The academic paper “From Scots to Mandarin: The Translation and Reception of Hugh MacDiarmid’s Poetry in China” by Professor Li Li and Associate Professor Liu Aihua of the Faculty of Languages and Translation of Macao Polytechnic University has been published in the international journal Translation and Literature.
Translation and Literature is an interdisciplinary scholarly journal focusing on English Literature in its foreign relations. The journal is published by the University of Edinburgh, ranked 22nd in the QS World University Rankings (2024). Christopher Murray Grieve, best known under his pseudonym Hugh MacDiarmid, was a famous Scottish poet. Hugh MacDiarmid had rich connections with China. Many of his poems mention Chinese calligraphy, philosophy, painting, music and writing, and he was invited to visit China.
The study “From Scots to Mandarin: The Translation and Acceptance of Hugh MacDiarmid’s Poetry in China” explores and organises the translation and reception of Hugh MacDiarmid’s poetry in China. Scholars have gradually come to recognize the Scottish literary tradition in recent years, and this is related to the study of Hugh MacDiarmid’s poetry. The present research assesses the Chinese translation of a selection of his poems by three Chinese scholars, Wang Zuoliang, Zhang Jian, and Huang Canran. It analyzes and compares the linguistic details such as diction and translation techniques across the three translations, highlightings the challenges faced by translators into Chinese and examining the coping strategies and methods.
