Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s3.t6.17

v2.c10.s3.t6.17

published it in the periodical Foreign Literature Studies. In 1982, Zhao Guohua translated another episode Nala - Damayanti in verse style, and it was printed by China Social Sciences Publishing House. In 1987, volumes I and II of *Selection of Mahabharata Episode* edited by Jin Kemu and translated by him and his disciples Zhao Guohua, Xi Bizhuang and Guo Liangyun in the style of verse were listed in the Foreign Literature Books, and were published by People's Literature Publishing House. This book included 15 important episodes with more than 1,000 pages, and was a significant breakthrough of Chinese translation of Mahabharata. At the same time under the support of Jin Kemu, Zhao Guohua, Huang Baosheng, Xi Bizhuang and Guo Liangyun decided to translate the entire book with the style of prose. Although Jin Kemu was old, he still completed the first four chapters with the most difficulty. Subsequently, the first book *The Book of the Beginning* (Adi Parva) translated by Jin Kemu, Zhao Guohua and Xi Bizhuang was completed and published in December 1993. Zhao Guohua said in the postscript that he wrote for the book on January 8, 1991 that “when I was translating the great epic, it was as if I was walking in a boundless desert. After exhausting the full zeal and paying the whole life, what I can see may be only the vague green of Alhagi. Well, just for that vague green!” Zhao Guohua, a prominent scholar who devoted himself to the translation of Mahabharata and made the pioneering contribution, died of myocardial infarction in the early winter of the same year, at only 48. Huang Baosheng was obligatory to take such huge and difficult translation project. Subsequently, Ge WeiJun, Li Nan and Duan Qing joined the translation team. In 1999, Bhishma Parva translated by Huang Baosheng was listed in the “Collection of world heroic epic translations”, and was published by Yilin Press. In 2005, the cover-to-cover Chinese translation of Mahabharata accomplished by three generations of scholars for more than 10 years was published by China Social Sciences Press, which was a great event in Chinese translation literature history, and also a monument of India-China cultural exchanges history. The book was divided into six huge volumes, with about five million Chinese characters.