On June 14, 2025, the School of Foreign Studies (SFS) at Nankai University hosted an academic lecture titled “The Translation and Reception of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio(Liaozhai Zhiyi)in Russia,” delivered by renowned Russian sinologist Prof. Alexander Georgievich Storozhuk, Director of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Saint Petersburg State University. The lecture was organized by the Center for Regional and Country Studies and chaired by its director, Prof. Yan Guodong, drawing the participation of numerous faculty members, students from the Department of Russian Studies, and translation enthusiasts.
Prof. Storozhuk currently serves as President of the Russia–China Friendship Society in Saint Petersburg and is a board member of the European Association for Chinese Studies. His scholarship focuses on classical Chinese literature, philosophy, traditional culture, and religious thought. His major works include The Life and Works of Yuan Zhen, a Tang Dynasty Poet and The Three Teachings and Chinese Culture. Notably, he is the translator of the first complete Russian edition of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. Building upon the unfinished translation left by the late Soviet sinologist B. M. Alekseev, Prof. Storozhuk completed the remaining two-thirds of the text. To date, three volumes of the planned seven-volume, twelve-book series have been published.
Delivered in both Russian and Chinese, the lecture offered a systematic overview of the more than one hundred years of translation history of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio in Russia, from the late Tsarist period to the present. Prof. Storozhuk analyzed the shifting translation strategies adopted across different historical periods and examined the reception, dissemination, and cultural impact of the work in the Russian-speaking world. Drawing on rich case studies and valuable archival materials, he presented a vivid picture of cross-cultural literary transmission, providing important insights for translation studies, pedagogy, and Sino-Russian cultural exchange.
The lecture not only deepened participants’ understanding of the latest developments in the Russian translation and spread of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, but also contributed new momentum to mutual learning between Chinese and Russian civilizations. Following the lecture, Prof. Storozhuk and Prof. Yan Guodong held a book donation ceremony.
