Posted on by Lone Crane

Prince Dan of Yan

Prince Dan of Yan《燕丹子》is a story by an anonymous author (or authors) that relates the famous story of Jing Ke and his failed attempt to assassinate Ying Zheng, the king of the state of Qin during the late Warring States period (227 BCE to be exact).

This was an historical event, attested in Sima Qian’s monumental Historical Records《史記》, which was completed around 91 BCE. There is also mention of Jing Ke in the Huainanzi《淮南子》. It is not known when precisely Prince Dan of Yan first appeared, but it is surmised to have been composed sometime between the late Eastern Han and Early Western Jin, or about 150 CE to 200 CE.1 Its contents are a bit different from the historical accounts in Sima Qian’s work, the latter omitting some incidents because Sima Qian did not find them credible. An example is when a crow’s head turns white and a horse grows horns. Prince Dan of Yan also excludes some scenes that Sima Qian’s biography of Jing Ke includes, such as Jing Ke’s background, his travels before he arrives in Yan, and the subplot with Gao Jianli and his assassination attempt on Ying Zheng.2 Prince Dan of Yan is also narrated more like a work of fiction than the traditional biographical style, omitting precise dates and background information. Prince Dan of Yan adds other scenes to show Jing Ke’s personality and his testing of Prince Dan’s understanding and appreciation.

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Posted on by Lone Crane

A Buyer’s Guide to Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of the classic Chinese novels, and there have been several translations of it into English. Below I go through each one and note the differences between them, and then I provide an excerpt of the same section from each translation for comparison.

C.H. Brewitt-Taylor, Tuttle Publishing, 2002

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 1925, trans. C.H. Brewitt-Taylor. UNABRIDGED

Supplementary Materials: Introduction by sinologist Robert E. Hegel
Chinese Romanization: Wade-Giles
Current Edition: Tuttle Publishing, 2002, 2 volumes.

Brewitt-Taylor’s translation is the oldest one here and is written in an older, higher-register style. The Wade-Giles romanization of names might be less familiar to younger readers and might be harder to get the hang than the standard pinyin used now. The online version listed below changes the Wade-Giles to pinyin. A decent translation, though there are some mistranslations here and there, such as calling the dagger Wang Yun gives Cao Cao a “sword” (how could he conceal a sword on his person?) and calling it “seven precious” (七寶, the latter word means jewel here, not precious).

Moss Roberts, University of California Press, 2004

Three Kingdoms, 1991, trans. Moss Roberts. UNABRIDGED

Supplementary Materials: Afterword by Moss Roberts, Character list, terms/titles list, ~100 pages of notes, Chronology of main events. FLP edition also has illustrations for each chapter.
Chinese Romanization: Hanyu Pinyin
Current Edition: Univ. of California Press, 2004, 2 volumes.
Foreign Language Press, 1995, 4-volume box set (mass market paperback size). – includes illustrations for each chapter.

Moss Roberts’ translation is about as “definitive” of a translation as you could want, in my opinion. He has more notes than anyone else, including some which offer comments from Mao Zonggang and Mao Lun, the influential Qing dynasty commentators on the novel. Roberts’ translation also follows the original syntax more closely than any of the other translators. For example, in the excerpt below, his is the only translation that briefly hides Cao Cao’s identity as the one who claps until Wang Yun spots him. This is how it is written in Chinese. Those other translators just come right out and name him, spoiling this little bit of mini suspense.

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