Abstract
Cosmopolitanism in early twentieth-century China was chiefly associated with political ideals. The author contends that as an intellectual discourse, cosmopolitanism also made a visible impact on the literary landscape. Literary translation was a field where the cosmopolitan spirit was most clearly discerned, and children’s literature is especially relevant to cosmopolitan thinking due to its association with humanist ideals in the Chinese enlightenment endeavor. After an attempt at defining cosmopolitanism in its specific historical and contextual background, this article moves on to a detailed look at Zheng Zhenduo’s (1898–1958) cosmopolitan consciousness and its link with his advocacy for translating children’s literature. The selection of genres and authors, and the strategies of translation are examined in detail. The case helps to reveal that the translation of children’s literature in early twentieth-century China, which first grew out of the Chinese nationalist movement, came to be increasingly tinged with deep cosmopolitan ramifications that sought continuously to disrupt mainstream nationalist discourse. The article also shows that the translator, caught in the vicissitudes of the early twentieth century, disrupted the frequently-assumed dichotomies between the cosmopolitan and the local, and between cosmopolitanism and patriotism, not through theory or discourse, but through the very act of translating. As such, the historical case of China might also provide some interesting insights into the role of children’s literature translation in constructing the world we inhabit.
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Notes
For how generations of intellectuals are differentiated in modern China, See Li Zehou and Vera Schwarcz’s article “Six Generations of Modern Chinese Intellectuals” (1984). In her book The Chinese enlightenment: intellectuals and the legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 (1986), Vera Schwarcz used the generational approach to analyze the collaborations, similarities, divergences and mutual influences between the second and third generations of Chinese intellectuals. For western pioneering work, refer to Karl Mannheim’s Essays in the sociology of knowledge (1952) and Julian Marias’s Generations: a historical method (1970). Translated by H. C. Raley.
For a look into the role of nation-building in the translation of children’s literature in early twentieth-century China, see Mary Ann Farquhar, Children’s literature in China: from Lu Xun to Mao Zedong (1999).
Translating foreign children’s literature was, in the eyes of Zhou Zuoren, Zheng Zhenduo and their co-members of the Literary Research Society, the best means toward a genuine children’s literature in China. In the large body of articles he left behind, Zhou stated in numerous occasions how he was influenced by foreign children’s literature, and since China lacked such a literature, translation would provide model works for Chinese writers to emulate. Cf. Zhou (1920b) and Zheng (1998b, p. 6). Indeed, May Fourth translated children’s literature is considered the origin of modern children’s literature in China. Mao Dun, for example, famously declared that “In China, the term ‘children’s literature’ emerged in the May Fourth era.” It would not have emerged without the introduction and translation of foreign children’s literature. Cf. Mao (1935).
For how children’s literature is linked to nation-building, see, for example, Farquhar (1999, p. 306).
Liang Qichao (1873–1929), Cai Yuanpei (1868–1940), Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), Chen Duxiu (1879–1942), and Hu Shi (1891–1962), though with disparate ideological stances, had all discussed and debated cosmopolitanism.
Scholars’ opinions about how to define the May Fourth period vary. In the narrowest sense, the May Fourth refers to the patriotic student movement on May 4th, 1919. The May Fourth period in this paper designates the period which begins with the establishment of the pro-Western Qingnian Zazhi (Youth Magazine) in 1915, later changed to Xin Qingnian (New Youth) which advocates Western science and democracy, and ends with the outbreak of the debate on science in 1923. In addition to enlightenment which is the predominant theme of the May Fourth period, national salvation is also an urgent task due largely to the political crisis, both internal and external, that China faced at the time.
Vera Schwarcz, in The Chinese enlightenment: intellectuals and the legacy of the May 4th Movement of 1919 (1986), discusses the particularities and characteristics of the Chinese enlightenment. See pp. 1–11.
Min-chih Chou (Zhou Mingzhi), in Hu Shih and intellectual choice in modern China (1984), devotes a whole chapter to analyzing Hu Shi’s cosmopolitanism. See pp. 83–106. Chou, however, does not make a special attempt to link Hu’s cosmopolitanism with his cultural and literary agenda during the New Literature Movement Hu initiated, especially after he was back in China from his Columbia study. Chou’s focus is on the years which Hu spent in the United States, and his analysis inevitably centers on Hu’s political thinking regarding cosmopolitanism. Luo Zhitian (also known as Luo Houli), in his biography of Hu Shi, also explores Hu’s cosmopolitanism as part of his political vision. See Luo (2006, pp. 85–109).
Besides Qian Xuantong, other important intellectuals were also engaged in the discussion of Esperanto. Zhou, when discussing Esperanto and Esperantismo, stated that it was the spirit of cosmopolitanism that gave life to Esperanto as a language. See Zhou (1982 [1923a], p. 153, [1923b], p. 158). Cai Yuanpei invested in Esperanto a deep hope for world peace and human prosperity. He set up, together with Wu Zhihui (1865–1953) and nine others, an Esperanto school in China to improve modern education by offering courses in the humanities. See Cai (1997, pp. 499–504). In a 1919 speech in Tianjin, Cai maintained that education after the war would be oriented toward cosmopolitanism and that statism would lose its ground. See Ibid pp. 592–597.
An active and complex presence in modern China’s social and intellectual landscape, Zheng Zhenduo has attracted consistent scholarly attention in the half century since his accidental death. Studies on him have concentrated on his political activities, editorial achievements, literary theories, creative writings and scholarly contributions, and his leadership in the Literary Research Society. For a comprehensive study of Zheng Zhenduo, refer to Chen Fukang. (2010). Zheng Zhenduo lun (On Zheng Zhenduo). Beijing: The Commercial Press.
Wenxue dagang (Outlines of Literature), an ambitious, four-volume anthology of world literature which is also the first of its kind in Chinese literary history and praised by Cai Yuanpei in the 1930s as “a trail-blazer; a path-breaking, unprecedented work” (Zheng 2002, p. 119), was compiled by Zheng Zhenduo alone between 1923 and 1926 when he was still a young man in his twenties. Published in April, 1927 by the Commercial Press, the anthology was consistently hailed as an authentic world literature anthology which consists of translated literary works from the east as well as the west, from the ancient times up to the twentieth century. It should be noted that the anthology grew partly out of Zheng’s dissatisfaction with The Outline of Literature by John Drinkwater which he started out to translate but found to his discomfort that it was no more than a western, or more precisely, a European literature anthology rather than a genuine world literature anthology. He began to embark upon his four-volume anthology, after giving up the translation project, as a way to redress and transcend western-centric bias. Outlines of Literature, however, was only one of Zheng’s three major attempts at anthologizing world literature. His two other attempts came in the form of Literary Research Society’s world literature project in the beginning of 1920s of which Zheng was the Editor in Charge and shijie wenku (World Literature Series), a journal he launched in the 1930s. The world literature project was named “Wenxue yanjiuhui congshu” (Literary Research Society Book Series). Both these projects, while aiming at presenting the universal, perpetual values that characterize the world’s best literary works, also included translations of literature from weak nations which western anthologies tended to dismiss or downplay.
John Dewey was believed to have influenced the concept of the child as construed by Zhou Zuoren, Zheng Zhenduo, and many other intellectuals, and subsequently informed children’s literature written for Chinese children during and after the May Fourth period.
Both Zhou and Zheng had been exposed to the theory of evolution which was a major trend of thought in the early twentieth-century China. Darwin’s theory was extremely well received thanks to Yan Fu’s (1854–1921) translation of Thomas H. Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics.
Zheng Zhenduo was the editor-in-chief of the weekly journal Children’s World from Vol. 1. No. 1 in 1922 until Vol. 5. No. 2. in 1923. Launched in 1922, this journal, which was a crucial force behind the Children’s Literature Movement in the 1920s (Q.G. Wang, 1992, p. 59; also refer to Wang, 1987, pp. 1–3) initiated by the Society for Literary Research, constitutes Zheng’s major contribution to the development of modern children’s literature in China. Children’s World was launched by Zheng about eight months after he joined the Commercial Press in May, 1921. According to Zheng Erkang, the journal had been sold to Hong Kong, Macau, Japan and Singapore.
Zheng Zhenduo’s only son, Zheng Erkang started to publish, in his senior years, books and articles on his father’s life and work. His works include a research article “Zheng Zhenduo he ta de zuopin” (Zheng Zhenduo and His Works) and three major biographies of his father, written on first-hand materials and with different emphases: Yidai caihua (A generation’s talent) (1993), Xingyun gaoqiu (The fall of the star) (Zheng 2002), Wo de fuqin Zheng Zhenduo (My father Zheng Zhenduo) (2006). He also edited the twenty-volume The complete works of Zheng Zhenduo which came out in 1998.
Zheng’s biography of Tagore represented the first effort in modern China to introduce Tagore to Chinese readers (Zheng 1922b).
In 1919 when he was still a college student, Zheng initiated Xin Shehui (New Society) together with some other fellow students including Qu Qiubai (1899–1935) and Geng Jizhi (1899–1947). The mission of the short-lived journal was to reform the society through incremental changes.
Author Dr. Katharine. Elizabeth. Dopp.
Mao Dun, Zheng’s ally in the Literary Research Society, also contributed to the endeavor toward scientific literacy among children. In his translations of myths and legendary tales, he managed to insert explanatory remarks about the causes of natural phenomena and the origins of life so that children might pick up some knowledge while enjoying the tales. Cf. Mao (1985, pp. 323–343). Zheng’s call for scientific knowledge was most vigorously answered by Zhou Jianren (1888–1984), Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren’s younger brother, whose scientific articles written for Children’s World are the origins of “kexue xiaopin” (science essays) in China.
These stories began to appear in Fiction Monthly in March 1928, which later constituted an important body of his translation project of Greek and Roman myths and legendary tales. Heroic stories with courageous heroes made up a significant part of the project. See Zheng (1998b, pp.156–157).
There is, however, an exception. According to Zheng, children’s literature that possess eternal literary values, such as those by Andersen and Wilde, are best to be translated faithfully. See Zheng (1998b, p. 6).
The emphasis on using translated children’s literature for the purpose of education was clearly and forcefully articulated by Zhou Zuoren. For a brief analysis of the nature of this education, see Shen (2014).
One important thing to note here: Part of Zhou’s idea is believed to come from John Dewey whose influence on the educational landscape in the early twentieth-century China is hard to dismiss. Liberal pragmatists and educators who paid much attention to educational problems including Hu Shi (1891–1962), Jiang Menglin (1886–1964) and Tao Xingzhi (1891–1946) were all Dewey’s disciples. The fundamental assumption was that social and cultural reforms must come before political reforms, and the best way to achieve social and cultural transformation was, according to the Deweyites, through education.
Zheng’s attachment to local Chinese realities, however, was also partly indebted to John Dewey’s conception of the relationship between children and their environment. Dewey’s lectures in China, interpreted by Hu Shi, were believed to have exerted a profound influence on the way Chinese intellectuals envision both child education and children’s literature.
Hu Shi spent most of the War at Columbia University (from 1910 to 1917), studying with John Dewey for a Ph.D. degree. He kept dairies to record his overseas experiences. In an entry entitled “Guojia yu shijie” (The country and the world), Hu quoted Tennyson: “That man’s the best cosmopolite, Who loves his native country best.” See Hu (2012, p. 69).
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Shen, C. Cosmopolitanism and the translation of children’s literature: Zheng Zhenduo as a case study. Neohelicon 42, 529–549 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-014-0285-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-014-0285-2