July 28
The “five classics” is a collection of five important works about confucianism, an ideologie of great influnce in chinese culture until nowadays. The translation project is first lanched by the goverment in 2008.
The translation committee includes more than 30 experts from China, the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy and Israel. The committee is currently planning a detailed schedule for the project.
An Chinse to Enlish translation is expected come out first in 3 and half years time, on which will be based the version of other languages: French, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi and Malay.
According to the experts, parts of the five books had been translated before into French, English and German, but these versions were not comprehensive as they “scarce outside professional libraries of Chinese culture”
“A translation of the ‘Wujing’ is urgently needed. Only by translating a complete set of the work will the essence of Chinese culture be fully recognized and accepted by the international community,” said Xu Lin, director of Chinese Language Council International
Han ban, in english “the Chinese Language Council International”, is in charge of the project. Affiliated to the Ministry of Education of China, this non-govermental organisation has built 256 Confucius Institutes in 81 countries, teaching Chinese language and culture.
The five classics :
- Yijing (Classic of Changes)
- Shijing (Classic of Poetry)
- Liji (Classic of Rites)
- Shujing (Classic of History)
- Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals)
By Chen Yu
Source : Xinhua agency
