The conference of thesis proposal about “ Translation Studies of Comprehensive History of China in Russian” and the academic symposium of traditional and modern Russian Sinology was held in the CFL of the NKU. The participants are professionals and members of the research project from Russian Academy of Sciences, Capital Normal University, Nanjing University, Sichuan University, Beijing Normal University, Shandong University, Heilongjiang University, the College of History and the CFL of the NKU.
The opening ceremony and the conference of thesis proposal was hosted respectively by Ma Hongqi (Vice President of the CFL in the NKU) and Pro. Liu Yading of Sichuan University. Pro. Liang Qi, head of the Social Science Management Office in the NKU expressed his sincere welcome to all professionals. He stated that coupling with The Cambridge History of China and The Harvard History of China in the international community, Comprehensive History of China, altogether 10 volumes, represented a masterpiece on the Chinese History which was the largest in size, the widest participation and the most systematic and complete in content. As a vital interdisciplinary field in the CFL of the NKU, the international sinology research had yielded great results over the past two decades. Having been an important revenue where Chinese history was studied, the NKU was about to publish the Nankai version of Comprehensive History of China prior to the 100th Anniversary. The success to initiate the “Translation Studies of Comprehensive History of China in Russian” in 2008, undertaken by the research group under the leadership of chief expert Yan Guodong, was both of great significance in the history of Sino-Russian cultural exchanges and conductive to the overlapping and integration of different fields.
Pro. Yan Guodong,in behalf of the whole research project, delivered a report on many aspects of the project, such as its significance, structure and content, initial ideas and research approaches, key points and difficulties, project progress and the whole team. As the directors of the sub-project, Pro. Sun Chao of Heilongjiang University, Pro. Zhang Bing of Beijing Normal University, Pro. Li Jiangang of Shandong University and Pro. Xiao Yuqiu of the NKU each gave their work planning.
While fully affirming the academic prowess in the disciplines of foreign languages and history, Pro. Liu Wenfei, president of the Association of Russian Literature Studies, advocated to strengthen the academic exchanges and cooperation with the Russian scholars, so as to praise the NKU of its academic achievements in the study of Chinese history across the world based on this project. And Pro. Wang Jiaxing of Nanjing University, believed that it took enormous efforts and a large amount of time to succeed in this huge project, including establishing the schedule of the work, making the table of names translation, providing texts of high equality and achieving periodic results. Wang Zhigeng, a professor of the College of Liberal Arts, suggested Chinese translators with a second language should get a good command of Chinese history, get familiar with events and historical figures in different periods and pay attention to annotating the citations from the Chinese documents. Appreciating very much their commitment to scientific researches and dedication to the project of compiling The Comprehensive History of China, Pro. Liu Yading cherished the academic significance of the work and hoped that efforts should be made to the normalization of the translation style and launch the standards for all members of the project.
Vinogradov, a senior researcher of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Russian Academy of Sciences and chief editor of The Comprehensive History of China (separate volumes), stated that the book was of great importance for promoting the academic and people-to-people exchanges between China and Russia. Besides, he spoke highly of the role that editor-in-chief Qi Hewen played in the compiling and expressed his sincere gratitude for their outstanding contribution to academician Ji Talian, Li Fuqing, Miasnikov, Derevyanko, Pro. Popova (chief of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts in Russian Academy of Sciences) and Anikyeva ( Chairman of the Oriental Manuscripts Press). In the end, he gave a detailed explanation of the principles and rules of the work compiling and was grateful to the Chinese peers’ commitment to the Chinese history studies in Russian.
Pro. Jiang Pei, president of the College of History, agreed that the project played a vital role in the international community in spite of inadequate achievements on the Chinese history studies in Russian and their translation in China. Thus, he proposed that experts from the College of History should be gathered to proofreading the translated work for its high equality. Moreover, Pro. Yu Xinzhong, vice president of the College of History, said that the project is not just a matter of translation but an interdisciplinary one. He concluded that under the backdrop of abundance in the works of Chinese history translated by western and Japanese scholars, The Comprehensive History of China in Russian fill up the shortfall of our understanding of the Russian study of Chinese history.
At the end of the symposium, the chief expert and leading members discussed some topic with other participants.
