Professor and Student Translate Qinghai Chinese Literature

November 19, 2012

AHP (Asian Highlands Perspectives) 20: Ballad of the Huang River and Other Stories by Jing Shi, translated by Keith Dede and Susan Su.

Keith Dede, Associate Professor of Chinese, and Susan Su (‘11) collaborated on producing a translation of some Chinese literature.

This volume features three novellas originally written in Chinese by the Qinghai author Jing Shi. The novellas provide a finely textured portrayal of Qinghai rural life in the twentieth century. An introduction and transcribed interview provide context to the stories and their author.

From the introduction by Keith Dede: “The wide appeal of Jing Shi’s fiction is certainly something he welcomes. As he sees it, literature, at one level, should be entertaining. Stories are a way for people to derive pleasure, enjoy a laugh, and while away some time. But stories are also about communication, about communicating ideas concerning the ironies of life and the trajectory of the human condition. Jing Shi thinks deeply about the people of rural Qinghai, their culture, their predicaments, their hopes, and their tragedies, and his stories communicate his thoughts about these things, but also his deep affection for the people and culture that raised him.”

A free PDF version of the volume is available at
http://plateauculture.org/writing/ballad-huang-river-and-other-stories