Xu honored with top global translator's award

[File photo]

When Xu Yuanchong, born in 1921, stood up from a podium seat with the assistance of a few helpful hands to exit the hall where he had just delivered a speech on translation, hundreds in the audience all sat quietly, looking at his movements with respect and affection, and no one left the room until he was out of sight.

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It happened at an awards ceremony for the Chinese Foreign Languages Publishing Administration and Translator Association of China held on Aug 22.

The ceremony was to celebrate the 93-year-old’s winning of the 2014 FIT Aurora Borealis Fiction Award, one of the highest honors a translator can possibly get for expertise in the world, on Aug 2 in Germany.

It is the first time that an Asian received the award, which was established in 1999. Considering Xu is too fragile for a long-distant flight, the FIT decided to let CIPG and the association present the award and honor to the master in China.

"In an international environment in need of effective communication, Xu devoted his career to translation of Chinese, English and French, and contributes greatly to international communication," said Zhou Mingwei, the president of the CIPG.

"Xu’s masterful accomplishments in the past 70 years, both translation and perfection of translation theories, makes him deserve this supreme award as a translator without any doubt."

The 93-year-old has long been a household name in China because his translation works between Chinese, English, and French, including literature and political essays by Chinese leaders, are considered among the best, if not the best.

He is also the only person in China who successfully translates ancient Chinese poetry into English and French poetry and vice versa,in a very precise and beautiful way. His books and works are often used as textbooks for foreign languages learners Guo Xiaoyong, the deputy president of the translator association, said winning the award is not only quite another achievement for Xu, but also makes Chinese translators proud.

He noted Xu won the association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and he called on young translators to learn from his devotion to translation as a career, and his diligence in building a communications bridge between the Chinese and the rest of the world.

Yang Zhenning, the first Chinese-American Nobel Prize laureate, and Wang Xiji, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, both of whom were Xu’s college classmates of Xu in the 1930s, and Li Zhaoxing, former minister of foreign affairs and president of the association, also attended the ceremony and made speeches to congratulate Xu.