A call for Patreon donations to fund original translations from Chinese
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Last week, we featured a long translation (by our own translations editor Anne Henochowicz) of scholar Tang Danhong’s search for an interned Uyghur intellectual and former colleague who had since been locked up in a Xinjiang re-education camp. We believe that funding and publishing such translations is an invaluable addition to the China conversation. Hearing Chinese voices adds much-needed perspective to the issues of the day, such as Tang’s outrage at what her own nation is perpetrating in its far West.
Since our launch in fall 2017, we have published scores of original translations of the best contemporary non-fiction, fiction and poetry. We have done so in partnership with Read Paper Republic, One-Way Street Magazine, and The Initium, and have also commissioned many original translations from Chinese into English. This is made possible through your support. Please consider adding your name to the list and donating on Patreon to our translations drive, from as little as $1 or $5 a month, to help us publish more content such as Tang’s essay in the future.
Below is a list of some of our reader-funded content in the past, and check out the full archive of translations here.
Four Fates in a Changing China – Yu Hua, trans. Allan H. Barr
“In China a lot transpires under cover of dark, and we can see only the things that happen in daylight”
Three Sketches of Peter Hessler – Wu Qi, trans. Luisetta Mudie
“Hessler writes about China, and Chinese journalists keep writing about him, in unstoppable waves: an endless love-in”
In the Rain – Liu Xiaobo, trans. Ming Di
“What I long for is to fall apart / in the rain, my thin body disappearing / before the sun rises”
Picun Writers Collective – various, trans. Jeremy Tiang
“On one hand, the bustle of traffic; on the other, wilderness in all directions”
They Shut Down the City – Xiaoyu Lu, trans. Allen Young
Wuhan is not a city of fear. If a revolution couldn’t faze us, a natural disaster or illness won’t.”
Headscarf Girl – Cao Kou, trans. Josh Stenberg
“I still had to eat. That’s when I discovered that the Lanzhou noodle shop that had opened up was alright.”
Gone But Not Forgotten – Lü Pin, trans. Kate Costello
“We could have preserved our commitment to feminism in name only … But for us, there was never any choice”
The Storytelling Robot – Fei Dao, trans. Alec Ash
“Your Majesty, this story can have two endings, but I haven’t yet calculated which is the most marvelous”
Chairman Mao is Dead! – Tang Danhong, trans. Anne Henochowicz
“When Chairman Mao died, I was looking at caterpillars.”
Lu Xun, Demon Hunter – Pan Haitian, trans. Nick Stember
“Lu Xun,” he says, looking grim. “I come on a mission from the Brotherhood…”
