University of Virginia Library

HENRY FIELDING IN CHINA

by
Jiaming Han

Although there were some translations of Western literary works into
Chinese in the late nineteenth century, large scale translations started
in the early twentieth century, and Henry Fielding was one of the first English
novelists introduced to the Chinese reader. From the earliest translation of his
works in the 1920s through the official commemoration of the two-hundredth
anniversary of his death in 1954 to the numerous translations of Tom Jones in
the reform period late in the century, the reception of Fielding serves as a good
representation of the response to English literature in modern China. This ar-
ticle attempts to survey the translations of Fielding's works into Chinese and to
discuss some notable studies by Chinese scholars. At the same time, the article
will indicate significant features of the development of the publishing industry in
twentieth-century China.

Before any translation of Fielding's work appeared in China, Chinese intel-
lectuals got to know a bit about him from an article on the classic Chinese novel
A Dream of Red Mansions (also known as The Story of the Stone). In 1920, Wu Mi,
who first attended the University of Virginia in the fall of 1917 and later gradu-
ated from Harvard with an M.A. degree in comparative literature, published an
article entitled "A New View on A Dream of Red Mansions," in which he examines
the Chinese novel according to the six characteristics of a great novel specified
by G. H. Maynadier in his "Introduction to Tom Jones." These six characteristics
are: serious purpose, large scope, firm plot, plenty of action, reality of scenes,
and liveliness of characters.[1] Wu's article ends with paying tribute to Fielding,
especially noting the variety of his characterization in Tom Jones. This is the first
time that a Chinese scholar refers to Fielding in a critical essay. When Wu Mi
returned to China in 1921, he first taught English literature at the Southeastern
University and later taught at Tsinghua University, where he played a crucial
role in the founding of the Foreign Language and Literature Department. In
the 1930s Wu Mi offered a course entitled "Literature and Life," in which he

made frequent references to Tom Jones and Joseph Andrews, and a number of Wu's
students later became well-known scholars in the study of English literature in
China.[2]

The first translation of Fielding's works into Chinese was A Journey from This
World to the Next done by Lin Shu with the help of Chen Jialin. Lin Shu was a
classical scholar and novelist who knew no foreign language, but in the early
twentieth century he translated about 180 literary works in collaboration with
scholars who did know other languages.[3] The translation of A Journey from This
World to the Next was published in 1921 by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. In
1926 Wu Guangjian's translation of Jonathan Wild was published, and two years
later came his translation of Joseph Andrews.[4] Thus, the 1920s alone witnessed
the publication of three works by Henry Fielding, all by the leading Commercial
Press. Though Wu's translation of Joseph Andrews was an abridged version, it
introduced Fielding's "comic epic in prose" to the Chinese reader. Both of Wu's
translations were reissued in 1933.

In 1937 a new translation of A Journey from This World to the Next by Yin Xiong
was published by Datong Books in Shanghai. This new translation was done
probably for two reasons: Lin Shu's translation was in classic Chinese, which was
not easy to understand for the general reader, and Lin's translation was rather
free, making various omissions and additions based on his own discretion. By
the late 1930s, vernacular Chinese had become the accepted literary language
and fidelity in literary translation had become the accepted criterion. Yin's new
translation reflected these developments, and A Journey from This World to the Next
became the only Fielding book with two Chinese translations before the founding
of the People's Republic in 1949. Another notable point is that all these transla-
tions were published in Shanghai, the center of international culture and of the
publishing industry in China at that time.

The year 1954 was the two-hundredth anniversary of Fielding's death. The
Soviet Union celebrated Fielding as a radical Enlightenment writer and even
issued a commemorative stamp in honor of him. China, at the time greatly in-
fluenced by the Soviet Union, also organized high-profile activities to mark this
occasion. An official meeting held in Beijing and attended by dignitaries and

prominent authors glorified Fielding as a great realistic writer. A translation of
Book III of Tom Jones by Pan Jiaxun was published in the literary journal Ren-
min Wen-xue (People's Literature), with an article by Xiao Qian discussing Fielding's
achievements.[5] The journal Yi-wen (Translated Literature) published Book IV of
Jonathan Wild, translated by Xiao Qian and corrected by Pan Jiaxun.[6] Pan Ji-
axun and Xiao Qian usually did not work together, and the fact that they were
involved in the translation and publication of both novels suggests that they did
the translations as official tasks.[7] Also as a part of the 1954 commemoration, Wu
Guangjian's translation of Joseph Andrews was published in a new edition by The
Writers' Press in Beijing.[8]

The following years saw numerous translations of Fielding's works. A new
and complete translation of Joseph Andrews was done by Wang Zhongnian and
published by Pingming Press in Shanghai in 1955. Comparing Wang's and Wu's
translations, one can easily see that Wu Guangjian omitted about one-third of
the original. Also in 1955, a translation of Jonathan Wild by Jing Xing and Wan Zi
was published in Shanghai, and one year later Xiao Qian's translation of Jonathan
Wild was published in Beijing. In 1958 Yang Zhouhan published his translation
of Fielding's "Preface" to Joseph Andrews and five introductory chapters from
Tom Jones under the title "On the Theory of Realistic Writing" in Wen-xue Li-lun
Yi-cong (Translations in Literary Theory).[9] Of Fielding's numerous plays, The Coffee-
House Politician was translated in 1957 by Ying Ruocheng, a great actor who
became a Vice Minister of Culture in the 1980s. It remains the only Fielding
play translated into Chinese. The publication of the different translations also
indicates that after 1949, Beijing, restored as the capital, soon rose up to compete
with Shanghai in the publishing industry.[10]

In addition to the translations, critical essays on Fielding's works began to
appear in scholarly journals. The first was an article by Professor Huang Jiade
of Shandong Unversity entitled "Henry Fielding and His Masterpiece Tom Jones"

published in December 1954 in Wen-shi-zhe (Literature, History, Philosophy), the first
scholarly journal published by a university in the People's Republic.[11] The first
part of the article discusses Fielding's writing in general, the second part offers a
special analysis of Tom Jones, and the third part reviews Fielding's and Tom Jones's
position in English and world literature. In 1957, Yang Jiang published an article
entitled "Fielding's Contributions to the Theory and Practice of the Novel" in
the journal Wen-xue yan-jiu (Studies in Literature).[12] Yang Jiang was a well-known
writer, scholar, and translator, and her article is distinguished by its theoreti-
cal sophistication, drawing connections from Aristode and Horace to Pinciano
and Boileau. But one year later, during the Anti-Rightist Movement, her article
was criticized for neglecting the political content of Fielding's works by Yang
Yaomin, a graduate student of Yang Jiang's husband, Qian Zhongshu.[13] In the
reform era of the 1980s, however, the same article was singled out for praise by
Zhu Hong, another graduate student of the 1950s who was by then an eminent
scholar herself. Zhu Hong writes, "While noting Fielding's writings as realistic,
Yang Jiang was the first in foreign literature studies in our country to carefully
examine Fielding's narrative theory, its specific content, traditional heritage,
and new development."[14] The fate of Yang's article can be taken as symbol-
izing the trend of Chinese politics or the relation between politics and literary
studies.

There were two other important articles on Fielding published in the 1950s
by two Nanjing University professors. One was by Fan Cunzhong, who offered
an in-depth study of Amelia. He writes, "Thoroughly exposing the social reality
and incisively analyzing the social problems—these, we believe, are the charac-
teristics of Amelia and the further development of Fielding's realistic novel writ-
ing." [15] And he goes on to note a clear problem of the novel: "while the story is
presented realistically, the ending is too idealistic or utopian."[16] The other ar-
ticle was by Zhang Yuechao, who discussed Tom Jones in his survey of European
literary masterpieces. He contends, "Fielding inherits and develops the satiric
tradition in European literature and creates superb satiric novels…. Instead
of representing human life with absurd visions as Rabelais and Swift did, he de-
scribes it realistically; he is a more conscientious realist than Cervantes."[17] Both
articles were later reprinted in collections of critical essays in 1981 in order to

provide badly needed studies for students and young scholars after the chaotic
ten years of the "Cultural Revolution."

Xiao Qian, the translator of Jonathan Wild, was condemned as a Rightist in
1957 because of his critical expressions and was sent to do heavy labor on a farm.
But in 1961 he was called back by the People's Literature Press to revise a draft
translation of Tom Jones by Li Congbi, a professor of Yunnan University. Later in
his life Xiao Qian expressed gratitude to Fielding and Tom Jones for giving him
the opportunity to leave the farm earlier.[18] This translation was finished about
1966, but by then the so-called "Cultural Revolution" had begun. All foreign
literature was considered to be harmful, so the publication of such a novel was
out of the question. We might say that it was rather fortunate that the manuscript
of the translation was not destroyed.

With the ending of the "Cultural Revolution" in 1976, translation and study
of foreign literature were restored. But for some years, scholars mainly focused
on contemporary works, especially modernist ones. Only gradually were clas-
sical works reconsidered. In 1981, Zhang Guruo's translation of the eighteen
introductory chapters of Tom Jones was published in the recently founded journal
Guo-wai Wen-xue (Foreign Literature), with a critical review essay by Professor Yang
Zhouhan, in which he says that we should pay more attention to the classical
writers instead of only focusing on contemporary literature.[19] About this time
scholars were involved in compiling the Chinese Encyclopedia, and Professor Li
Funing's article in the Foreign Literature volume published in 1982 is the first lucid
and comprehensive introduction of Fielding and his works in China.[20]

Also in 1982, Xiao Qian published two critical essays on Fielding: "The
Essence of Jonathan Wild!' and "Tom Jones: A Comic Epic in Prose."[21] These es-
says were later incorporated into his short monograph Fielding: The Founder of the
English Realist Novel, published in 1984 by Shanghai Yiwen Press. This is the first
book-length study of Fielding in China. In the same year, the co-translation of
Tom Jones by Xiao Qian and Li Congbi, completed about 1966, was finally pub-
lished by the People's Literature Press. In the post-"Cultural Revolution" period,
Xiao Qian became a very well-known writer and translator, culminating his ca-
reer with the publication of a co-translation of Ulysses with his wife in 1994. And
because of his prominent status, his translation of Jonathan Wild was published in
a new edition by the People's Literature Press in Beijing in 1981, republished by
Henan People's Press in Zhengzhou in 1992, and published again five years later
by Yilin Press in Nanjing in a new edition with his short monograph on Fielding
as an appendix to the novel. It is the translator's reputation that made Jonathan

Wild, a novel comparatively neglected by Anglo-American readers and critics
alike, the most frequently reprinted and widely read Fielding novel in China,
whereas Wang Zhongnian's 1955 translation of Joseph Andrews is becoming an
"endangered species." (The two copies in the Peking University Library are no
longer in public circulation and can only be read in the rare book room!) In 2005,
Tai-bai Literature and Art Press in Xi'an published a ten-volume collection of
The Complete Works of Translation by Xiao Qian, which includes his translation of
Jonathan Wild and co-translation of Tom Jones.

When the Xiao Qian-Li Congbi translation of Tom Jones was published in
1984, Zhang Guruo continued his translation of Tom Jones, which was finally
published in 1993, one year before his death in 1994. The translator's Preface was
by Zhang's daughter, indicating that he had no energy to write it himself after
finishing the translation. Zhang's translation of Tom Jones is faithful to the original
not only in content but also in the stylistic features, and it has extensive anno-
tations, a characteristic of Zhang's translation ever since he made his name as
translator of Thomas Hardy's novels in the 1930s. This translation was awarded
second prize for literary translation in the Chinese National Book Award of
1995. In 2001, Yanbian People's Press in Yanji published a two-volume transla-
tion of Tom Jones by Xing Jianhua and Hua Dexiang, and the same translation
was republished in a three-volume edition by China Drama Press in Beijing one
year later. This so-called new translation is basically Zhang Guruo's version with
the omission of most annotations. In 2004, Wu Hui's translation of Fielding's
last novel Amelia was published by Yilin Press, and in the same year the press
also published a new translation of Tom Jones by Huang Qiaosheng, which ap-
pears to combine the strong features of the Xiao-Li and Zhang translations. For
example, Xiao Qian was against using many notes in translation, while Zhang
Guruo was especially known for his extensive annotations, and as a result, the
Xiao-Li translation of Tom Jones has 670,000 Chinese characters and the Zhang
translation has 990,000, whereas the Huang translation has 770,000: a kind of
golden mean between the least and the most annotations. Yilin Press in Nanjing,
which has evolved from a magazine founded in 1979 specializing in translations
of foreign literature, is now one of the three major publishers (with the People's
Literature Press in Beijing and Shanghai Yiwen Press) of translated literature
and is carrying out a large project of publishing new translations of all world
masterpieces. By now we have five full translations of Tom Jones, three of Jona-
than Wild, two of Joseph Andrews, and one of Amelia, plus the two translations of
A Journey from This World to the Next published before the founding of the People's
Republic, but never reissued afterwards.[22] As a sign of the filtering of Fielding's
works through scholarly audiences to popular ones, it is worthwhile to note

there are two recent condensed editions of Tom Jones for children and teenage
readers.[23]

The new era not only had new translations of Fielding's works but also saw
numerous studies by Chinese scholars; in fact, it is the new translations that have
greatly promoted new critical studies. After the studies by Yang Zhouhan, Li
Funing, and Xiao Qian in the early ig8os mentioned above, we have had over
twenty articles on Fielding and his works. These studies can be classified into
three categories: A. General studies on Fielding (9); B. Studies on his individual
novels (TJ 5) JA 2, JW 1); and C. Comparative studies (4). In general stud-
ies on Henry Fielding there are articles about his realistic narrative technique,
his comic or humorous presentation, his treatment of characters, his panoramic
social coverage, and his narrative theory. There are also critics who try to use
modern or postmodern theories to examine Fielding's novels. In discussing in-
dividual novels, most critics focus on Tom Jones, and only very few pay attention
to Joseph Andrews or Jonathan Wild. One explanation for this is that in literary
history or selected reading courses most students have learned something about
Tom Jones, but rarely about any other Fielding novel. The fact that so many dif-
ferent translations of Tom Jones are currently in print attests its great popularity
with the critics and the general reader. In the study of Tom Jones, there are articles
discussing the issue of morality, the picaresque tradition, the marvelous plot, and
social satire, but the nature of Fielding's comic art and the intricacies of his social
ideas remain to be further explored.

To summarize the discussion in this article, we may note several interesting
points. First, the earliest translations of Fielding's works into Chinese were quite
random, with omissions and modifications at the translator's will, and this is
quite characteristic of the translation of foreign literature at that time. Second,
in the 1950s, the translation and study of Fielding's works had official support
and were done as a way of supporting the new socialist society by holding up
Fielding's works as a critique of early capitalist society. As literature was so closely
identified with politics, many scholars' fortunes and misfortunes were bound
with the political trend, as the fate of Yang Jiang's article shows. But in the re-
form era beginning in the late 1970s translations of Fielding and English or for-
eign literature in general tended to be influenced by the market, while academic
studies paid more attention to the literary works themselves and to the form of
the author's art. Thirdly, this survey indicates the dissemination of the Chinese
publishing industry from Shanghai as the center before 1949 through Shanghai
and Beijing as the twin centers in the 1950s and 1960s to Shanghai, Beijing, and
Nanjing as the three centers in publishing translations of foreign literature in
the late twentieth century. At the start of the twenty-first century, almost every
major city has a publishing house that tries to have a share of foreign literature
translation.

CHINESE TRANSLATIONS OF FIELDING'S WORKS

By Title

• Amelia
• Amiliya (Amelia), trans. Wu Hui. Nanjing: Yilin Press, 2004.

• Coffee-House Politician
• Ka-fei-dian Zheng-ke (The Coffee-House Politician), trans. Ying Ruocheng. Beijing: People's
  Literature Press, 1957.

• Jonathan Wild
• Da Wei Ren Weilite Zhuan (Life of Wild the Great Man), trans. Wu Guangjian. Shanghai: The
  Commercial Press, 1926, 1933.
• Da Wei Ren Jiangnaisheng Wei'erde Zhuan (Life of Jonathan Wild the Great Man), Book IV, trans.
  Xiao Qian, Yi-wen (Translated Literature) 10 (1954): 145–214.
• Da Wei Ren Hua'erde zhuan (Life of Wild the Great Man), trans. Jing Xing and Wan Zi. Shang-
  hai: Shanghai United Literature and Art Press, 1955; Shanghai: New Literature and
  Art Press, 1957; Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Press, 1962.
• Da Wei Ren Jiangnaisheng Wei'erde Zhuan (Life of Jonathan Wild the Great Man), trans. Xiao
  Qian. Beijing: The Writers' Press, 1956; Beijing: People's Literature Press, 1957,1981;
  Zhengzhou: Henan People's Press, 1992; Nanjing: Yilin Press, 1997; rpt. as vol. 6 in
  Xiao Qian Yi-zuo Quan-ji (The Complete Works of Translation by Xiao Qian), Xi'an: Tai-bai
  Literature and Art Press, 2005.

• Joseph Andrews
• Yue-se Antelu Zhuan (Life of Joseph Andrews), trans. Wu Guangjian. Shanghai: The Com-
  mercial Press, 1928, 1933; Beijing: The Writers' Press, 1954; Hong Kong: Zhong-liu
  Press, 1957; Taipei: Taiwan Commercial Press, 1966.
• Yuesefu. Andelusi de Jing-li (Adventures of Joseph Andrews), trans. Wang Zhongnian. Shang-
  hai: Pingming Press, 1955; Shanghai: New Literature and Art Press, 1957; Shanghai:
  Shanghai Literature and Art Press, 1962.
• "On the Theory of Realistic Writing," trans. Yang Zhouhan, Wen-xue Li-lun Yi-cong (Trans-
  lations in Literary Theory) 1 (1958): 194–230. [Also Tom Jones]

• Journey from This World to the Next
• Dong-ming Ji (Story of the Underworld), trans. Lin Shu and Chen Jialin. Shanghai: The Com-
  mercial Press, 1921.
• Ling-hun You-li Ji (Journey of the Soul), trans. Yin Xiong. Shanghai: Datong Books, 1937.

• Tom Jones
• Tangmu Qiongsi (Tom Jones), Book III, trans. Pan Jiaxun. Ren-min Wen-xue (People's Literature)
  6 (1954): 97–110.
• "On the Theory of Realistic Writing," trans. Yang Zhouhan, Wen-xue Li-lun Yi-cong (Trans-
  lations in Literary Theory) 1 (1958): 194–230. [Also Joseph Andrews]
• Tangmu Qiongsi (Tom Jones), selected and trans. Wu Guangjian. Hong Kong: Jin-xiu Press,
  1959.
• Tangmu Qiongsi (Tom Jones), trans. Song Biyun. Taipei: Yuan-jing Publishing Company,
  1979.
• Tangmu Qiongsi (Tom Jones), abridged and trans. Zhang Hua. Taipei: Jing-heng Press,
  1979.
• Tangmu Qiongsi (The prefatory chapters from Tom Jones), trans. Zhang Guruo, in Guo-wai
  Wen-xue (Foreign Literature) 2 (1981): 27–40, 61; 3 (1981): 1–25.

---

241




• Qi-er Tangmu Qiongsi de Li-shi (History of the Foundling Tom Jones), trans. Xiao Qian and Li
  Congbi. Beijing: People's Literature Press, 1984, 1994; rpt. as vols. 4 and 5 in Xiao
  Qian Ti-zuo Quan-ji (The Complete Works of Translation by Xiao Qian), Xi'an: Tai-bai
  Literature and Art Press, 2005.
• Qi-er Tangmu Qiongsi Shi (History of the Foundling Tom Jones), trans. Zhang Guruo. Shanghai:
  Shanghai Yiwen Press, 1993.
• Tangmu Qiongsi Jing-cai Gu-shi (Interesting Stories of Tom Jones), condensed by Li Yirong et al.
  Shijiazhuang: Hebei Children's Press, 1998.
• Tangmu Qiongsi (Tom Jones), condensed by Wen Wen. Beijing: China Children's Press,
  2000.
• Qi-er Tangmu Qiongsi (Tom Jones: A Foundling), trans. Xing Jianhua and Hua Dexiang. Yanji:
  Yanbian People's Press, 2001; Beijing: China Drama Press, 2002.
• Tangmu Qiongsi (Tom Jones), trans. Huang Qiaosheng. Nanjing: Yilin Press, 2004.

By Date

• 1921 Journey from This World to the Next (Lin Shu and Chenjialin)
• 1926 (1933) Jonathan Wild (Wu Guangjian)
• 1928 (1933, 1954, 1957, 1966) Joseph Andrews (Wu Guangjian)
• 1937 Journey from This World to the Next (Yin Xiong)
• 1954 Tom Jones (Pan Jiaxun)
• 1954 Jonathan Wild (Xiao Qian)
• 1955 (1957, 1962) Jonathan Wild (Jing Xing and Wan Zi)
• 1955 (1957, 1962) Joseph Andrews (Wang Zhongnian)
• 1956 (1957, 1981, 1992, 1997, 2005) Jonathan Wild (Xiao Qian)
• 1957 Coffee-House Politician (Ying Ruocheng)
• 1958 Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones (Yang Zhouhan)
• 1959 Tom Jones (Wu Guangjian)
• 1979 Tom Jones (Song Biyun)
• 1979 Tom Jones (Zhang Hua)
• 1981 Tom Jones (Zhang Guruo)
• 1984 (1994, 2005) Tom Jones (Xiao Qian and Li Congbi)
• 1993 Tom Jones (Zhang Guruo)
• 1998 Tom Jones (Li Yirong et al)
• 2000 Tom Jones (Wen Wen)
• 2001 (2002) Tom Jones (Xin Jianhua and Hua Dexiang)
• 2004 Tom Jones (Huang Qiaosheng)
• 2004 Amelia (Wu Hui)