John Minford on Translating Hong Kong and Chinese Literature

Description

John Minford, Emeritus Professor of Chinese at ANU, has been described as “the greatest living translator of Chinese literature into English”. In his long and distinguished career as a scholar and translator Chinese literature he has covered the entire gamut of Chinese writing from the Book of Changes 易經 to the martial arts novel of Hong Kong writer Louis Cha/Jin Yong 金庸.
Professor Minford will talk in the morning session about translating the poetry and fiction of Hong Kong writer P.K. Leung 也斯 including his translations Lotus Leaves: Selected Poems of Leung Ping-kwan and Islands and Continents: Short Stories by Leung Ping-kwan. In the afternoon will discuss and answer questions relating to his translations more broadly.
Among the many translations Professor Minford has produced are I Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Oracle and Book of Wisdom (Penguin Classics), Sun Tzu, The Art of War: The Essential Translation of the Classic Book of Life (孫子兵法) (Penguin Classics), Tao Te Ching: The Essential Translation of the Ancient Chinese Book of the Tao (老子, 道德經), Wailing Ghosts: Pu Songling (蒲松齡) (Penguin Little Black Classics), The Story of the Stone 石頭記/紅樓夢) Vol IV (Penguin Classics) and The Deer and the Cauldron (3-volume set) by Louis Cha (Jin Yong 金庸). His Seeds of Fire: Chinese Voices of Conscience edited and translated together with Germie Barmé stands as a canonical contribution to the study of 1980s Chinese culture and society.
These events are sponsored by Professor Gregory Lee's research project, Politics and Culture in the People's Republic of China's from “Tiananmen” to Xi Jinping (1976-2025), Work Package 5: post-1989 divergence and convergence of politics and cultural production and consumption in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Period	23 May 2024
Event type	Conference
Location	St Andrews, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International