Publications: Renditions

No. 98

(Autumn 2022)

Renditions no. 98 provides an eclectic mix of poetry, prose, and fiction from as early as the Northern Wei to the 1950s by influential politicians or acclaimed writers. Highlights include poems by the famous playwright and critic Li Yu 李漁, an early-Qing vernacular story ‘A Miser Digs New Pits and Makes a Load of Money’ 掘新坑慳鬼成財主, which traces out an unorthodox path to riches and fame of a rural family, and a collection of three stories written by the revered Liu Yichang 劉以鬯 during his sojourn in Singapore. The issue concludes with a review by David L. Rolston on one of the latest books dealing with the classic The Story of the Stone.

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No. 97

(Spring 2022)

This general issue begins with a special section on Wilt L. Idema’s tour-de-force translation of Pu Songling’s 蒲松齡 ‘A Pleasant Song’ 快曲, a Qing-dynasty prosimetric rendition of the pursuit of Cao Cao in the aftermath of his catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Red Cliff. Other highlights include two song suites by the late-Ming patriotic prodigy Xia Wanchun 夏完淳, Wang Guowei’s 王國維 landmark essay ‘Critique of Dream of the Red Chamber’ 《紅樓夢》評論, and Fei Ming’s 廢名 enigmatic story ‘Peach Orchard’ 桃園.

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No. 96

(Autumn 2021)

The current issue contains a wide variety of stimulating pieces: it begins with a special section on Transregional Singapore Chinese Literature, which consists of short pieces by Singapore writers who have spent considerable time studying in Taiwan, namely Quah Sy Ren 柯思仁, Yin Songwei 殷宋瑋, and Chua Chim Kang 蔡深江. Following is a selection of Hou Bai’s 侯白humorous anecdotes from the sixth century and a collection of poems from various times taking Hangzhou’s West Lake as location and theme. The final three stories are from the modern period, and all revolve around important political issues.

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No. 95

(Spring 2021)

Renditions no. 95 is a general issue that begins with a special section on Yu Dafu’s 郁達夫 ‘Boundless Night’ 茫茫夜, a story fully exhibiting the lyricism and eccentricities in Yu’s writings. This is followed by a collection of Mi Fu’s 米芾 remarks on the art of calligraphy, a selection of verse written by Yuan-dynasty courtesans, and ‘The Tale of the Peony Lantern’ 牡丹燈記 by Qu You 瞿佑, a thrilling ghost-story. Other highlights include stories by two Indonesian-born writers, Hei Ying 黑嬰 and Yuan Ni 袁霓, which offer readers a glimpse of Nanyang, and Bei Dao’s 北島 reminiscences of a Japanese friend and their youthful days in Beijing. Finally, we conclude with Jiang Fan’s 江帆 ‘An Intertextual Approach to Literary Relations’ 透過翻譯現象深化文學關係研究, an insightful award-winning scholarly essay.

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No. 94

(Autumn 2020)

This is a general issue featuring a rich collection of poetry. We begin with a special section devoted to the great Song-dynasty poet Lu You 陸游’s ci poems translated by Philip Watson, followed by selected Tang verse celebrating the talents of a woman poet, Shangguan Wan’er 上官婉兒, and two acerbic poems by Meng Jiao 孟郊. Our final poem is of recent vintage, Cai Xin’s 蔡欣 ‘If on an Island-State, an Old Man’ 如果在島國，一個老人. Other highlights include Wang Zengqi’s 汪曾祺 story ‘The Boy Who Fished for People’ 釣人的孩子 and Yu Guangzhong’s 余光中 essay ‘When Spring Comes to the Peninsula’ 春來半島.

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No. 93

(Spring 2020)

This issue features an eclectic mix of works by important figures in Chinese literary and cultural history or by contemporary prize-winning authors. Highlights include portions of Wang Tao’s 王韜 diaries that record his journey to Hangzhou in 1858, and Ge Fei’s 格非 fiction ‘Oyster Shells’ 蚌殼, an imaginative tour de force that unfolds considerably psychological complexity.

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No. 92

(Autumn 2019)

Renditions no. 92 is a general issue with a special section dedicated to excerpts from Zhang Henshui’s 張恨水 Eighty-One Dreams 八十一夢, a series of fantasies revolving around life in China before, during, and what the author images things might be like after the War of Resistance, beautifully rendered by Simon Schuchat. Other features comprise two pieces published in the same journal in the final decade of the Qing dynasty, one being ‘A New History of Rats’ 新鼠史, an amusing allegory of Chinese weakness and potential for recovery, the other a short and lively satire titled ‘School Inspection’ 查功課 by Wu Jianren 吳趼人.

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No. 91

(Spring 2019)

Renditions no. 91 is a general issue featuring a diversity of works originally written in the twentieth century. We begin with a special section devoted to seven relatively little-known short pieces by the extraordinary and tragically short-lived writer Xiao Hong 蕭紅, elegantly rendered by the distinguished translator Howard Goldblatt. Other features comprise Zhu Xiang’s 朱湘 long satirical poem ‘The Cat’s Admonition’ 貓誥, a compact and clever allegory of the disposition of Chinese intellectuals in the immediate post–May Fourth era; ‘The Man from Greece’ 希臘人 by Lin Cantian 林參天, one of our first ventures into publishing translations of literature written in Chinese in South-east Asia; and ‘The Photograph’ 一張照片 by Yeh Hsia-Ti 葉霞翟, the love story of the author and the brilliant Nationalist general Hu Zongnan 胡宗南.

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No. 90

(Autumn 2018)

Renditions no. 90 is a general issue featuring a selection of writings from different periods of Chinese history. We begin with excerpts from Meng Jiao's 孟郊 set of poems 'Grief in the Gorges' 峽哀 and three ci poems by Li Qingzhao 李清照. Other highlights comprise Cai Yuanpei's 蔡元培 political allegory 'New Year's Dream' 新年夢, and 'Water and Clouds' 水雲, a long and rather baroque essay by Shen Congwen 沈從文 showing sides of that important author we do not often see. Finally, we offer three stories from contemporary China: Qiao Ye's 喬葉 'Golden Period' 黃金時間, with the focus on the marriage of urban middle-class, Xie Hong's 謝宏 'Who Flies in April?' 誰在四月飛翔, which captures the sad aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, and 'Belle and Grace' 沉魚落雁, a piece by Li Yanfeng 李延風 that offers an upbeat view of life in today's China.

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No. 89

(Spring 2018)

Renditions no. 89 is a general issue with a special section devoted to Bo Shaojun’s 薄少君 One Hundred Poems Lamenting My Husband 哭夫詩百首 translated by Wilt L. Idema. Other features comprise Feng Zikai’s 豐子愷 complex meditation on the meaning and function of time, ‘The Gradual’ 漸, followed by one of Lao She’s 老舍 more significant short stories, ‘A New Hamlet’ 新韓穆烈德, together with Lin Wenyue’s  林文月 reminiscence of her childhood in the Japanese-controlled section of Shanghai, ‘Memories of Jiangwan Road’ 江灣路憶往. The issue concludes with two stories that are part of post-1979 ‘new era’ fiction, including G. K. Yuan’s ‘The Martyr’ 被遺忘的烈士 and Xie Hong’s 謝宏 ‘Drifters’ 自游人.

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Nos. 87&88

(Spring & Autumn 2017)

Renditions nos. 87 & 88 is entirely devoted to translations of and introductions to works of fiction produced in urban China in the years between 1916 and 1949. In spite of the conspicuous popularity of this work, its variety, and its innovativeness, it was denied appropriate recognition in its own time by the elites that set the tone for what was considered to be proper literature. This negligence has only become worse in the years since 1949, as the work has received very little attention in the critical discourse on modern literature that has flourished in an expanding Chinese academy, particularly in the years since 1980. We hope that by presenting a sampling of the rich variety of fiction from the Republican period, we can make a small contribution to remedying this historical injustice.

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No. 86

(Autumn 2016)

Renditions no. 86 features translations of a provocative group of Chinese works, specially featuring the striking, not to mention quite controversial, celebrated poetic prodigy Hai Zi’s 海子 long drama, Sun: Regicide 太陽：弒. Other features comprise Chun Mei and Lane J. Harris’s fine rendering of selections from the novel Illustrious Heroes, A Sequel 續英烈傳, ten poems by Xu Zhimo 徐志摩, as wonderfully translated by Mary M. Y. Fung and David Lunde, and Wang Anyi’s 王安憶 ‘Love Talk at the Hairdresser’s’ 髮廊情話, vigorously co-translated by Hui L. Glennie and John R. Glennie.

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Renditions no. 84 is a general issue with a special section devoted to the first two chapters of Chi Pang-yuan’s 齊邦媛epic autobiography, The Great Flowing River, as expertly translated by John Balcom. Other features comprise one more chapter of Erik Honobe’s fine rendering of Feng Menglong’s 馮夢龍 seventeenth-century historical novel, Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, together with excellent translations of two of the finest poets now writing in Chinese, Yu Jian 于堅and Yang Mu 楊牧 (pen name of Wang Ching-hsien 王靖獻), from mainland China and Taiwan respectively.

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(Spring and Autumn 2014)

Renditions nos. 81 & 82 is a double issue guest-edited by Stephen H. West and Xiaoqiao Ling, devoted to Chinese fiction from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Traditional commentaries are included and presented in a format as close to the Chinese original text as possible. These commentaries contain unique critical insights into the works they treat, and enable new ways of reading premodern Chinese fiction. During much of the last century editors were reluctant to include commentaries in modern editions, but in recent years this work has become much more widely available, with only English translations lagging behind. This special edition of Renditions is meant to move toward closing that gap.

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(Autumn 2013)

This issue is another collection of writings in various genres and from different periods of Chinese history. We are both delighted and honoured to begin it with the late Professor D. C. Lau’s translation of the ‘Advanced School of Learning’ (Daxue), that foundational Confucian text offering sage advice on self-cultivation that was a moral guide in China for many hundreds of years. Other highlights include a Song dynasty tale of elopement and the resulting court case, and seventeenth century critic Jin Shengtan’s insightful commentary on the Shuihu zhuan. Included also are ‘The History of Humanity’, an important 1907 essay by Lu Xun, a thought-provoking exploration on the differences between Chinese literature and civilization and the Western institutions by the controversial writer and critic Hu Lancheng, followed by ten contemporary poems by Chien Chengchen, and a short story from 1930s Shanghai by the ‘new sensationalist’ Mu Shiying.

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