Popular Chinese novel expects English version

Popular Chinese novel expects English version

The English version of the best-selling Chinese novel “Wolf Totem” will be published worldwide next March, according to a statement released by Penguin Group.
“Wolf Totem”, written by Jiang Rong, depicts nomadic life in the Inner Mongolian grasslands in the 1960s and 1970s and has sold more than two million copies in China.
Penguin plans to launch the book during “China Now”, the biggest ever celebration of contemporary Chinese culture in the United Kingdom, which will be held during the first six months of 2008.
Two years ago, Penguin prepaid 100,000 dollars, 10 percent of the total purchase value, to buy the English copyright of the novel which, at the time, was China’s most expensive overseas book deal and Howard Glodblatt began work on the translation.
“Wolf Totem is a special book for Penguin Group, as its acquisition in 2005 marked the start of our work in China. In the two years since then, Howard Goldblatt has been hard at work on the eagerly awaited English edition,” said Peter Field, CEO of Penguin Group.
The English edition of Wolf Totem has already been nominated for the MAN Asian Literary Prize, a prestigious award that recognizes excellence in literature from Asia in English.
The book is set to be translated into 16 languages. More than 40,000 copies of the Italian edition were sold upon its publication earlier this year.
Field added that he hoped the English version of Wolf Totem would sell two million copies.
Penguin formally opened its China office in August 2005. Since then, it has accumulated a list of 18 books by Chinese authors, or on subjects related to China, to be published around the world.

Chinese books highlight Moscow book fair

Chinese books highlight Moscow book fair




At the 20th Moscow International Book Fair opened on Wednesday, September 5, 2007, a Russian reader shows a work printed by the engraving printing technique, which had been invented by ancient Chinese craftsmen. Chinese books attracted many local and international visitors to the fair. [Photo:Xinhua]

Chinese version of late Helen Snows book published

Chinese version of late Helen Snow’s book published

The Chinese edition of “China Builds for Democracy”, a book written by late American writer Helen Foster Snow about the country’s industrial cooperative movement in 1937-45 wartime years, debuted on Saturday, 66 years after its first publication.
The Chinese version made its debut in Baoji City, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, where the first industrial cooperative was founded in August 1938.
The translation of the book was finished 17 years ago, but it had not been published due to various reasons including lack of money, translators said.
The book was first published in 1941 in the United States.
Helen Foster Snow, a long-time friend of Chinese people, was the former wife of the late Edgar Snow who was famous as the author of “Red Star Over China”.
Helen Snow came to China in 1931 when she was 23. She and Edgar Snow visited many areas led by the Communist Party of China during wartime. They were also among the initiators of the then industrial cooperative movement.
Helen Snow died in 1997 and Edgar Snow died in 1972.

Horror stories attract bookworms

Horror stories attract bookworms

Last week, Chinese famous horror story writer Zhou Dedong attended a launching ceremony of his new book, Qi Men Dun Jia. The many copies of his new book put on display at the ceremony were quickly sold out in just a few hours. Previously, another horror novel, Gui Chui Ding (the ghost blows out the lamp), also became the favorite pick among novel lovers.
Industrial analysts say that horror novels written by domestic writers are widely read by people these days. Many people like to read horror stories or watch horror films. This new trend has aroused the concern of some psychologists who say that people who indulge in horror stories might have some psychological problems.
Xiao Ding, a 30-year-old guy who works as a truck driver at the Beijing Dahongmen Logistics Center, is a horror story lover. His home is full of CDs and books about horror films.
“I will read or watch them whenever I have the time. Many of the horror stories are made in series. I find them quite interesting,” Xiao Ding said.
In Beijing, there are many horror story lovers like Xiao Ding, said an article in the Beijing Morning Post. Many horror story lovers even gather together from time to time to discuss about the stories they have read or watched. They talk about the story plots and the photographing techniques and share each other’s collections. Reading horror books or watching horror films has become a main activity for them to kill the time.
“I am scared by horror stories. However, at the same time, I feel even more excited by reading them,” a student at the Renmin University of China who remained anonymous told this reporter.
As people face more pressure in their work and study, they find life quite boring. Sometimes people “want to look for some excitement in life.” In the investigation, this reporter found that many people who read horror stories shared this kind of thinking. To them, reading horror stories or watching horror films can alleviate their pressure in life.
In 2006, China introduced a large number of horror books from abroad, a book publisher said. 2006 also served as a beginning for the rapid development of horror books at home. In 2006, many horror books from home and abroad were repeatedly chosen as the bestsellers by book stores and the trend has continued into 2007. Now publishers recognize that there is a large potential market for horror stories.

Getting Rich First: New China Book

Getting Rich First: New China Book

On September 18 at 7:30 PM at the Beijing Bookworm (4 Nan Sanlitun Road), an English language bookshop, library and caf¨¦, Mr. Duncan Hewitt presented a lecture on his new China book, Getting Rich First.
Mr. Hewitt, the former BBC Shanghai bureau chief, has lived a long time in China. In 1986 he began his career of China watching as a Chinese language student in Xi’an; currently he lives in Shanghai. Tall, slim and articulate, Mr. Hewitt discussed the content of his book and outlined the major changes China has experienced in the last fifteen years.
“When I first came to China in 1986,” Mr. Hewitt said, “People knew where they stood. China was a 100 percent Communist country. Beijing seemed like an ancient, sleepy capital. The state controlled everyone’s lives. In the last fifteen to twenty years amazing changes have happened in China. It’s almost a free-for-all society and this so-called Communist country is as modern as anywhere in the world. Shanghai has been redone, almost rebuilt into a super modern city. In fact my cell phone works underground in the Shanghai metro; the British have yet to get that kind of technology.”
Mr. Hewitt explained that he wrote his book to help other foreigners and China watchers to understand the incredible changes that are transforming China. “Many tourists have remarked to me: China just doesn’t seem very Communist,” he said. “I wanted to document the different phases that Chinese society has gone through, to make sense of how it was and what it is now. My book is titled after Deng Xiaoping’s famous lines during his second southern tour in 1992. That’s when social change really began to speed up.”
With the advent of Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms the state began separating itself from many areas of life that it had formerly controlled. The result was great social upheaval. This process caused mixed feelings: the Chinese people were glad to have freer, more independent lives but at the same time they had to become more responsible for their own lives as well. Social reforms in health care, urbanization and youth culture: the country has been experiencing these transformations at an amazing pace.
“England, after World War II, took forty years to develop and modernize; China has taken only 15 years,” Mr. Hewitt said. “When the changes started the government was focused on economic development. Many loopholes in the social safety net appeared. The Chinese people experienced a huge shock: workers were laid off; people lost heir pensions; hospital coverage disappeared. All these things take time to revise. Many people felt lost and left out, especially the older generation, the people who had been caught up in the Cultural Revolution.”
Mr. Hewitt also compared China’s development to that of the Eastern European countries. “In Eastern Europe, when the Berlin Wall came down, everything changed. But in China the Communist Party still rules the country amidst all these forces of modernization. Morality has been altered, especially among the younger generation, and social problems have been created by the economic reforms. The country must deal with the issues revolving around urbanization and industrialization ¨C what is the role of the Party now? Do the Chinese people still believe in communism?”
Mr. Hewitt’s book examines in depth these problems, these transformations, and what the Chinese people think about their changing society. The book features numerous interviews with Chinese citizens living all over the country. Young people, old people, peasants and rich businessmen all speak through his book. Vital issues: morality campaigns, property rights, the validity of the rule of law ¨C are highlighted.
“The big question is,” said Mr. Hewitt in his concluding remarks, “is whether the current government will accept civil society?” How effectively the Communist Party evolves and leads this rapidly changing country remains a global question.

Chinese version of Harry Potter 7 to be released soon

Chinese version of Harry Potter 7 to be released soon

The last episode of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will soon be available in Chinese language, as the translation has been completed.
Ma Ainong and Ma Aixin, the translators of several previous episodes, were also responsible for translating Harry Potter 7.
The publisher has assigned special work group to supervise the printing of the book, in case of piracy.
It is said that Harry Potter 7 will be the most expensive book of the series, with the rise of paper price.

Bill Porters Road to Heaven

Bill Porter’s Road to Heaven

Under the literary pseudonym Red Pine, Bill Porter has become one of the foremost Chinese poetry and essay translators in the world. On October 16 inside Beijing’s Bookworm Library/Caf¨¦/Bookstore (Building 4, Nan Sanlitun, Chao Yang District) Mr. Porter gave a slideshow presentation along with a talk about his book Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. 

Front covers of Bill Porter’s Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits: the original English edition (L) and a Chinese translation.
Born in Los Angeles in 1943, Porter grew up in Northern Idaho, did a short stint in the US Army and then attended college at UC Santa Barbara. He enrolled for graduate school in anthropology at Columbia University but dropped out halfway through his Ph.D. program. Instead he flew to Taiwan, entered a Buddhist monastery and spent four years with the monks and nuns before leaving to work for various English language radio stations in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Afterwards he spent sixteen years in a rural Taiwanese monastery, translating classics in Chinese poetry.
“I don’t affiliate myself with any institutions anymore,” Porter quipped during his talk. Respected as a translator, he also is recognized as a cultural commentator and poet in his own right. A celebrated author, Porter frequently traverses the globe, from the North America to Asia. He is married to a Taiwanese woman he met while studying at his first monastery; their two children are now grown. Eccentric and kind, Bill Porter charmed his audience with his modesty, knowledge and humor. This highly educated eccentric has turned his love of Chinese poetry and religious philosophy into his life’s work and created a unique lifestyle for himself. 
In 1989 Porter came to the Chinese mainland because he wanted to know whether the hermit tradition still survived. “Chinese thought and religion places great importance on solitude,” Porter said. His book Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits (Mercury House) has helped revive interest in that subculture. Porter told his audience that seclusion is a necessary rite of passage for any hermit, whether Taoist, Confucian, Buddhist or Zen, and he compared the rite of going into isolation as akin to earning a Ph.D. in the West.
“Hermits are monks and nuns looking for wisdom. Many go up the mountain for three to five years, just like graduate students go to school. Doing time as a hermit earns respect in Chinese society, it shows sincerity and implies knowledge.” Porter explained that all great masters had spent time in solitude in order to master their practice, gaining profundity and knowledge. In this way new orders and traditions were founded.
“Certainly there are hermits who stay in seclusion all their lives, never rejoining society. Some of them are very powerful people. The old nun on the cover of my book is such a person. She was 88 when she died; they cremated her but her heart remained intact. That was a pretty powerful hermit.”

Bill PorterPorter gave many other fascinating anecdotes about the hermits he met as well as a quick overview on the history of the most revered hermits, telling where they settled and how contemporary Chinese view them today.
“Every sect and religion has its own mountainous area where hermits settle,” he said. “Lao Tzu went to Huashan, Confucians went to Taishan, and the first Buddhist, Matanga, went to Wutaishan. Their disciples followed them over time. I feel that the hermit tradition is alive and well in China today. I think that it was scarcely affected during the Cultural Revolution because these people lived in such out of the way and hard to reach places. Some monks were pulled down from the mountaintops to serve on work brigades for six months but most were not affected at all,” Porter said.
Porter explained that a symbiotic relationship existed between Chinese hermits and the local people ¨C farmers and villagers. The locals would assist a hermit in their area because he or she was considered auspicious and a source of wisdom if not enlightenment. The hermit, unless very clever, needed a bit of help to survive. “All a hermit requires is salt, flour or rice, oil and kerosene,” said Porter. “But villagers often gladly help out by giving him or her some additional food as well as the essentials, if necessary. And the hermits actually have a kind of network: they help each other, visit each other, take care of each other. Just because they are in seclusion doesn’t mean that they aren’t friendly and gregarious. The Chinese tradition is very different from the Western tradition, where we often think of hermits as misogynistic and even violent at times.”
When asked about the state of Chinese organized religion today, Porter explained that most monasteries generally relied on wealthy patrons and government support to function, while hermits relied on locals and some were completely autonomous. “You know the Zen tradition has a saying of ‘carry water, chop wood’ ¨C they were the first to implement the idea of monasteries supporting themselves through their own efforts, farming and whatnot. They even have guesthouses for travelers, so monks can travel around, staying at other places for three nights. It might be a good idea for the Chinese government to let these Zen monasteries have their land back so this tradition of autonomy can continue to flourish.”
Porter stayed afterward and answered questions for a long time. “He’s very talented,” remarked a Chinese guest. “His other books, translations of Chinese poetry, seem to come from his heart as well as his knowledge. Mr. Porter has truly caught the spirit of China’s poets. I think he also understands our hermits as well.”
Other books by Bill Porter:
- The Clouds Should Know Me by Now: Buddhist Poet Monks of China (With Mike O’Connor)
- Road to Heaven: Encounters With Chinese Hermits
- The Heart Sutra: Translation and Commentary by Red Pine (as Translator and Commentator)
- Lao-Tzu’s Taoteching: With Selected Commentaries of The Past 2000 Years (as Translator)
- The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma: A Bilingual Edition (as Translator)
- The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (as Translator, Hanshan)
- The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom (as Translator)
- The Zen Works of Stonehouse: Poems and Talks of A Fourteenth-Century Chinese Hermit (as Translator)

Harry Potter 7 to be available in Chinese on Oct.28

Harry Potter 7 to be available in Chinese on Oct.28

The Chinese version of the 7th and the last episode of the famous Harry Potter series will be available on Sunday, and the price will be around 66 yuan. The exact Chinese name of the book is still unknown, but definitely not the ones that are used in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Currently, four printing factories and two bookbinderies are busy producing the copies to make sure that there will be one million copies available in the market on Sunday. Both the printing and binding process are under the supervision of the publisher, in case of piracy. Tonight, all the copies will be put into storehouses pending transportation on October 27. 180,000 of such copies will be sold in Beijing.
According to the Wangfujing Xinhua Bookstore, more than 2,000 customers have already filed their subscriptions, while the figure in Xidan Xinhua Bookstore is 7,600. All the subscribers will get a special badge, and those who buy the books on Sunday will get a set of Harry Potter exlibris.

Li Xiang launches E-magazine Believe

Li Xiang launches E-magazine Believe

Li Xiang, a popular TV host and actress from the Chinese mainland, has celebrated a new title as the chief editor of her just-launched e-magazine.

The new-born magazine Xiang Xin (Believe) will focus on entertainment and fashion, Li Xiang introduced at a press conference on Thursday.
Her e-journal will have to compete with similar ones founded by TV hosts Yang Lan and Chen Luyu, as well as actress Xu Jinglei.
“I believe in myself, and also my partners. Our magazine will have its own style and a group of readers, although we indeed don’t have many advantages for the time being,” said the 31-year-old chief editor.
Asked about the magazine’s stand when giving comments on entertainment news, Li Xiang, being part of the entertainment circle, said the magazine would try to be objective and give readers a real picture of the industry.

Latest Potter book now in Chinese, officially

Latest Potter book now in Chinese, officially

Fans of the Harry Potter book series pose for media at the start of the sales of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in Berlin July 21, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
The official Chinese version of the latest Harry Potter smash hit went on sale in bookstores yesterday, almost two months after an unofficial version was posted on the Internet.
One million copies of the book have been printed by the People’s Literature Publishing House in Beijing, which owns the copyright of the Chinese language version of the bestselling series for the Chinese mainland.
Priced at 66 yuan ($8.80), the book about a boy wizard is perhaps the most expensive children’s book in the country, where the average disposable income per month was last year about 1,000 yuan ($133).
Nearly 10 million copies of the Chinese versions of the previous six installments have been sold, and the number is rising, Pan Kaixiong, vice-president of the publishing house said. Globally, the Harry Potter series has been translated into more than 60 languages and 325 million copies have been sold, earning $6 billion.
“We are ready to print more copies of the Chinese version at any time,” said Sun Shunlin, editor of the Chinese versions, adding that more than 180,000 copies of the last installment were distributed to bookstores in Beijing on Saturday night.
To prevent the official version from being pirated, the publishing house has signed special contracts with bookstores and printing houses.
But there are fears that the unofficial translations online could damage sales of the official printed version.

British author J.K. Rowling (C) poses with a copy of her new book “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” at the Natural History Museum in London July 20, 2007. The book, the last of a series of seven novels, was released in London on July 21.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Dozens of translations of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows can be downloaded for free.
It is believed they were translated by fans just days after the release of the official English version in August.
Chinese fans are even going a step further by writing their own versions of the end as well as other wizard adventures.
One of the most popular readings online is “Past Time of Lily Evans and James Potter”, about the relationship of Harry’s parents and his professor Severus Snape as well as stories of their friends, written by a 13-year-old girl.