Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t15: Shi Zhen
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t15
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Shi Zhen
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Shi Zhen (February 5, 1918 - November 4, 2009) was a Chinese translator and an expert on Bengali language. She was a native of Yanshi, Henan, and Shi Zhen was her pen name, while her real name was Shi Suzhen. In 1936, she graduated from Department of Chinese, Women’s School of Liberal Arts, Beiping University. In 1941, she taught in the middle school affiliated to Southwest United University in Kunming. In 1942, she went with her husband Wu Xiaoling to Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan, West Bengal. Wu Xiaoling taught at the Cheena Bhavana, during which period Shi Zhen had a chance to study and master Bengali. Later, she became a graduate student at Rabindra Bhavan and obtained a fair knowledge of Rabindranath Tagore’s works and Bengali literature. She returned to China in 1946, and taught as a lecturer at Department of Oriental Languages, Peking University, worked under the India Section of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and later went to CASS, Institute of Foreign Literature to translate and study Bengali literature. She is the first Chinese to translate Tagore’s works from Bengali. She joined China Writers Association in 1958, and was a council member of Translators Association of China. She died in the afternoon of November 4, 2009, at the age of 91.
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On 19 September 1990, Indian Embassy in China held a ceremony to confer the Visva- Bharati University Honorary D.Litt to Wu Xiaoling. Indian ambassador to China. C.V. Ranganathan is seen delivering a speech and Shi Zhen is sitting second from the right.
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'Srikant (Si li gan te)', front cover of the Chinese edition
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In 1956, Shi Zhen translated *Do Bigha Zamin*, an epic by Tagore, and published it in a monthly journal, ‘Yiwen’ (Issue 2, 1956). The translation reproduced the strong poetic flavour and peasants’ attachment to the soil in the original text, and this text was soon included in Chinese textbooks. In 1957, she translated Tagore’s *Katha*, which in the next year, was combined with ‘Poems’ translated by Bingxin from English, and published by People’s Literature Publishing House, and was well received and sold. ‘Katha’ is an important collection of Tagore’s narrative poems, and Shi Zhen’s translation is a masterpiece of Chinese translation. In 1958, she published Tagore’s play ‘Muktadhara’, with a Chinese title half transliterated and half paraphrased. In 1961, she translated ‘Chaturanga’, a novella by Tagore, which was included into Volume 5 of ‘Collected Works of Tagore’. She also published the translated poems by Tagore in some journals and newspapers. In her late years, she translated three of Tagore’s poem collections written in English and combined and published them as ‘Fruit-gathering’, ‘Lover’s Gift’, ‘Crossing’, with detailed notes on the time and source of each poem. Some poems were provided with her translation from Bengali for readers’ comparison, and understanding of how Tagore translated his own poems. She also wrote an introduction for the Chinese translation of ‘Gora’, a masterpiece novel by Tagore. She also wrote for the Foreign Literature Volume of ‘Encyclopedia of China’ to introduce Bengali writers.
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Shi Zhen also translated other Bengali writers, including *Arakshanya* (1956) and volume 1 of *Srikanta* (1981) by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (1876-1938), *Collected Short Novels* (1984) by Manik Banerjee (1908-1956) and *Bishabriksha* (1988) by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1838-1894)
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From December 17, 1981 to January 29, 1982, Shi Zhen and her husband Wu Xiaoling visited India to attend the 60^th anniversary celebration of Visva-Bharati University. She lectured on ‘Tagore in China’ at Visva-Bharati University, Delhi University and International Center of Culture, and attended a radio talk at the invitation of the Calcutta branch of All India Radio. She spoke with Indian President Sanjiva Reddy and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at India’s Independence Day ceremony and reception. At the dinner party held by ICCR, she again met Indira Gandhi and presented her with some of her translated works from Bengali done by her and her daughter Wu Hua.
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Shi Zhen also received and treated some visiting Indian friends at her home such as the famous Bengali folk singer Hemanga Biswas.
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Poems translated by Shi Zhen are rhythmical and readable, and similar to the original text in spirit as well in form. She also made an excellent translation of novels. Her articles and translations have made an indelible contribution to learn and know Tagore and Bengali literature for Chinese.
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(*Liu Jian*)