西湖大雅/The Daya of West Lake

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As well known, China has a very long history of poetry and a lot of great poets, such as Li Bai and Du Fu, born in Tang dynasty. They are the most noted Chinese poets all around the world and their poems have been translated into English by many famous professors. Here I just take two poems written by Li Bai and Du Fu respectively as the examples of translations. The first one is a masterpiece written by Li Bai, which is as follows:

《靜夜思》
唐•李白

床前明月光，疑是地上霜。
舉頭望明月，低頭思故鄉。

Mr. Xu Yuanchong, a famous professor of Peking University, translated it as follows:

Thoughts on a Tranquil Night

Before my bed a pool of light.
Is it hoarfrost upon the ground?
Eyes raised, I see the moon so bright;
Head bent, in homesickness I’m drowned.

Prof. Xu believed that if he translated the part of first sentence into “a pool of light”, and the part of forth sentence into “in homesickness I’ drowned”, he can find a link of moonlight and homesickness with water. Actually, I believe that Prof. Xu misinterpreted the exact meaning of Li Bai, named the great Poem Immortal. There’s no evidence to show that Li Bai had such a meaning to link moonlight and homesick with water at all. Thus, Prof. Xu violated the first principle of translation that is to keep writer’s original text and meaning truly.

Here, please allow me to show you my translation of this masterpiece as follows:

Missing on a Silent Night
Written by Li Bai, Tang Dynasty

In front of my bed, moonlights bound.
I'm doubt, it’s the frost on the ground.
Looking up, there's a moon so bright.
Looking down, I'm homesick around.

Translated by SmBirdman
10th, May, 2019

I believe that my translation keeps its original meaning and rhyme at the same time, and the most important point is that it’s easy for readers to understand it correctly.

The second one is another masterpiece written by Du Fu, which is as follows:

《望岳》
唐•杜甫

岱宗夫如何，齊魯青未了。
造化鈡神秀，陰陽割昏曉。
蕩胸生層云，決眥入歸鳥。
會當凌絕頂，一覽眾山小。

Mr. Stephen Owen, a famous professor and sinologist of Harvard University, translated it as follows:

Gazing On the Peak

And what then is Daizong like?
over Qi and Lu, green unending.
Creation compacted spirit splendors here,
Dark and Light, riving dusk and dawn.
Exhilirating the breast, it porduces layers of cloud;
splitting eye-pupils, it has homing birds entering.
Someday may I climb up to its highest summit,
with one sweeping view see how small all other mountains are.

According to his translation, I don’t think Mr. Stephen Owen has really achieved the true essence of Chinese classical poetry because he translated this masterpiece into English as an essay but not a great poem anymore, although it keeps the original meaning basically but loses its rhyme totally.

Here, please allow me to show you my translation of this masterpiece as follows:

View of Tai Mountain
Written by Du Fu, Tang Dynasty

How great the Tai Mount stands,
How lushly green the QiLu lands.
God makes such a miracle, so best,
Dawn and dusk are cut by his hands.
The clouds rise on my exited chest.
The birds I see widest back to nest.
One day, I will stand on the crest,
and oversee small hills of the rest.

Translated by SmBirdman
18th, Dec, 2017

This is a masterpiece with special rhyme in Chinese classical poetry, which is really hard to be translated into English perfectly. I believe that my translation is the best on best in English all around the world.

According to these cases, I strongly believe that this book is very helpful for English readers who want to learn Chinese classical poetry correctly and easily. There’re lots of masterpieces of Chinese classical poetry written by other great poets, such as Tao Qian, Su Shi and Li Qingzhao etc., who lived in Weijin dynasty and Song dynasty respectively. There’re also some masterpieces written by anonyms, before Qin dynasty. More details please see the book text.