Research on Chinese literature is thriving. Photo: Zhao Yuan/CSST

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The international communication of culture and art is closely related to the composite national strength. Since reform and opening up, the translation of Chinese literature has accelerated along with the improvement in the composite national strength. The uniqueness of the Chinese language, and the distinctive development model of Chinese civilization determines a unique path with Chinese characteristics should be followed for the translation and communication of Chinese literature.

Booming development

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the translation of Chinese literature into foreign languages entered a new phase dominated by national-level institutions. In the early stages of the dissemination of Chinese literature, in order to promote Chinese culture, the government designated the translation and introduction of Chinese literature as a key publicity focus, establishing the China International Communications Group (China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration) as a professional organization for external communication. In 1951, Chinese Literature was founded through the initiative and efforts of Hong Shen, Zhou Yang, Ye Junjian, Yang Xianyi, and others. Over the next 50 years, 3,200 literary works were translated and published. This allowed Chinese literature to truly go global, leading to the widespread overseas dissemination of Chinese literature to more than 100 countries and regions.

In the 1980s, to further expand the international influence of Chinese literature, the Panda Books were born. This series primarily aimed to introduce excellent literary works from ancient and modern China in English and in French. The focus of translation shifted to contemporary Chinese literature that reflects the living conditions and intellectual changes of the Chinese people in the new stage.  

Since the start of the 21st century, the “going global” strategy has accelerated the pace of Chinese literature’s global outreach. The participation of internationally renowned publishing institutions in the translation and dissemination of Chinese literature, as well as the collaborative model between Chinese and foreign publishing institutions, has become a new hallmark of the international dissemination of Chinese literature.

As the times evolve, the channels for the international dissemination of Chinese literature have become increasingly diverse. In addition to traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, and books, emerging media such as film, television, and the internet have also become effective ways to help Chinese literature spread abroad. Mo Yan’s Red Sorghum and Yu Hua’s To Live have won international awards after being adapted into films, arousing strong interest in Chinese literature by foreign audiences and thus promoting the spread of Chinese literature abroad. 

In addition, the rapid development and dissemination of internet literature has further expanded the international influence of Chinese literature.  

Overall, the translation of Chinese literature in the new era has exhibited trends of multilingual translation, expanded dissemination scope, and diversification of media.

AI-empowered communication

Constantly evolving information technology and increasingly mature artificial intelligence are profoundly changing the way Chinese literature is translated and disseminated abroad, bringing new opportunities and challenges. Both in theory and in practice, China has attached great importance to the AI-facilitated international communication.

In recent years, AI has been applied in the international dissemination of Chinese literature, especially internet literature, and is beginning to show results. AI not only improves translation efficiency and quality, but also plays an important role in internet literature intellectual property (IP) incubation. In 2019, The China Literature Limited announced its cooperation with Microsoft (Asia) Internet Engineering Institute to launch the AI-enabled network literature IP wake-up plan, which uses voice dialogue, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), holographic projection and other technologies to allow users to interact with IP characters and make IP truly come to life.

Literary translation is an important means to promote exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations. As a window for the Western world to understand China, many translated works have exerted a certain influence overseas.

In the epochal context of the “going global” of Chinese culture, the significance of translation of Chinese literature lies not only in the translation of and attention garnered by specific works, authors, or literary genres in academic circles abroad, but also more in the systematic and comprehensive presentation of China’s fine culture, ideas and values to the world. This, in turn, promotes the international spread of Chinese culture.

Yao Jialing and Wang Jia are from the School of Foreign Languages at Central China Normal University.

Edited by ZHAO YUAN