Mandarin translators taking on Bard's many works

The complete works of William Shakespeare are being translated into Mandarin as part of an initiative to boost cultural understanding between China and the United Kingdom.

The first production is due to be staged in Shanghai in November.

Henry V will be the first play to be translated by the Royal Shakespeare Company, which has paired Shanghai scholar Zhang Chong with acclaimed playwright Nick Rongjun Yu from the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center to do the work.

The translated play will be premiered by the RSC and a company of Chinese actors in Shanghai, marking the start of a decadelong plan to translate Shakespeare's works into Chinese.

"Shakespeare's words and stories are hugely celebrated in China," says project manager Shihui Weng.

In 2015, Zhang and Yu were both invited to rehearsals for a production of Henry V in London to observe how the RSC director and actors use the bard's text.

"The play has some of the most extraordinary speeches about war, and it's written in highly rhetorical language," Weng says.

"The scholar (Zhang) has just finished his version of the translation, which will be adapted and reworked by the playwright (Yu), who has a good understanding of contemporary Chinese theater."

In March, Owen Horsley, the RSC's associate director, will work with a company of Chinese actors in Shanghai on a number of scenes from the translation.

"At the end of this process, we hope we will produce something that brings Shakespeare's text to life, something poetic in a language that everyone can understand and enjoy," Weng says.

The RSC will also translate a selection of Chinese literary classics into English in order to discover and explore dramas written and performed in China during the 16th and 17th centuries, the time when Shakespeare was alive.

The company then plans to perform one of the works at its home in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of the bard.

"I believe these two projects will enhance our mutual understanding," Weng says.

In 2015, the British government donated 1.5 million pounds ($2.1 million; 1.9 million euros) toward the translation project and a further 300,000 pounds for an RSC tour of China.

The RSC's main productions, originally shown in Stratford-upon-Avon, will be performed in China in English with subtitles, and will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

The tour, which begins in February, will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong before heading to New York.

The funding, translations and performances were conceived as part of last year's China-UK Year of Cultural Exchange.

For China Daily