Chapter 46 Hong Hong Kee London

After reading my book "The Mystery of the Three Hairpins in the Red Chamber", four organizations including the China-British Cultural Association and the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London invited me to give two reports on the subject. Elegant for cultural exchange, he happily took the high-speed train via Paris and arrived in London through the undersea tunnel in only three hours.As soon as I got off the train, on the car heading to the place where I stayed, the host gave me the schedule of activities arranged by them for my comments. Apart from my speech, welcome reception and other programs, the most prominent one was to go to Stratford Visit Shakespeare's Birthplace and see a Portuguese troupe perform Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theater on the banks of the River Thames.

Lecture at SOAS, University of London, aimed at Sinologists and PhD students, without translation, and can be discussed calmly.I emphasize a point of view in my book: in China, Shakespeare and his major plays such as "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet" have entered the common sense of people with a medium level of education. A student of science and engineering who doesn't know Shakespeare or name at least one of Shakespeare's plays is laughed at.But on the other hand, in the UK, Cao Xueqinhe not only failed to integrate into the common sense of ordinary people, but even liberal arts students in universities, as long as their majors are not Chinese classical literature, it doesn’t matter if they don’t know Cao Xueqinhe.What is the reason why the great works of great writers who are equally well-matched in the two civilizations cannot achieve the same effect in the exchange?Is it possible to correct this bias?I am only a non-professional researcher in China, and my treatise on "Red Studies" is just a family opinion. Due to time constraints, how can I fully explain the greatness of Cao Xueqin and Mao Zedong when I gave a speech in the UK?But I think Chinese cultural people should not give up even the smallest opportunity to promote the greatness of Cao Xueqin and others to foreigners, so that they at least understand that it is the peak of Chinese classical culture, and it is still nourishing the new generation of Chinese cultural people. Even if it is difficult for them to get the pleasure of reading the translation and understand the rich connotation of Chinese culture in the text, they should at least be in awe when they hear Cao Xueqin and He, just as many Chinese people can't read Shakespeare's plays and ten works. Having fun in the translation of quatrains, even watching movies like "The Prince's Revenge" starring Laurence Olivier is boring, but you must definitely embed codes like Shakespeare and "Hamlet" into your common sense In the structure, I dare not be careless at all.Fu Xiong, an Austrian-born sinologist, believes that the current version of Chinese is a bad version, while the translations of English and other Western languages ​​are almost all based on this bad Chinese version. Committed to sorting out an ideal rare book of 80 chapters of Cao Xueqin, and promoting it to replace the current current edition.This is a very expert opinion, and it is quoted here for reference by domestic professional "red studies" experts.

The scale of a speech organized by the China-Britain Association was much larger. After more than 100 seats were filled, there were still more than 20 guests standing and listening to the speech, which moved me very much.Most of the blond-haired and blue-eyed audience do not understand Chinese and need translation. The time it takes me to deliver the information is only half of the time in the previous session; the audience in the previous session did not need to start with ABC. His words lead them to be fascinated by Cao Xueqin and Cao Xueqin?Although I had prepared well, I was still apprehensive when I started the lecture.It turned out to be very good.Most of this also relies on the smooth and vivid translation of the Dutch-born Sinologist He Maixiao.The topic about Cao Xueqin and He is really difficult to translate. The sentence "Spring Dreams Dissipate with the Clouds" can only be said casually with a high level of Chinese and English skills, and the audience admires it.In my speech, I called on everyone to find a copy of "Dragon's Empire". The author of the book is the British WILLIAM WINSTON. The English name of the book is "DRAGON'S IMPERIAL KINGDOM". It was published by DOUGLAS Press in 1874. The pattern of the yellow dragon, larger than 32 carats and smaller than 16 carats, is about 3 centimeters thick. On page 53 of the book, there is content about Cao Xueqin eavesdropping on the Englishman Philip and his father Cao talking about Shakespeare's plays, and was punished after being discovered.Before the "Cultural Revolution" in China, at least two libraries had collected this book, and at least three people had seen it. One of them even copied the card. When the book was found again, some people doubted that they had this book, and their enthusiasm for finding it faded to freezing point.I thought there was no way the information about the book could have been falsified.China has experienced catastrophes such as the "Cultural Revolution", and the possibility of such old English books surviving is indeed close to zero.But in so many large and small libraries in the UK, maybe it still exists quietly in some dusty corner.The text in this book may not allow us to draw the conclusion that Cao Xueqin's creation was influenced by Shakespeare's plays, but it is at least an interesting anecdote, which will surely improve the general British society by mobilizing the search for books and being able to act on the facts. people's interest in Cao Xueqin and others.The questions from the audience after this speech and the discussion between me and the audience were also very lively, and the discussion continued until the reception in the evening. One of the questions was: "What is the influence on the writing of contemporary Chinese writers? Some Chinese writers cannot read directly. Foreign literature, but they say that the works of writers who have the greatest influence on them are Western. Why is this? Is the text of Chinese translators who translate Western literature more relevant to some contemporary Chinese writers than such original texts in their mother tongue? Potential influence?” This question is very sharp, but very serious, and it is difficult to sort out the answer that can make myself and others agree.

This summer’s trip to London made me excited and delighted—even though my speech was just two drops of rain, I hope that I can give British audiences a taste of Cao Xueqin and the vast ocean!