S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Book series opens conversations on culture

Dialogues between Chinese and English characters break down complex technical terms for an easy and interesting read

A picture from a page of the book series  Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Readers: Key Terms and Their Stories introducing Kunqu Opera. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Readers: Key Terms and Their Stories  is a well-presented, fascinating, educational and useful series.

It was published by Nanjing University Press this year and its chief editors are Wei Xiangqing and Liu Runze.

There are 10 small books, each focusing on a major aspect of Chinese culture. These include two concerned with Chinese musical theater,  jingju  (Peking Opera) and the more classical Kunqu Opera; and there is one on Chinese classical music, the wonderful seven-stringed zither-like  guqin  and its music. There are several books on brocade and sericulture, paper-cutting and engraved block printing, as well as architecture. The Duanwu Festival, or the Dragon Boat Festival, is an example of the main festivals in traditional Chinese culture covered in one of the books.

Cover  Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Readers: Key Terms and Their Stories: Guqin and Its Music. [Photo provided to China Daily]

It is a reasonable balance of topics, but one can always complain about omissions. As one who loves traditional Chinese landscape painting, I wish one of the books covered this subject. It's a form of painting that seems more profound and more beautiful in Chinese culture than in any other. However, there are so many aspects of culture that it would be quite unfair to expect every field to be covered.

Cover  Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Readers: Key Terms and Their Stories: Nanjing Yunjin Brocade. [Photo provided to China Daily]

We live in an age when it is more essential than ever that people understand each other's cultures. Economics and geopolitics loom large for diplomats dealing with other countries. But we must remember the importance of culture, which embraces the arts, education and also people-to-people relationships. Cultural relationships are important no matter the state of geopolitics. People-to-people relationships can help to improve those in other areas. Good relations among ordinary people are always important and can help enhance understanding across nations and cultures and turn away misunderstandings.

For too long, Westerners have considered their culture superior to others. As a great admirer and lover of European music since childhood, I am not about to belittle Western culture. But I most certainly am going to assert that it is not the only great culture and that Chinese culture must be understood and appreciated in its own terms and within its own context.

One of the key features of these small books is that they are written in Chinese and English and they present Chinese traditional culture in a straightforward, interesting way that does not fail to inspire. For example, we are introduced to a young Chinese man called Xiaolong and his English friend David. Specialists in this particular aspect of culture then help the two answer their questions and improve their understanding.

Cover  Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Readers: Key Terms and Their Stories: Duanwu Festival. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Translation is far from a simple exercise. There are many pitfalls. For example, Anglophone specialists on  jingju  now rarely use the term Peking Opera, finding it too old-fashioned and even colonial, as it was a term imposed on China in the old days. Again, the term  duanwu jie  is usually translated as Dragon Boat Festival but according to Xiaolong, it isn't entirely accurate, even though it is widely used outside China.

What I can say is that the translation of technical and other terms in these books is handled with magnificent professionalism and sensitivity. The translation throughout shows an appreciation of what words mean and imply in different languages. It shows the difficulty of translating not only words but cultures, but it also shows how it can be done successfully and accurately.

Cover  Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Readers: Key Terms and Their Stories: Kunqu Opera. [Photo provided to China Daily]

It's not only non-Chinese who can try to understand and appreciate Chinese culture. It is important for young Chinese to be interested in their own culture. It is all too easy for people to ignore or even forget their own traditions as they modernize. Series like this one has the enormous potential to help educate young Chinese in their own culture.

The books may be simple and accessible but the knowledge in them is very substantive. As a scholar who has studied traditional Chinese musical theater and written on its history, I learned a great deal from these books — technical terms, history, acting techniques, costuming and so on. These aspects of theater are highly particular to Chinese culture and they all contribute to its brilliance, but are anything but simple.

Cover  Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Readers: Key Terms and Their Stories: Traditional Chinese Sericulture and Silk Craftsmanship: Kesi. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Nanjing University Press has done a great job in putting these books together. The two main series editors, professors Wei and Liu, deserve enormous credit for their scholarly, professional and administrative work in preparing them for publication. I would also extend congratulations to the large team who assisted in writing and presenting these books.

When I say these books are beautifully presented, I have two main points in mind. The first is that they are attractive. They are easy to hold and, with their brightly colored covers, nice to look at. There are many beautifully produced pictures showing various aspects of culture.

The books are also beautiful in the way they present the relevant material. The complex stories, technical terms and other cultural factors are explained in the form of dialogues between Xiaolong and David. That makes even quite complex matters easier to grasp and more interesting. That's what these little books enable us to do, because both the Chinese-language and English-language versions are appealing and simple in style. They can be used easily as teaching materials, of a sort that makes us imbibe understanding and knowledge so smoothly that one hardly realizes they are being taught.

Cover  Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Readers: Key Terms and Their Stories: Jingju Opera (Peking Opera). [Photo provided to China Daily]

As an admirer of traditional Chinese musical drama, such as Kunqu and jingju, I know that many foreigners, and even many young Chinese, are resistant to the music. They find the voice production and melodies strange. It is true that these books don't include sound, but I can certainly say that the simple and attractive way they are presented gives an appealing impression. You can enjoy the costumes, gestures and actions, so why not the music too?

Chinese architecture is easier to appreciate. Yet, it is important that foreigners understand it not only for its magnificent structures, so characteristic yet so different from Europe, but also for its technical side and contributions to world architecture. The book refers to "timber-frame architecture", which alerts the reader to the significance of wood as the primary material in the construction of these buildings.

China is famous throughout the ages for its silk production, and the famous Silk Road became more or less synonymous with the transport of silk, commodities and ideas across the great Eurasian continent. But the production and culture of silk in China is not only a real form of economic life but an art in itself. So, it is good that two books deal with sericulture and the beautiful brocade that comes from silk.

Overall, these books are a great contribution to the literature on traditional Chinese culture, a wonderful resource for learning and teaching. They make a splendid contribution to cultural relations between China and other countries. And that can only benefit the world in this time of tensions and competition.

The author is Professor Emeritus of Griffith University, Australia, and Honorary Professor of Beijing Foreign Studies University in Beijing.