Cover not available
Article published In:
Babel
Vol. 65:2 (2019) ► pp.153–174

The translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales in China

A socio-historical interpretation

| Guangxi University
| Tsinghua University

Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales have been popular among Chinese readers since they were introduced to China through translation a century ago. This paper studies the translation of Andersen’s fairy tales in China by focusing on prominent Chinese translators of Andersen and their landmark translations. Regarding translation as a social activity, the author attempts to interpret the behaviour of the translator in terms of the historical context in which it occurred, as well as the corresponding ideology of literature. It is argued that the language styles and translating strategies adopted by the translators of different ages have varied according to the translator’s understanding of the original works, his purpose of translating, the publishers’ interests and the readers’ expectations in the target culture, as well as the image of Andersen constructed in the socio-cultural context from which the translation emerged. Therefore, the translation practice, which has contributed to the canonization of Andersen in China, is a process of the translators’ negotiations with the fluid Chinese poetics and ideology of the 20th century.

Keywords: Hans Christian Andersen, Chinese translation, fairy tales, socio-cultural contexts
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A Danish storyteller comes to China: Early Chinese translations of Andersen’s tales and the socio-cultural context
  • 3.Translating Andersen’s fairy tales into vernacular Chinese Literature: The storyteller’s centurial travelling in China
    • 3.1The translators and their new translations of Andersen in the period of the Republic of China (1918–1949)
    • 3.2The translation of Andersen’s fairy tales during the period of P.R.C (1949– )
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 27 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00086.luo
References
Andersen, Hans
1914 Fairy Tales and Other Stories, transl. by William Craigie; and Jessie Craigie. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
1919 “The Little Match Girl” [賣火柴的女兒] transl. by Zuoren Zhou [周作人漢譯]. New Youth [新青年] 6 (1)：38–41.Google Scholar
1924 “The Princess and the Pea” [豌豆上的公主]. In A Collection of Andersen’s Fairy Tales [安徒生童話集], transl. by Jingshen Zhao [趙景深漢譯], 21–24. Shanghai: New Culture Bookstore [上海：新文化書店]. (New)Google Scholar
1928 “The Princess and the Pea” [豌豆上的公主]. In A New Collection of Andersen’s Fairy Tales [安徒生童話新集], transl. by Jingshen Zhao [趙景深漢譯]. Shanghai: Asia Book Company [上海：亞細亞書局]. (New)Google Scholar
Bamberger, Richard
1978 “The Influence of Translation on the Development of National Children’s Literature”. In Children’s Books in Translation: The Situation and Problems, ed. by Göte Klingberg; and Mary Ørvig (eds), 19–27. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.Google Scholar
Chandler, Robert; Irina Mashinski; and Boris Dralyuk
(eds) 2015 The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Chang, Sun Kang-I.; and Stephen Owen
(eds) 2010 The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature (vol. 21). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Chen, Bochui [陳伯吹]
2005 [1955] “What to Learn from Andersen?” [向安徒生學習什麼？]. In Andersen Research in China for One Hundred Years [中國安徒生研究一百年], ed. by Wang Quangen [王泉根編], 69–75. Beijing: China Peace Publishing House [北京：中國和平出版社].Google Scholar
Farquhar, Mary
1999 Children’s Literature in China: From Lu Xun to Mao Zedong. New York: M. E. Sharpe.Google Scholar
Hanh, Daniel
2015 The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature (2nd edition). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Hu, Congjing [胡從經]
1982 Retrospective Essays on Children’s Literature in Late Qing Dynasty [晚清兒童文學鉤沉]. Shanghai: Juvenile & Children’s Publishing House [上海：少年兒童出版社].Google Scholar
Lathey, Gillian
2010 The Role of Translators in Children’s Literature: Invisible Storytellers. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Translating Children’s Literature. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lefevere, André
1992 Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. London: Routeledge.Google Scholar
Li, Hongye [李紅葉]
2002 “Ye Shengtao and Andersen: On the Acceptance of Andersen’s Fairy Tales by Modern Chinese Children’s Literature”. [葉聖陶與安徒生——兼論中國現代文學對安徒生童話的接受] Research of Chinese Literature [中國文學研究] 65 (2): 76–89.Google Scholar
Li, Hongye
2005 Chinese Interpretations of Andersen’s Fairy Tales [安徒生童話的中國闡釋]. Beijing: China Peace Publishing House [北京：中國和平出版社].Google Scholar
2006 “Andersen in China” [安徒生再中國]. Comparative Literature in China [中國比較文學] 64 (3): 154–166.Google Scholar
Li, Wenjie
2014 A Study of Chinese Translations and Interpretations of H. C. Andersen’s Tales: History and Influence. Ph.D. diss. Copenhagen: Københavns Universitet.Google Scholar
Liang, Zhijian [梁志堅]
2006 “Chinese Reading of ‘The Match Girl’ and Ideologically Manipulated Translation of Andersen’s Fairy Tales” [意識形態對安徒生童話譯介的影響——以《賣火柴的女孩》中譯本爲例]. Chinese Translators Journal [中國翻譯] 27 (1): 27–31.Google Scholar
Liu, Bannong ( Ban Nong as a pseudonym) [劉半農（伴儂）]
1914 “Portrait of an Afficionado of Things Western” [洋迷小影]. Journal of Chinese Fictions [中華小說界] 1 (7): 1–5.Google Scholar
Liu, Junping [劉軍平]; and Luo, Jing [羅菁]
2014 “Detailed Analysis of Ye Junjian’s Philosophy of Translation” [葉君健翻譯思想及其特探徵]. Chinese Translators Journal [中國翻譯] 61: 54–58.Google Scholar
Lu, Xiaobing
1999 “H. C. Andersen’s the Little Match Seller in Translation”. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 7 (1): 19–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mao, Zedong [毛澤東]
1975 [1942] Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and the Arts [延安文藝座談會上的講話]. Beijing: People’s Press [北京：人民出版社].Google Scholar
Pedersen, Viggo
2004 Ugly Ducklings: Studies in the English Translations of Hans Christian Andersen’s Tales and Stories. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark.Google Scholar
Qin, Gong [秦弓]
2004 “On the Translation of Fairy Tales by Andersen during the ‘May,4th Period” [‘五四’時期安徒生童話的翻譯]. Journal of Fulin Teachers College [涪陵師範學院學報] 20 (4): 1–5.Google Scholar
Sun, Yuxiu [孫毓修]
1909 “Notes on Classical European Novels” [讀歐美名家小說札記]. The Eastern Miscellany [東方雜誌] 6 (1): 1–2.Google Scholar
Tang, Tao
(ed.) 1993 History of Modern Chinese Literature. Beijing: Foreign Language Press.Google Scholar
Van Coillie, Jan
2008 “The Translator’s New Clothes: Translating the Dual Audience in Andersen’s ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’”. Meta 53 (3): 549–568. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Lei [王蕾]
2009 Andersen’s Fairy Tales and the Modern Chinese Children’s Literature [安徒生童話與中國現代兒童文學]. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press [上海：華東師範大學出版社].Google Scholar
Wang, Quangen [王泉根]
2005 “Preface” [前言]. In Andersen Research in China for One Hundred Years [中國安徒生研究一百年], ed. by Wang, Quangen [王泉根編], 1–12. Beijing: China Peace Publishing House [北京：中國和平出版社].Google Scholar
Ye, Juan [葉雋]
2016 “How Should Andersen’s Tales be Translated?” [安徒生童話該怎樣翻譯？]. Journal of Anhui University [安徽大學學報] (1): 60–72.Google Scholar
Ye, Junjian [葉君健]
2005 “The Translation of Andersen’s Fairy Tales” [安徒生童話的翻譯]. In Andersen Research in China for One Hundred Years [中國安徒生研究一百年], ed. by Wang, Quangen [王泉根編], 489–495. Beijing: China Peace Publishing House [北京：中國和平出版社].Google Scholar
Ye, Shengtao [葉聖陶]
1990 “Children’s Literature and Me” [我與兒童文學]. In Ye Shengtao and Children’s Literature [葉聖陶和兒童文學], ed. by Shang Wei [韋商編], 1–5. Shanghai: Juvenile & Children’s Publishing House [上海：少年兒童出版社].Google Scholar
Ying, Li-hua
2010 Historical Dictionary of Modern Chinese Literature. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar
Zhang, Yaohui [張耀輝]
1992 “On the Impact of Andersen on the Creating of Modern Chinese Fairy Tales” [安徒生童話對中國現代童話創作的影響]. Journal of Anhui University [安徽大學學報] 31: 89–94.Google Scholar
Zhao, Jingshen [趙景深]
1927[1922] “Discussions on Fairy Tales” [童話的討論]. In Essays on Fairy Tales [童話論集], ed. by Zhao, Jingshen [趙景深編], 55–75. Shanghai: Kaiming Book Company [上海：開明書店].Google Scholar
1927 “Critical Biography of Andersen” [安徒生評傳]. In Essays on Fairy Tales [童話論集], ed. by Zhao, Jingshen [趙景深編], 115–125. Shanghai: Kaiming Book Company [上海：開明書店].Google Scholar
1989 “An Epistolary Writing on Translation” [關於翻譯的信札]. In Essays on Contemporary Literary Translation [當代文學翻譯百家談], ed. by Wang Shoulan [王壽蘭編], 616–620. Beijing：Beijing University Press [北京:北京大學出版社].Google Scholar
Unpublished [內部資料]. “Children’s Literature and Me” [我與兒童文學]. In Children’s Literature and Me [我與兒童文學] ed. by Department of Chinese Language of Zhejiang Normal University [浙江師範大學中文系編] 14 18
Zheng, Zhenduo ( Xi Di as a pseudonym) [鄭振鐸（西諦）]
1925 “Andersen’s Works and Some References on Andersen” [安徒生的作品及關於安徒生的參考書籍]. Fiction Monthly [小說月報] 16 (8)：125–133.Google Scholar
Zhou, Zuoren [周作人]
1989[1912] “A Brief Discussion on Fairy Tales” [童話略論]. In Short Essays of Children’s Literature [兒童文學小論], ed. by Zhou, Zuoren [周作人編], 4–10. Changsha: Yuelu Press [長沙：嶽麓書社].Google Scholar
1995[1913] “A Biography of Andersen, a Danish Poet” [丹麥詩人安兌爾然轉]. In Uncollected Essays of Zhou Zuoren (1904–1925) [周作人集外文], ed. by Zishan Chen; and Tierong Zhang [陳子善、張鐵榮編], 147–150. Haikou: Hainan International News Publishing Center [海口：海南國際新聞出版中心].Google Scholar
1918 “Random Jottings no.24” [隨感錄二十四]. New Youth [新青年] 5 (3)：106–117.Google Scholar
1996[1918] “Humane Literature”, transl. by Ernst Wolff. In Modern Chinese Literary Thought: Writings on Literature, 1893–1945, ed. by Kirk A. Denton, 151–161. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Zhu, Ziqiang [朱自強]
2014 “The Discovery of Children: The Origins of Zhou Zuoren’s Thoughts on ‘Humane Literature’”, transl. by Derong Xu. In Children in Chinese and U.S. Children’s Literature, ed. by Claudia Nelson; and Rebecca Morris, 63–74. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited.Google Scholar
2015 Chinese Children’s Literature and the Course of Modernization:1908–2012 [中國兒童文學與現代化進程]. Nanchang: 21st Century Publishing Group [南昌：二十一世紀出版社集團].Google Scholar
Zohar, Shavit
1986 The Poetics of Children’s Literature. Athens: University of Georgia Press.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Liu, Yanjin & Dechao Li
2024. Intersecting language and society: a prototypical study of Cinderella story translations in China. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11:1 DOI logo
Zhong, Shan & Na Lin
2023.  Translation of Violence in Children’s Literature: Violence in Translated Peter Pan . Comparative Literature: East & West 7:2 ► pp. 201 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.