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Kungfu—Musings on the Philosophical Background of Chinese Martial Arts Read chapter Read first chapter

2023 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

A Survey and Critique of English Translations of Jin Yong’s Wuxia Fictions

Author : Hong Diao

Published in: Understanding and Translating Chinese Martial Arts

Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore

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Abstract

Jin Yong is widely celebrated as the most renowned maestro of wuxia fiction whose works have become the common language of Chinese around the world. His fictions, originally serialized in newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong from 1955 to 1972, continue to be reissued and adapted for films, TV series, and comic books. This chapter offers a comprehensive survey of existing English translations of Jin Yong’s fictions and relevant research on these translations. It starts with a brief introduction to wuxia as a literary genre, Jin Yong’s life trajectory, and his fictions, followed by an evaluation of existing English translations, printed or otherwise, of these stories. Next, a survey and critique of research of these translations are presented, after which research lacunas are detected, and a proposal for future research is put forward. This chapter evaluates relevant studies published in English and Chinese respectively since they differ thematically to a noticeable extent. Finally, it is proposed that future research should pay more attention to online fan translations.

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Appendix
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Footnotes
1
The source of the Chinese is Han (2010). 韩非子 [Han Feizi]. Huaping Gao, Qizhou Wang, and Sanxi Zhang (trans. & eds.), p. 709. The translation is by Burton Watson in Han Feizi: Basic Writings, p. 106.
 
2
The translation is by Burton Watson in Records of the Grand Historian, p. 410.
 
3
The citation is from Sima (2010). 史记 [Records of the Grand Historian]. (Zhaoqi Han trans.), p. 779 (electronic version).
 
4
Serialized in New Evening Post in 1954, this is regarded as the first “new school” wuxia fiction.
 
5
There are different categorizations: some would treat Baima Xiao Xifeng (“白马啸西风”) and Yuanyang Dao (“鸳鸯刀”) as short stories; we treat them as novellas. Jin Yong published Yueyun “月云”, an autobiographical prose style short story, in Harvest Magazine in 2000. Since it is not a wuxia story, it is not included in our discussion.
 
6
They were downloaded from WuxiaSociety https://​wuxiasociety.​com/​translations/​.
 
7
Xianxia (仙侠, literally means “Immortal Heroes”) are fictional stories featuring magic, demons, ghosts, immortals, and a great deal of Chinese folklore/mythology. Protagonists (usually) attempt to cultivate to Immortality, seeking eternal life and the pinnacle of strength. This definition is provided by WuxiaWorld. Retrieved on May 20, 2021, from https://​www.​wuxiaworld.​com/​page/​general-glossary-of-terms.
 
8
This appendix is based on Appendix 1 of 《金庸卷, 香港当代作家作品选集》, pp. 644–646; the English titles are based on existing printed translations, TV series names, and fan translations.
 
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Metadata
Title
A Survey and Critique of English Translations of Jin Yong’s Wuxia Fictions
Author
Hong Diao
Copyright Year
2023
Publisher
Springer Nature Singapore
Book
Understanding and Translating Chinese Martial Arts

Print ISBN: 978-981-19-8424-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-19-8425-9

Copyright Year: 2023

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-8425-9_4