Nama: Anisah Nur Fahruroh Al Afiyah

Class: English Department

NIM: 213106058
Summary

Chinese literature in Africa: meaningful or

simply ceremonial?
https://theconversation.com/chinese-literature-in-africa-meaningful-or-simply-ceremonial-63416

To understand the dynamics of Sino-African cultural exchanges better we did a survey of Chinese
literature available in translation across Africa. They suggest that the strategy has had limited
success. But they also highlight isolated cases that exemplify the potential for mutual enrichment.
The ceremonies around book donations to African libraries are a key example. Much more needs to
be done to generate meaningful cultural interaction and exchange.

A great deal of translated Chinese literature comes from publishing houses in France, the UK and
the US, and not directly from China. The available literature is therefore generally in European
languages – primarily English and French. Filtering Chinese literature through Western
intermediaries and languages determines which books are distributed in African countries. There is
also a noticeable shortage of translations into African languages. One possible difficulty in
increasing the number of translations is the lack of authors and translators with the necessary
linguistic skills.

One recent promising case demonstrates the potential benefits of meaningful cultural exchange. A
collection of poetry by the award-winning Chinese poet Jidi Majia has recently been published in
Kiswahili. The collection, Maneno Ya Moto Kutoka China, is heralded as the first creative work of
Chinese literature to be translated into the lingua franca of Kenya, Tanzania and much of southeast
Africa. The Chinese publisher said the decision was taken to ensure that the writings of a poet from
a Chinese minority group can be seen by different peoples of different cultures. This type of
publication opens a window to Chinese culture for African people wishing to read in their native and
national languages.
Despite a few examples, the translation of Chinese literature into African languages remains
extremely limited. Rather than being part of a coherent translation strategy, these projects depend on
individual collaborations. What might a coherent strategy look like? I would suggest that there
should be efforts to build collaborations between Chinese and local African publishing houses
without going via a European or Western intermediary. But they do begin to outline what meaningful
relationships may look like.