DOCSLIB.ORG

Foodways and the Floating Population: Diet and Rural-To- Urban Migration in Nanjing, China

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Foodways and the Floating Population: Diet and Rural-To- Urban Migration in Nanjing, China FOODWAYS AND THE FLOATING POPULATION: DIET AND RURAL-TO- URBAN MIGRATION IN NANJING, CHINA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY ROBERT SKORO, BA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE PROFESSOR CHERY SMITH, PHD, MPH, RD, ADVISER OCTOBER 2013 © Robert Alden Skoro 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Chery Smith, for several things: first, for recognizing the opportunity at hand, the rare chance to conduct graduate research in an international setting; second, for her thorough methodological guidance before, during, and after our data collection; and third, for her insight and patience in helping me produce the best-written analyses possible. Thanks are also due to our collaborators at Nanjing Medical University, Dr. Qing Feng and her student Yixu Jin. Together, they provided an array of different resources to us during our fieldwork which were key to our data collection. Further insights for this thesis have come from other faculty and peers at the University of Minnesota: my thesis committee members, Dr. Ann Waltner and Dr. Joanne Slavin; Dr. Liping Wang, Dr. Jason McGrath, and Dr. Polly Szartrowski, all of whom provided education and guidance at different points in the process of preparing this thesis, furthering my understanding of Chinese language and culture. Thanks also to my classmate Amy (Tuo) Chen, whose interest in my project and ongoing discussion of translation issues helped me read between the (transcript) lines when it was appropriate, and avoid doing so when it was not. Last, and certainly not least, I would like to thank my wife, Ellen; our daughter, Ruby; and our families for their support during this process. They provided the indispensible support for travel, research, and writing needed to complete this project. I am forever grateful for their strength and sacrifice. i DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to Sam Mitchell and Yuan Lu, for introducing me to China and so much more. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................ iv List of Figures ........................................................................................................... v Note Concerning Translation of Chinese Terms ...................................................... vii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................... 6 Part 1: China’s Last One Hundred Years ..................................................... 7 Part 2: Socioeconomic Development and Diseases of Affluence in Contemporary China ...................................................................................... 11 Obesity in China ........................................................................................... 12 Type 2 Diabetes in China .............................................................................. 13 Income, Urbanicity, and BMI in China ........................................................ 14 Changes in Food Consumption Patterns ....................................................... 16 Changes in Consumer Demographics ........................................................... 18 Part 3: Internal Migration in China: Hukou and The Floating Population ................................................................................. 22 Demographic Characteristics of China’s Floating Population ...................... 25 Objectives, Goals, and Risks of Migration ................................................... 28 Health Care and Insurance for the Floating Population ................................ 32 Summary of Literature Review ..................................................................... 33 References ..................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER TWO: OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH STUDY ............................... 50 Rationale for Research Study Based on Literature Review .......................... 51 Project Hypothesis and Research Questions ................................................. 53 Overview of Research Study Design and Methodology ............................... 55 CHAPTER THREE: FOODWAYS AND THE FLOATING POPULATION: DIET AND RURAL-TO-URBAN MIGRATION IN NANJING, CHINA ........ 57 Introduction ................................................................................................... 58 Methods ......................................................................................................... 61 Results ........................................................................................................... 64 Qualitative Themes ....................................................................................... 67 Discussion ..................................................................................................... 93 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 103 iii References ..................................................................................................... 106 Table 1: Sample Characteristics of Study Participants in Nanjing ....... 115 Figure 1: Correlation of BMI and Years Lived in Nanjing (With Income Quintiles) Among Migrant Workers ........................................... 116 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCOURSE IN THE DIET: FOODWAYS, THE FLOATING POPULATION, AND SUZHI IN NANJING ....................................................... 117 Introduction: The Floating Population in China’s Nutrition Transition ....... 118 Nanjing Sample ............................................................................................. 121 Migrants and Discourse ................................................................................ 124 Suzhi and Nutrition Knowledge .................................................................... 130 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 138 References ..................................................................................................... 140 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS .......................................................................................... 146 Results Summary to Address Research Hypothesis and Objectives ............ 147 Conclusions and Implications ....................................................................... 153 References ..................................................................................................... 157 COMPREHENSIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................. 158 APPENDIX ........................................................................................................... 175 Statement of Informed Consent .................................................................... 176 Survey Instrument ......................................................................................... 179 Focus Group Questions and Prompts ............................................................ 183 iv v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Sample Characteristics of Study Participants in Nanjing .............. 110 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Correlation of BMI and Years Lived in Nanjing (With Income Quintiles) Among Migrant Workers ......................................................................................... 111 vii NOTE CONCERNING TRANSLATION OF CHINESE TERMS: All research was conducted in dialects of Mandarin Chinese, with written forms of communication using Simplified Chinese. Throughout this thesis, best efforts have been made to maintain consistency in the way in which Chinese terms or concepts are used. Italicized terms are the pinyin commonly used to alphabetize written and spoken Chinese for an English readership. Chapter four provides transcript excerpts, which are verbatim presentations of portions of conversations. These passages include both Simplified Chinese and English translations, leaving no cause for the inclusion of pinyin. viii INTRODUCTION: Since its founding in 1949, the history of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been one punctuated by eras of exceptional diversity with regards to their political, economic, and social features. In just over sixty years, the PRC has changed from one of the more austere and violent iterations of communism in the twentieth century, largely rural and closed to much of the outside world, to a global spectacle of perennial double- digit economic growth, teeming with skyscrapers and prolific consumption of domestic and international goods in what even the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has come to designate a “socialist market economy” (Gamer, 2008; Tong & Wong, 2008). Consumption is certainly the central theme in China’s most current epoch, and it calls forth the unparalleled significance of food–both material and symbolic–that serves as the connective thread through these highly divergent eras (Anderson, 1988; Farquhar, 2002; Kipnis, 1997; Yan, 2000; Yue, 1999). While the rapid growth in automobile, real estate, or consumer goods markets are often
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title You Are Whom You Eat: Cannibalism in Contemporary Chinese Fiction and Film Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nk4v18m Author Tsai, Yun-Chu Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE You Are Whom You Eat: Cannibalism in Contemporary Chinese Fiction and Film DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in East Asian Languages and Literatures by Yun-Chu Tsai Dissertation Committee: Professor Bert Scruggs, Chair Professor Hu Ying Professor Chungmoo Choi Professor Gabriele Schwab 2016 © 2016 Yun-Chu Tsai DEDICATION To my family, for their unconditional love and support ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv CURRICULUM VITAE v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION vi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: 25 Unconventional “Classical Love”: Breaking of Traditions in Yu Hua’s Writing of Haunting and Cannibalism CHAPTER 2: 62 A Consuming Identity’s Melancholic Consumption of the Object: Gourmet Cannibalism in a Market Economy in Mo Yan’s The Republic of Wine CHAPTER 3: 110 A Delicacy to Rejuvenate the Nation: Fetus Consumption in Lillian Lee and Fruit Chan’s Dumplings CONCLUSION 150 BIBLIOGRAPHY 157 GLOSSARY 170 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express the deepest gratitude to my committee members, Professors Bert Scruggs, Hu Ying, Chungmoo Choi, and Gabriele Schwab. Their guidance and encouragement
    [Show full text]
  • WIC Template
    1 Talking Point 6 Week in 60 Seconds 7 Property Week in China 8 Aviation 9 Chinese Models 11 Economy 13 Chinese Character 19 October 2012 15 Society and Culture Issue 168 19 And Finally www.weekinchina.com 20 The Back Page What we learned in the debate m o c . n i e t s p e a t i n e b . w w w As Obama and Romney vie to appear toughest on China, Huawei and other Chinese firms cry foul at US treatment Brought to you by Week in China Talking Point 19 October 2012 Phoney claims? Why Huawei, ZTE and Sany are livid over their treatment in the US Not welcome: a new intelligence report from Washington says Huawei and ZTE pose a security threat to the US merican presidents past, pres - first employed Lincoln’s aphorism ers are “strongly encouraged to seek Aent and (perhaps) even future last year in an open letter to the US other vendors for their projects”. have all been drawn into the divi - government requesting an investi - This reflects longstanding Ameri - sive China debate in the last month. gation into any concerns that Wash - can concerns that information trav - This week saw Barack Obama bat - ington might have about its elling through Chinese-made tling it out with contender Mitt operations. The hope was that a for - networks could be snooped on, or Romney to talk toughest on trade mal review would clear the air. But even that crucial infrastructure politics and China. Romney in par - the report’s findings – announced could be disrupted or turned off ticular has been making headlines this month – only look like stoking through pre-installed “kill switches”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Translation in the Nobel Prize in Literature : a Case Study of Howard Goldblatt's Translations of Mo Yan's Works
    Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Translation 3-9-2016 The role of translation in the Nobel Prize in literature : a case study of Howard Goldblatt's translations of Mo Yan's works Yau Wun YIM Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/tran_etd Part of the Applied Linguistics Commons, and the Translation Studies Commons Recommended Citation Yim, Y. W. (2016). The role of translation in the Nobel Prize in literature: A case study of Howard Goldblatt's translations of Mo Yan's works (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/tran_etd/16/ This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Translation at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. THE ROLE OF TRANSLATION IN THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE: A CASE STUDY OF HOWARD GOLDBLATT’S TRANSLATIONS OF MO YAN’S WORKS YIM YAU WUN MPHIL LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2016 THE ROLE OF TRANSLATION IN THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE: A CASE STUDY OF HOWARD GOLDBLATT’S TRANSLATIONS OF MO YAN’S WORKS by YIM Yau Wun 嚴柔媛 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Translation LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2016 ABSTRACT The Role of Translation in the Nobel Prize in Literature: A Case Study of Howard Goldblatt’s Translations of Mo Yan’s Works by YIM Yau Wun Master of Philosophy The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of the translator and translation in the Nobel Prize in Literature through an illustration of the case of Howard Goldblatt’s translations of Mo Yan’s works.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses Rethinking Binarism in Translation Studies A Case Study of Translating the Chinese Nobel Laureates of Literature XIAO, DI How to cite: XIAO, DI (2017) Rethinking Binarism in Translation Studies A Case Study of Translating the Chinese Nobel Laureates of Literature, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12393/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 RETHINKING BINARISM IN TRANSLATION STUDIES A CASE STUDY OF TRANSLATING THE CHINESE NOBEL LAUREATES OF LITERATURE Submitted by Di Xiao School of Modern Languages and Cultures In partial fulfilment of the requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Durham University 2017 DECLARATION The candidate confirms that the work is her own and that it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in any previous application for a degree.
    [Show full text]
  • Howard Goldblatt's Translations of Mo Yan's Works Into English
    207 Howard Goldblatt’s Translations of Mo Yan’s Works into English: Reader Oriented Approach NISHIT KUMAR Abstract This article examines the strategies followed by Howard Goldblatt, the official translator of Mo Yan while translating his works from Chinese into English. Mo Yan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012 and critics argued that it was Goldblatt’s translation that was mainly responsible for Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize in Literature. Though Mo Yan’s works in translation are available in various languages, it is Goldblatt’s version that has become most popular. Therefore, from the perspective of Translation Studies, it would be interesting to identify the techniques used by Goldblatt that make his translations so special. The present paper compares titles, structure, and culture-specific expressions in the original and its English translation to identify the strategies followed by Howard Goldblatt in translating Chinese literary texts. Keywords: Mo Yan, Howard Goldblatt, Chinese literature, Translation strategies. Introduction As an ancient civilization, China has rich literature spanning several millennia, touching upon a wide range of literary genres enriched by numerous creative writers. However, until the 1980s, modern Chinese literature was vastly under- represented within the purview of world literature and did not gain significant readership in other parts of the world. As a result, China has been seeking international recognition for its vast body of literature. The Chinese authors have been making an effort for the Nobel Prize in Literature from as far back as the 1940s. The failure and anxiety of not being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature led to an obsession in China, which DOI: 10.46623/tt/2021.15.1.no4 Translation Today, Volume 15, Issue 1 Nishit Kumar Lovell (2006: 2) has termed as ‘Nobel Complex.’ It is well- known that since its inception, it has been chiefly the authors writing in European languages who bagged the Nobel Prize in Literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Mo Yan's Reception in China and a Reflection on the Postcolonial Discourse
    CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture ISSN 1481-4374 Purdue University Press ©Purdue University Volume 20 (2018) Issue 7 Article 5 Mo Yan’s Reception in China and a Reflection on the ostcolonialP Discourse Binghui Song Shanghai International Studies University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb Part of the American Studies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Education Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Reading and Language Commons, Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Television Commons, and the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly and professional information, Purdue University Press selects, develops, and distributes quality resources in several key subject areas for which its parent university is famous, including business, technology, health, veterinary medicine, and other selected disciplines in the humanities and sciences. CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, the peer-reviewed, full-text, and open-access learned journal in the humanities and social sciences, publishes new scholarship following tenets of the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." Publications in the journal are indexed in the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Chadwyck-Healey), the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters ISI), the Humanities Index (Wilson), Humanities International Complete (EBSCO), the International Bibliography of the Modern Language Association of America, and Scopus (Elsevier). The journal is affiliated with the Purdue University Press monograph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies. Contact: <[email protected]> Recommended Citation Song, Binghui.
    [Show full text]
  • Mo Yan in Context: Nobel Laureate and Global Storyteller Angelica Duran Purdue University
    Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Purdue University Press Books Purdue University Press Fall 9-15-2014 Mo Yan in Context: Nobel Laureate and Global Storyteller Angelica Duran Purdue University Yuhan Huang Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_ebooks Part of the Comparative Literature Commons Recommended Citation Duran, Angelica, and Huang, Yuhan., Mo Yan in Context: Nobel Laureate and Global Storyteller. (2014). Purdue University Press. (Knowledge Unlatched Open Access Edition.) This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Mo Yan in Context: Nobel Laureate and Global Storyteller Comparative Cultural Studies Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek, Series Editor The Purdue University Press monograph series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies publishes single-authored and thematic collected volumes of new scholarship. Manuscripts are invited for publication in the series in fields of the study of culture, literature, the arts, media studies, communication studies, the history of ideas, etc., and related disciplines of the humanities and social sciences to the series editor via e- mail at <[email protected]>. Comparative cultural studies is a contextual approach in the study of culture in a global and intercultural context and work with a plurality of methods and approaches; the theoretical and methodological framework of comparative cultural studies is built on tenets borrowed from the disciplines of cultural studies and comparative literature and from a range of thought including literary and culture theory, (radical) constructivism, communication theories, and systems theories; in comparative cultural studies focus is on theory and method as well as application.
    [Show full text]
  • Literature for the 21St Century Summer 2013 Coursebook
    Literature for the 21st Century Summer 2013 Coursebook PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Sun, 26 May 2013 16:12:52 UTC Contents Articles Postmodern literature 1 Alice Munro 14 Hilary Mantel 20 Wolf Hall 25 Bring Up the Bodies 28 Thomas Cromwell 30 Louise Erdrich 39 Dave Eggers 44 Bernardo Atxaga 50 Mo Yan 52 Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out 58 Postmodernism 59 Post-postmodernism 73 Magic realism 77 References Article Sources and Contributors 91 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 94 Article Licenses License 95 Postmodern literature 1 Postmodern literature Postmodern literature is literature characterized by heavy reliance on techniques like fragmentation, paradox, and questionable narrators, and is often (though not exclusively) defined as a style or trend which emerged in the post–World War II era. Postmodern works are seen as a reaction against Enlightenment thinking and Modernist approaches to literature.[1] Postmodern literature, like postmodernism as a whole, tends to resist definition or classification as a "movement". Indeed, the convergence of postmodern literature with various modes of critical theory, particularly reader-response and deconstructionist approaches, and the subversions of the implicit contract between author, text and reader by which its works are often characterised, have led to pre-modern fictions such as Cervantes' Don Quixote (1605,1615) and Laurence Sterne's eighteenth-century satire Tristram Shandy being retrospectively inducted into the fold.[2][3] While there is little consensus on the precise characteristics, scope, and importance of postmodern literature, as is often the case with artistic movements, postmodern literature is commonly defined in relation to a precursor.
    [Show full text]
  • Masterarbeit / Master's Thesis
    MASTERARBEIT / MASTER’S THESIS Titel der Masterarbeit / Title of the Master‘s Thesis Characteristics of Mo Yan`s language reflected in translations of Wa verfasst von / submitted by Maria Istvanova angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (MA) Wien, 2017 / Vienna 2017 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 066 811 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / Masterstudium Sinologie degree programme as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik Acknowledgement I would first like to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis supervisor Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik for the continuous support, motivation, advice and immense knowledge that helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I would also like to acknowledge my friends as the second readers of this thesis, and I am gratefully indebted to them for their valuable comments. Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my family for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Table of contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3 2. Translation theories ...................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Download Article
    International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education (ICADCE 2016) Analysis on Mo Yan’s Literature from International Perspective Lihua Yang Zhichun Zhu Heihe University Heihe University Heihe, China 164300 Heihe, China 164300 Abstract—According to the abroad spreading scale and influence of Mo Yan's works, it will naturally become one of the II. MO YAN'S LITERARY FIELD representatives for overseas to research Chinese contemporary Global extends of "Mo Yan hot" blotted out a "China literature. The author found a basic law when referring and Color" in the world literature heavily and created favorable classifying materials: If writers wrote a lot of books and his external conditions for the "world horizon" of Chinese works were translated into kinds of languages and were Literature Research. In 2013, there are many seminars centered reprinted for many times, they must have many research results on Mo Yan in China, such as the "Nobel Prize for Literature and these writers were excellent writers. There are many papers researching works of Mo Yan in British, French, German and and China: from Lu Xun to Mo Yan" (Beijing), “From Tagore Japanese. Limited by language ability, the author only analyzes to Mo Yan: the World Significance of century oriental culture" part of representative English research briefly in this paper. (Shanghai), "Mo Yan • Nobel • Chinese Contemporary Literature" Forum (Xiamen), "Local Complex in Mo Yan Keywords—international perspective; Mo Yan; literary world works" (Gaomi)…..Bai Ye said in do a witness of literary advances with the times that, “when compiling Chinese literary Chronicle this year, we have classified some sort of I.
    [Show full text]
  • Mo Yan Senses Literary Greatness for HK
    8 HKFOCUS Monday, May 21, 2018 CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION 9 WRITING A NEW CHAPTER MO YAN’S BIO By throwing his weight behind the Lui Che Woo Prize, Mo Yan, Nobel-laureate for literature, is extending the scope of the altruistic impulse that shines through much of his writing. Chitralekha Basu reports. resumably China’s most inter- sheep and plants, understanding them the mother of his son. A sudden fl ush of Wearing di erent hats nationally well-known writer, more intensely than kids my age nor- love for the woman he had once raped The unshakable bond between a land the Nobel-laureate Mo Yan mally would.” stops him from committing a similar act and the people who draw their sustenance A peek inside Mo’s mind acknowledged his literary debt The theme of hunger has been master- on another helpless woman. from it is still quite central to Mo’s writing. Pto the Hong Kong writer Dung Kai- fully maneuvered by writers like Knut This is exemplifi ed particularly ingenious- Q: Looking back on the old days, who do you feel the most grateful to? cheung during an interview with China Hamsun and Franz Kafka to depict man’s From page to stage ly in the novel Life and Death Are Wearing A: One of the teachers I want to thank is Mao Zhaohuang, editor of Lian Chi, a bimonthly Daily last month. Mo’s raising of the hat ability to rise above his state, turn abject- Mo isn’t fi nished with Red Sorghum Me Out (2006), in which the benevolent literary publication based in Baoding, Hebei province.
    [Show full text]
  • Titles of Mo Yan's Books in Translation Into Closer and Farther Languages: Is
    Maciej STANASZEK University of Warsaw Titles of Mo Yan’s books in translation into closer and farther languages: Is nature or culture the main cause of changes? Abstract Translating titles is one of the most complex problems that translation researchers (primarily those working in a literary field) may encounter. For many reasons, which I outline in the introduction to the present paper, the original meaning of a title often undergoes much greater modifications than in other places of the translated text. The object of my investigation are changes – some radical – that occurred in the translations of 12 titles of novels and short story collections by the Chinese author and Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan, which were rendered into languages both close to us geographically and culturally (European ones: Romanic and Germanic) and farther in this respect (Asian tongues: Japanese and Korean). Based on a combined analysis of the translated titles and interviews with some of their (co-)authors, an extensive taxonomy of various causes of these changes is proposed. A crucial question, which unfortunately cannot be answered fully in this paper, concerns the nature-culture dilemma: do the modifications result mainly from the translator’s nature (personality or even simply temperament) or from the culture s/he lives in (i.e. the editorial/translational title-giving custom)? Keywords: title translation, Chinese literature in translation, descriptive translation studies 与其诅咒黑暗，不如燃起蜡烛 Yǔqí zǔzhòu hēiʼàn, bùrú ránqǐ làzhú Instead of cursing the darkness, it’s better to light a candle. (Chinese proverb) 1. Introduction The translation of the titles of books, especially literary publications, is one of the most complex areas that a translation researcher may examine.
    [Show full text]