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Chinese version of Harry Potter 7 to be released soon

The last episode of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will soon be available in Chinese language, as the translation has been completed.
Ma Ainong and Ma Aixin, the translators of several previous episodes, were also responsible for translating Harry Potter 7.
The publisher has assigned special work group to supervise the printing of the book, in case of piracy.
It is said that Harry Potter 7 will be the most expensive book of the series, with the rise of paper price.

Bill Porter’s Road to Heaven

Under the literary pseudonym Red Pine, Bill Porter has become one of the foremost Chinese poetry and essay translators in the world. On October 16 inside Beijing’s Bookworm Library/Caf¨¦/Bookstore (Building 4, Nan Sanlitun, Chao Yang District) Mr. Porter gave a slideshow presentation along with a talk about his book Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. 

Front covers of Bill Porter’s Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits: the original English edition (L) and a Chinese translation.
Born in Los Angeles in 1943, Porter grew up in Northern Idaho, did a short stint in the US Army and then attended college at UC Santa Barbara. He enrolled for graduate school in anthropology at Columbia University but dropped out halfway through his Ph.D. program. Instead he flew to Taiwan, entered a Buddhist monastery and spent four years with the monks and nuns before leaving to work for various English language radio stations in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Afterwards he spent sixteen years in a rural Taiwanese monastery, translating classics in Chinese poetry.
“I don’t affiliate myself with any institutions anymore,” Porter quipped during his talk. Respected as a translator, he also is recognized as a cultural commentator and poet in his own right. A celebrated author, Porter frequently traverses the globe, from the North America to Asia. He is married to a Taiwanese woman he met while studying at his first monastery; their two children are now grown. Eccentric and kind, Bill Porter charmed his audience with his modesty, knowledge and humor. This highly educated eccentric has turned his love of Chinese poetry and religious philosophy into his life’s work and created a unique lifestyle for himself. 
In 1989 Porter came to the Chinese mainland because he wanted to know whether the hermit tradition still survived. “Chinese thought and religion places great importance on solitude,” Porter said. His book Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits (Mercury House) has helped revive interest in that subculture. Porter told his audience that seclusion is a necessary rite of passage for any hermit, whether Taoist, Confucian, Buddhist or Zen, and he compared the rite of going into isolation as akin to earning a Ph.D. in the West.
“Hermits are monks and nuns looking for wisdom. Many go up the mountain for three to five years, just like graduate students go to school. Doing time as a hermit earns respect in Chinese society, it shows sincerity and implies knowledge.” Porter explained that all great masters had spent time in solitude in order to master their practice, gaining profundity and knowledge. In this way new orders and traditions were founded.
“Certainly there are hermits who stay in seclusion all their lives, never rejoining society. Some of them are very powerful people. The old nun on the cover of my book is such a person. She was 88 when she died; they cremated her but her heart remained intact. That was a pretty powerful hermit.”

Bill PorterPorter gave many other fascinating anecdotes about the hermits he met as well as a quick overview on the history of the most revered hermits, telling where they settled and how contemporary Chinese view them today.
“Every sect and religion has its own mountainous area where hermits settle,” he said. “Lao Tzu went to Huashan, Confucians went to Taishan, and the first Buddhist, Matanga, went to Wutaishan. Their disciples followed them over time. I feel that the hermit tradition is alive and well in China today. I think that it was scarcely affected during the Cultural Revolution because these people lived in such out of the way and hard to reach places. Some monks were pulled down from the mountaintops to serve on work brigades for six months but most were not affected at all,” Porter said.
Porter explained that a symbiotic relationship existed between Chinese hermits and the local people ¨C farmers and villagers. The locals would assist a hermit in their area because he or she was considered auspicious and a source of wisdom if not enlightenment. The hermit, unless very clever, needed a bit of help to survive. “All a hermit requires is salt, flour or rice, oil and kerosene,” said Porter. “But villagers often gladly help out by giving him or her some additional food as well as the essentials, if necessary. And the hermits actually have a kind of network: they help each other, visit each other, take care of each other. Just because they are in seclusion doesn’t mean that they aren’t friendly and gregarious. The Chinese tradition is very different from the Western tradition, where we often think of hermits as misogynistic and even violent at times.”
When asked about the state of Chinese organized religion today, Porter explained that most monasteries generally relied on wealthy patrons and government support to function, while hermits relied on locals and some were completely autonomous. “You know the Zen tradition has a saying of ‘carry water, chop wood’ ¨C they were the first to implement the idea of monasteries supporting themselves through their own efforts, farming and whatnot. They even have guesthouses for travelers, so monks can travel around, staying at other places for three nights. It might be a good idea for the Chinese government to let these Zen monasteries have their land back so this tradition of autonomy can continue to flourish.”
Porter stayed afterward and answered questions for a long time. “He’s very talented,” remarked a Chinese guest. “His other books, translations of Chinese poetry, seem to come from his heart as well as his knowledge. Mr. Porter has truly caught the spirit of China’s poets. I think he also understands our hermits as well.”
Other books by Bill Porter:
- The Clouds Should Know Me by Now: Buddhist Poet Monks of China (With Mike O’Connor)
- Road to Heaven: Encounters With Chinese Hermits
- The Heart Sutra: Translation and Commentary by Red Pine (as Translator and Commentator)
- Lao-Tzu’s Taoteching: With Selected Commentaries of The Past 2000 Years (as Translator)
- The Zen Teachings of Bodhidharma: A Bilingual Edition (as Translator)
- The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain (as Translator, Hanshan)
- The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom (as Translator)
- The Zen Works of Stonehouse: Poems and Talks of A Fourteenth-Century Chinese Hermit (as Translator)

Harry Potter 7 to be available in Chinese on Oct.28

The Chinese version of the 7th and the last episode of the famous Harry Potter series will be available on Sunday, and the price will be around 66 yuan. The exact Chinese name of the book is still unknown, but definitely not the ones that are used in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Currently, four printing factories and two bookbinderies are busy producing the copies to make sure that there will be one million copies available in the market on Sunday. Both the printing and binding process are under the supervision of the publisher, in case of piracy. Tonight, all the copies will be put into storehouses pending transportation on October 27. 180,000 of such copies will be sold in Beijing.
According to the Wangfujing Xinhua Bookstore, more than 2,000 customers have already filed their subscriptions, while the figure in Xidan Xinhua Bookstore is 7,600. All the subscribers will get a special badge, and those who buy the books on Sunday will get a set of Harry Potter exlibris.

Li Xiang launches E-magazine Believe

Li Xiang, a popular TV host and actress from the Chinese mainland, has celebrated a new title as the chief editor of her just-launched e-magazine.

The new-born magazine Xiang Xin (Believe) will focus on entertainment and fashion, Li Xiang introduced at a press conference on Thursday.
Her e-journal will have to compete with similar ones founded by TV hosts Yang Lan and Chen Luyu, as well as actress Xu Jinglei.
“I believe in myself, and also my partners. Our magazine will have its own style and a group of readers, although we indeed don’t have many advantages for the time being,” said the 31-year-old chief editor.
Asked about the magazine’s stand when giving comments on entertainment news, Li Xiang, being part of the entertainment circle, said the magazine would try to be objective and give readers a real picture of the industry.

Latest Potter book now in Chinese, officially

Fans of the Harry Potter book series pose for media at the start of the sales of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in Berlin July 21, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
The official Chinese version of the latest Harry Potter smash hit went on sale in bookstores yesterday, almost two months after an unofficial version was posted on the Internet.
One million copies of the book have been printed by the People’s Literature Publishing House in Beijing, which owns the copyright of the Chinese language version of the bestselling series for the Chinese mainland.
Priced at 66 yuan ($8.80), the book about a boy wizard is perhaps the most expensive children’s book in the country, where the average disposable income per month was last year about 1,000 yuan ($133).
Nearly 10 million copies of the Chinese versions of the previous six installments have been sold, and the number is rising, Pan Kaixiong, vice-president of the publishing house said. Globally, the Harry Potter series has been translated into more than 60 languages and 325 million copies have been sold, earning $6 billion.
“We are ready to print more copies of the Chinese version at any time,” said Sun Shunlin, editor of the Chinese versions, adding that more than 180,000 copies of the last installment were distributed to bookstores in Beijing on Saturday night.
To prevent the official version from being pirated, the publishing house has signed special contracts with bookstores and printing houses.
But there are fears that the unofficial translations online could damage sales of the official printed version.

British author J.K. Rowling (C) poses with a copy of her new book “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” at the Natural History Museum in London July 20, 2007. The book, the last of a series of seven novels, was released in London on July 21.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Dozens of translations of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows can be downloaded for free.
It is believed they were translated by fans just days after the release of the official English version in August.
Chinese fans are even going a step further by writing their own versions of the end as well as other wizard adventures.
One of the most popular readings online is “Past Time of Lily Evans and James Potter”, about the relationship of Harry’s parents and his professor Severus Snape as well as stories of their friends, written by a 13-year-old girl.

Singapore ex-politician presents new book about China


 
 
Lee Khoon Choy, a former politician and diplomat of Singapore, presented a new travel book about China on Monday.
“Passage Through China”, launched by Singapore President S.R. Nathan and the author, was written in English and its Chinese version will be published in China next year.
The 83-year-old Chinese Singaporean has over the years continuously pursued his interest in China through his readings, writings, paintings and travel.
He has visited China more than 70 times since 1975, as a politician, ambassador, businessman and traveler. In this book, he wrote about the sights and sounds of the different places he visited in China.
“The Olympic games are coming and there are very few English language literature about places of China, and the Chinese versions are not so good. So I decided to write something to keep the world informed,” Lee told Xinhua.
He added that he believes this book gives invaluable insights to China’s landscapes, culture and traditions.
The president wrote the foreword to the book, saying that he hopes the new book will give readers a glimpse of various parts of China, the sights and sounds the author experienced and through them the readers can gain an appreciation and understanding of China. 

2007 wealthy writers list unveiled

The 2007 Wealthy Writers List was jointly released by Chengdu Business Daily and its partner website on November 6. Young writer Guo Jingming, born in the 1980s, has secured a place at the top with an income of 11 million yuan (US$1,475,381).

Academic authors Yu Dan and Yi Zhongtian came in second and the third respectively, and some Web writers are also among the list, according to China News Service.
It took more than 40 days to work out the list with the makers visiting almost a hundred book stores as well as book wholesale bosses, publishers, writers, Web copywriters, and some printing plants managers in anonymity.
Writers born in the 1980s grow up
Publishing books is a kind of luxury for many writers as a result of name recognition or other popularity factors. However, recently publishers have been chasing after writers for books, particularly those born in the 1980s.
“The works of writers born in the new generation are popular not necessarily because their books are well written, but because they write about the lives of teenagers, which are not familiar for writers of other ages,” said He Sanpo, a well-known literature critic.
Web writers gain both fame and wealth
The rise of Web copywriters in recent years has also caught much public attention. Many Web copywriters set their goals as writing books, winning distinction, and earning money.
“Thousands of average people will become copy writers through the Internet, which has provided an open and wide platform for Chinese literature to integrate into the world,”said Chen Tianqiao, literature fan and president of Shanda Interactive Entertainment Limited.

Pride, courage and battle on the goldfields

On the weekend of Feburary 6, 1885, scores of Chinese were expelled from Eureka, a small town of Humboldt in northwest California. They were put on two steamships bound for San Francisco. When they arrived on Monday, a group of 52, under the leadership of a man named Wing Hing, announced a joint lawsuit against the town.
They sought reparations for property damage, for their struggle to obtain land, and other claims such as the right for their children to enter the public education system.
This was the first collective lawsuit filed by Chinese in the United States.
“This (lawsuit) also protected several thousand other Chinese, forcing other towns which wanted to do the same thing to think twice,” says Jean Pfealzer, a history professor of the University of Delaware.
Pfealzer has just published a new book: Driven Out: The Forgotten Wars Against Chinese Americans, which reveals a chapter of history that has been largely forgotten.

From 1849 to 1906, violent incidents against Chinese occurred in about 250 cities and towns across California and the Northwest and the Mid-west of the United States. Many thousands of Chinese Americans were forced out of their homes, some were deported and some were even beaten to death.
Professor Pfealzer, who spent over seven years preparing for the book, has been studying Chinese Americans for more than 30 years.
In the 1970s, Pfealzer landed a teaching job at the California State University in Humboldt. There were no Chinese students in her class.
“I was born in Los Angeles and I thought ‘this is not how it should be here’,” she says.
When she asked about the absence of Chinese faces, a woman told her that Chinese families wouldn’t send their kids here, because 100 years ago, they were driven out.
This piqued Pfealzer’s interest in finding out more about her beloved Humboldt. “The more you love it, the more you desire to look into its history,” she says.
In the library of the University of California Berkeley, Pfealzer looked for 19th century newspapers and microfilms. “I discovered that this was not a story about one town, but 250 towns,” she says.
Even though Pfealzer was shocked by what she regards as “ethnic cleansing”, she was even more moved by the indomitable Chinese spirit.
“They fought back with everything. They were so courageous,” she says.
After the Californian gold rush began in 1849, Chinese immigrants started to arrive the following year. As more and more made the journey across, violent acts against Chinese became a regular occurrence.
In protest, Chinese organized strikes, refused to sell vegetables and brought arms from home. In 1893, more than 100,000 Chinese refused to wear their photo ID, as required by American law.
“My book is not merely about this shameful history, it is also about pride and courage,” Pfealzer emphasizes.
“I think Chinese won this war, because they stayed. They even returned to Eureka, they never left Los Angeles, they did not move out of San Jose even though the Chinatown there was burnt down five times.”
Pfealzer also recited the story of Yoke Leen, a 36-year-old woman, who was bought and sold many times to be a prostitute. She was the first Chinese woman to front an American court to claim her rights. “I am a free person, my husband is in jail, but I have come here to say, no man will ever own me again, ” Yoke said during her address.
In November 2004, Pfealzer studied briefly at the International Study University in Xi’an of Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province. There, she couldn’t find anyone who knew about this period of history, nor could she find much relevant material for her book. Pfealzer hopes her latest work is helpful for Chinese to understand the history of Chinese Americans.
Pfealzer says Chinese Americans have made great contributions to the United States. They paved railroads, assisted in the development of agriculture, and constructed Chinatowns.
They were also involved in political organizations, and helped shape legislation. Over 80 years ago, the breakthrough case of “Tape vs Hurley”, saw the parents of Mamye Tape, a half white, half Chinese girl, sue the San Francisco Board of Education and push for public schools to accept Chinese children.
Last year, the Canadian government apologized for the “exclusion act”, does the American government need to do the same thing? Pfealzer says that an oral apology isn’t as important as bridging the gap between the races.
“The apology is complicated. For some, it is the first step but for others, the apology is a quick ’sorry, let’s move on’. For instance, this year, Maryland and Virginia states apologized for slavery, but have the lives of African Americans children really changed?”
In the town of Tacoma, Washington, a Chinese community plans to use four acres of waterfront land to build a park called “The Chinese American Reconciliation Park”. There, details about the expulsion from 100 years ago will be on display.

Thai Princess records Qinghai-Tibet trip in new book

A Thai Princess has released a pictorial album in Bangkok today. The album records the Princess’ train journey in her own words along China’s Qinghai and Tibet. A launch ceremony was held to mark this occasion because it symbolizes an ongoing and intimate bilateral relationship mutually enjoyed by the nations of Thailand and China.
The pictorial album, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s Visit to Qinghai and Tibet, was conceived and published by the Beijing-based China International Publishing Group (CIPG). The volume honors the goodwill and good deeds of Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and specifically memorializes her 2007 journey to Tibet ¨C her 24th visit to China.
In attendance at the launch ceremony, the Princess recounted some of the highlights of her visit, including traversing the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau via the recently completed Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR) ¨C now one year in operation.
Principal attendees also included Cai Mingzhao, Vice Minister of China’s State Council Information Office and CIPG President; Zhang Jiuhuan, the Chinese Ambassador to Thailand; diplomatic envoys from other countries to Thailand; well-known personages from the world of Thai culture and religion; and high-profile Chinese nationals residing in Thailand. 
The ceremony was jointly sponsored by China’s State Council Information Office, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Thailand, CIPG, and the Thailand-based Nan Mee Co., Ltd.

Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (R) and Cai Mingzhao, Vice Minister of China’s State Council Information Office and CIPG President, visit the book booth to see her new pictorial album on display during the cermony,  Bangkok, November 14, 2007.
During the Princess’s April 2007 travels through Qinghai and Tibet, a reporter and a photographer with the CIPG’s subsidiary magazine publication, China Pictorial, accompanied the official entourage. For posterity, recording in word and image the goodwill tour and personable cultural exchange, production of the high-quality volume was timed to complete upon occasion of the 32nd anniversary of the formal establishment of Sino-Thai diplomatic relations, and upon the first anniversary of the QTR commencing operations.
In following the Princess’s journey via the QTR, the colorful pages also offer a vivid view into Tibet’s fascinating history, colorful culture, unique customs and remarkable scenery. Further described are particulars of the remarkable feat of engineering and development necessary to create the 1,956-kilometer railway, now known to many as the “Road to Heaven”.

Cai Mingzhao, Vice Minister of China’s State Council Information Office and CIPG President, gives speech at the book launch ceremony, Bangkok, November 14, 2007.
It is the world highest railway. Beginning in Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, the railed pathway leads to Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The line reaches its highest point at the Tanggula Mountains, at 5,072 meters, higher than any other line in the world.
Perhaps the most sentimentally rich scene shared within the volume is the Princess’s happily emotional meeting in Tibet’s capital of Lhasa with a group of Tibetan students, whom she sponsors and supports. 
Also exhibited at the ceremony were photographs the Princess personally shot during her visit to Qinghai and Tibet. 
During the ceremonial proceedings, upon presenting the Princess with the volume and additional souvenirs of her trip, Vice Minister Cai Mingzhao said: “Also intended as a token of friendship between China and Thailand, this album is symbolic of the real and ever stronger friendship that exists between our two nations.”

Vice Minister Cai Mingzhao presents the Princess with the volume and additional souvenirs of her trip during the ceremonial proceedings, Bangkok, November 14, 2007.
Since 1981 to this date, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has experienced 24 separate journeys through China, traveling to many regions, provinces and municipalities. By extensively recording in writing those travel experiences, including her personal insights into and impressions of the nation and the people, the Princess has become known as something of a Sinologue. Formally recognizing her well-known expertise in things Chinese, as well as her dedicated research on Chinese culture and history, in recent years the Chinese government presented the Princess with the “Chinese Language Culture Friendship Award,” and the “Understanding and Friendship International Literature Award.”
One of the largest publishing concerns in China, the CIPG acts as an administering umbrella organization for nine book publishing houses and five periodical publishing houses. Each year three thousand diverse volumes and 24 periodicals in 20 languages are published and distributed to more than 100 countries and regions. Nearly 30 websites in 10 languages are operated by the CIPG.

First dictionary for HSK candidates makes a debut

A Chinese-English dictionary based on standardized proficiency vocabulary is quite necessary for any foreigner learning Chinese who wishes to pass the Han Yu Shui Ping Kao Shi (HSK). Until now all other existing dictionaries were compiled for native Chinese users according to the 8,000 Chinese characters needed for proficiency with entries translated into English in some of these dictionaries. Before the debut of this new dictionary, all the others were designed for Chinese users to be used as tools for English translation
To fill the gap, the Foreign Languages Press organized more than 20 editors and translators to labor on this Chinese-English Dictionary. In October 2007, after five years, the dictionary has been published.
The new dictionary comprehensively covers “Chinese proficiency vocabulary”, plus all the first letters are arranged alphabetically, in Pinyin, while homophones are arranged according to strokes and homophones with the same strokes are ordered based on the first stroke.
In terms of interpretation, not only commonly used meanings but also some rare and dialectal meanings are included in the dictionary. Interpretations are brief and to the point with less explanation of basic knowledge and more focus on vocabulary pertaining to Chinese culture.
Given that Pinyin is the most convenient method for foreigners to learn Chinese, all the first letters, example words and sentences are marked with Pinyin, which is quite different from other dictionaries. The example words and sentences are vivid and collocations are carefully designed. The dictionary also includes common idioms, proverbs and slang, as well as the explanation of words literally difficult to understand.
Due to the complexity of Chinese, quantifiers and several parts of speech designated for a single character in the Chinese language are not easy for foreigners. Thus, parts of speech have been marked according to the words covered in the dictionary along with appropriate quantifiers that may accompany them as well.
This dictionary is well designed and comprehensive, making it quite helpful for foreign Chinese learners. Xiao Xiaoming, Qian Wangsi, Yao Naiqiang and Wu Xunnan, along with the Chinese and English editors in chief, including Qian Wangsi, Wu Xunnan, Yao Naiqiang and Li Zhenguo, designed the dictionary.
The tome has about 1,500 pages, covers 2 million words and costs 79.00 yuan (US$10.64).