In April 2019, Brill vice president Focko van Berckelaer, Chen Jianhua, Ge Zhaoguang and chairman of Fudan University Press Yan Feng (from left to right) released the English versions of An Intellectual History of China and Revolution and Form in Shanghai. Photo: Fudan University Press

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Good writers are the life and soul of scholarly publishing houses, said Focko van Berckelaer, vice president of global sales at Brill. He said that the first volume of Ge Zhaoguang’s An Intellectual History of China won the title of Outstanding Academic Publication of the Year awarded by the American Library Association Journal, which is considered one of the highest honors in the academic publishing circle. Brill has a history of over 330 years of scholarly publishing. They have launched many publications related to China. To better reflect China, Berckelaer said, Brill must invite Chinese authors to write about their country and get these stories published across the world. That’s what Brill has been trying to do.

It is seen as a valuable undertaking to foster Chinese academic thinking in the world, involve Chinese scholars in global exchanges and tell China stories well. However, what books are worthy of translation? Yang Yang, deputy director of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, pointed out that there is disagreement. Choice of books is indeed a difficult problem. Yang said that “in foreign libraries, some translated collections on Chinese literature and culture are not particularly good academic books. Readers would find it boring to read these books. But many good academic books have not yet been translated and introduced to the world.”

Chen Yinchi, director of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Fudan University, proposed that selected academic works should be classics rich with thinking and the possibility for dialogue. Chen explained that “academic works are not ‘monologues,’ they are conversational. Translation of scholarly works allows a more extensive dialogue, which supplies an approach to academic evaluation. Such a dialogue not only takes place in the Chinese context. It also applies to other countries with different academic and cultural traditions.”

“Many books have been translated into foreign languages, but few of them are good enough,” said Ge Zhaoguang. In his view, books worthy of translation may not necessarily be intensively academic. The choice depends on the demands of people outside China. Ge believed that there are three kinds of books suitable for translation: books with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style and a problem-oriented consciousness; textbooks or popular materials suitable for a wider readership; and books written by young scholars. “Presently, some young scholars are doing really well. They are well trained, but they lack good academic opportunities,” Ge added.

 

This article was translated from Guangming Daily.

edited by MA YUHONG