Abstract
The article analyses the distribution and translation of German films in China in the 17-year period (1949–1966). Using such sources as archives, newspapers, memoirs, and extant films, the author examines the importation and distribution mechanism of German films in China during these years. A total of 62 films from the German Democratic Republic (hereinafter “the GDR”), the Federal Republic of Germany (hereinafter “the FRG”), Austria, and Switzerland were shown in China from 1952 to 1964. The author finds that the main themes of the 54 films imported from the GDR can be divided into five categories: the working class fighting against the capitalists, the imperialists, and the fascists; socialist construction; socialist friendship among the socialist bloc; German folktales and classic literature; and German historical figures or events. The themes of the five films from the FRG fall into the following two categories: calling for world peace; and criticizing Nazism and capitalism. The two films from Austria and one film from Switzerland were less political. In order to help the large illiterate population in China to understand foreign films most of the German films were dubbed, instead of being merely subtitled in Chinese. The author will, in the following study, go into the details of the dubbing process and use the Chinese translation of Der Hauptmann von Köln (The Captain From Cologne, dir. Slatan Dudow, 1956) as a case study to illustrate the strategies used in creating a Chinese dubbed version.
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Jin, H. (2023). The Distribution and Translation of German Films in China (1949–1966). In: Jin, H., Stecher, A., Ehrenwirth, R. (eds) Contemporary German–Chinese Cultures in Dialogue. Global Germany in Transnational Dialogues. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26779-6_7
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