization", children's version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "History, Trends, Laws of Chinese Social Networks", "Revolutionaries", "Readers", "China's Most Beautiful Kite", "Gourmet China" and other works.
"In Russia, Chinese children's literature and picture books sold well once they were published. Chinese illustrators are real masters, and you can't put them down for hours while holding their works and reading them. Petrova said happily. Irina Dubova, head of public relations at an international publishing company, said in an interview with Russia's BRICS television that the works of Chinese writers reveal to Russian readers the characteristics of modern Chinese thinking, their unusual culture and way of life, and their living environment. In modern literature, in addition to science fiction writers, writers such as Mo Yan, Yu Hua, Liu Zhenyun and Mai Jia are very popular. Petrova believes that this is largely due to the fact that the novels of these writers won literary awards and were adapted into film screenplays.
Alexei Rotionov, executive deputy director of the Department of Orientalism at St. Petersburg University in Russia, believes that the most popular Chinese book in Russia is one of the classic works of the Confucian school, the Analects, and Laozi's Tao Te Ching is also published in large quantities. As for literary works, he recommended reading Pu Songling's "Liaozhai Zhiyi". He also reminded Russian readers of the work of the Chinese writer Mo Yan, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Global Times reporter found in major bookstores in Moscow that Russians are indeed very interested in traditional Chinese culture, and books introducing the ideas of Lao Tzu, Confucius and Sun Tzu can be bought. However, there are also many misinterpretations of ancient Chinese philosophical thought, such as the Translation of the title of the Tao Te Ching by a Russian translator as The Book on the Path of Life. Rodionov told reporters that foreign translators and readers do not have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of Chinese culture, which is one of the reasons that restrict the promotion of Chinese literature overseas. For example, when translating the novel "I Am Not Pan Jinlian" by contemporary Chinese writer Liu Zhenyun, some French translators translated the title of the book as "I Am Not Madame Bovary", and some Arabic translators translated "I Am Not a Nurse", and the Russian translator chose literal translation and transliteration. In this way, Russian readers who only read the Title in Russian may not understand the subject of the book.
Talking about the difficulties faced in translating Chinese literary works in Russia, Petrova frankly said that in order to save time and money, large publishing houses often tend to translate the works of Chinese writers, especially science fiction writers, from English, rather than directly translating them from Chinese, and the result is that the translated versions of Chinese literary works are not only difficult to guarantee originality, but also often cause semantic loss.
Compared with ordinary readers, exchanges and cooperation between China and Russia in the field of literature are more necessary for authors and translators. In Russia, because of the low remuneration for literary translators, it is difficult for translators to make a living by translating literary works alone. Petrova believes that the "Russian-Chinese Classical and Modern Literary Works Translation and Publication Project" provides great help to promote readers from both countries to understand the works of each other's countries.