Cao Ying: Translator into Chinese of Tolstoy's Works of Fiction

The Chinese people were familiar with Lev Tolstoy, as his works were introduced into China at the beginning of the 20th century. By the 1930s, there were in China translations of "Anna Karenina", "Resurrection" and other major works, but they had all been translated from English or Japanese by different translators. Cao Ying thus set himself the task of translating Tolstoy's works directly from the Russian originals.

He started his work in 1978. He would get up at seven am every morning and, after doing some exercise and eating breakfast, start work in his study on his translations from 8 till noon. Nobody was allowed to disturb him. He had lunch at midday followed by a nap, and then carried on translating from 2 pm to 4 pm. On one occasion a friend of Cao Ying came to visit him and stay at his home. The next morning, after having breakfast and a brief chat with him, Cao Ying stood up and said to him: "Sorry, I have to begin my work", and went to his study to resume his translation.

He finally accomplished this remarkable feat of translating Tolstoy's works in 1998 at the age of 75. They comprise: "War and Peace" (in 4 volumes); "Anna Karenina" (in 2 volumes); "Resurrection"; "A Landlord in the Morning"; "Cossack"; "The Kreutzer Sonata"; "Hadji-Murat"; and "Childhood, Boyhood, Youth - a total of four million characters in 12 volumes. For the previous 20 years Cao Ying had declined most of the invitations he received to academic conferences and social events. In his study he was always surrounded by various dictionaries, paper and pens. He said: "You must first learn to endure solitude if you wish to be a successful translator".

When asked how he went about his translation, Cao Ying answered: "The first step is to read the original work repeatedly to the extent that you have understood it completely. This is the crux. Only when the characters in the book are clear in your mind can you translate the work smoothly and accurately. The second step is to translate it word by word and sentence by sentence. To carefully compare the translation with the original work is the third step. This enables you to find out any words and sentences you may have overlooked or translated incorrectly. The next step is to add elegance to the translation". Cao Ying even invited some actors to read out his translations to make sure that they sounded smooth and eloquent.

He said: "A translator is not a machine; literary translation requires passion". When a friend of his went to visit him, he noticed that Cao Ying seemed heavyhearted and a little tense. Cao Ying explained: "Right now I'm translating the episode where Anna Karenina commits suicide....I feel truly grief stricken!"

After receiving his proofs, Cao Ying always personally read them through meticulously. All of Cao Ying's editors admired his rigorous and scholarly approach, saying: "Our profession encourages the habit of finding mistakes in manuscripts, but it is difficult to discover mistakes and flaws in Cao Ying's." Cao Ying said: "I do my best to make a flat and broad bridge between readers and the original works, letting those who walk on it feel relaxed and happy". So, his translation craftsmanship sustains the original integrity of these great works which are universally acknowledged as perfect, influential, and eloquent, highly acclaimed by his peers and loved by his Chinese readers.

In 1985, as a member of an official Sino-Russian Friendship Group, Cao Ying finally had the opportunity to visit the land he had for so many years longed to see with his own eyes. During the two weeks he stayed in the USSR the chairman of the Sino-Russian Friendship Association personally accompanied his visit to Yasnaya Polyana Manor, Tolstoy's former residence. Cao Ying recalled: "I was astounded! Tolstoy possessed a manor covering some 380 hectares, including farmland, woods and a lake; he was a true landlord and aristocrat. His tremendous wealth afforded him a long life of luxury, but he voluntarily forewent this indulgence and threw his energies into a tough literary career. He cared about the lives of the working classes, and probed for the true meaning of life. How rare and commendable he was! He was the only one of his kind in the world!"

In the summer of 1987 Cao Ying visited the USSR again when he led a Chinese Writers' Group to attend the 7th International Conference on the Translation of Russian literature. By invitation, he delivered a speech on his experience translating the works of Tolstoy and Sholokhov. He said he had always been moved by the humanistic spirits expressed in their works, and attracted by their artistic charms. He emphasized: "I hold that today, apart from enjoying advanced material lives, human beings also need to popularize humanism, and need harmony and beauty in their minds".

That day he displayed his published translations to the delegates. All of them marveled at his amazing achievements, and gave him rapturous applause. On July 3, Cao Ying was awarded the Maxim Gorky Literature Prize. He was the first Chinese to receive this accolade.

September 30, 1996 was the International Translation Day. CCTV dedicated their broadcast to an interview with Cao Ying. He spoke about the morality to which he believed intellectuals should adhere, saying:

"What is morality for intellectuals? It is mind, brain, eyes, backbone, and courage. 'Mind' means conscience. Try to be always conscientious in life and work; those without conscience may easily do something villainous. 'Brain' means to think things out for oneself, not following casually what others have said. 'Eyes' means to observe society and people's life with your own eyes, not being controlled by the media. 'Backbone' means to straighten your backbone, and not to poke your head out when seeing those with some power and influence, or when being oppressed. Don't be easily swayed. The last is 'courage'. I don't promote rashness, but a person needs some courage, otherwise he dare not speak truth and cannot register any achievement".