Ma Yide——
Undertake teacher's wish, ten years to translate "Pipa" (Hai Ke Hua China)
Ma Yide, a young Russian sinologist and the Russian director of the Confucius Institute at St. Petersburg State University, is one of the representatives of the Petersburg School of Sinology in contemporary Russia.
He has been engaged in the study of Chinese literature history and Chinese opera for a long time. The translation of the classic Chinese opera "Pipa Ji" was published by St. Petersburg University Press in 2015. It has aroused enthusiastic response in the Russian academic circle and is an important achievement of contemporary Russian Sinology.
In 1999, Ma Yide was admitted to the Oriental Department of St. Petersburg State University majoring in Chinese, under the tutelage of Sinologist Malinovskaya.
At the teacher-student meeting, Malinovskaya analyzed the characteristics and trends of Chinese drama research in Russian Sinology based on years of research experience in Ming Dynasty Zaju, and pointed out: "Russian Sinology circles have gaps in the study of Chinese Southern Opera. Blank, "The Story of the Pipa", known as the "ancestor of Southern Opera", has important literary value. For Petersburg Sinology and even the entire Russian Sinology, the translation and research of "The Story of the Pipa" are of great significance. I hope my students can It is my greatest wish in this life to develop the study of southern Chinese opera on the basis of my research on Zaju in the Ming Dynasty."
In this context, Ma Yide, Malinovskaya's favorite student, began the translation and research of "The Pipa".
The translation and research of "The Story of the Pipa" runs through Ma Yide's entire undergraduate, master, and doctoral studies, and it is also his most precious youth memory.
In 2001, he came to Beijing Language and Culture University as an international exchange student.
After arriving in Beijing, before climbing the Great Wall, visiting the Forbidden City, eating hot pot, and admiring the Summer Palace, he plunged into the National Library to search for relevant materials on "The Story of the Pipa".
Ma Yide recalled: "Although the food and beauty of Beijing are very attractive, I also want to experience and enjoy life in Beijing like other boys, but I think "Pipa Ji" is also attractive. I can't remember the taste of Beijing food. But I still remember the scene of translating different versions of "Pipa Ji" in the National Library, it was a very fulfilling life."
After Ma Yide returned to Russia, he wrote his graduation thesis with the title of "Research Characteristics of Pipa Records in China in the 1950s", and appended the translations of the first to fourth works of "Pipa Records".
In the subsequent study career, he continued to work on the translation and research of "Pipa Ji".
In 2009, Ma Yide appended the complete translation of "Pipa Ji" in his doctoral dissertation.
From a bachelor's degree to a doctoral degree, Ma Yide's youth and study path are all integrated into "Pipa Ji".
The process of translating "The Story of the Pipa" was not smooth. Ma Yide worked hard to overcome various obstacles such as "difficulties in artistic conception and imagery", "difficulties in language" and "difficulties in cross-cultural interpretation".
When faced with the problem of translating "artistic conception and imagery", Ma Yide's second tutor, Russian sinologist and Tang poetry translator Serebryakov provided a lot of help.
When translating Tang poetry, Serebryakov would create the cultural atmosphere of ancient Chang’an by wearing Tang costumes, lighting incense burners, listening to Guqin music, and buying Chinese furniture, etc., introducing himself into the artistic conception of the Tang Dynasty and experiencing the imagery of Tang poetry , and assist in the translation of Tang poetry.
Inspired by this, Ma Yide also tried his best to imitate the era environment in which the author of "The Story of the Pipa" Gao Ming lived, and deeply appreciate the artistic beauty of Chinese art and opera, so as to travel through time and space and feel the author's artistic conception and the imagery presented in the work.
In terms of language translation, ancient Chinese operas are often divided into the Literary School and the True Color School according to the characteristics of the lyrics of the works.
To this end, Ma Yide studied a large number of contemporary drama works and historical materials, looking for translation evidence and relevant examples.
From a cross-cultural perspective, translation is not only a cross-cultural language conversion behavior, but also a communication behavior.
How to accurately and comprehensively present and explain the Chinese cultural elements in "The Pipa Story" to Russian readers is the focus and difficulty of translation.
By comparing the similarities and differences between the teachings of the Orthodox Church and the core ideas of Confucianism, Ma Yide enables Russian readers to better accept behaviors such as "Cai Bojie's filial piety", "Zhao Wuniang's virtuousness" and "Zhang Guangcai's righteousness" in "Pipa Ji".
Ma Yide successfully overcame various obstacles in the translation of "The Story of the Pipa" and created a miracle in his academic career. The quality of his translation has won unanimous praise from academic circles at home and abroad.
The Russian translation of "Pipa Ji" reflects the orderly academic inheritance of the Petersburg School of Russian Sinology, and also reflects the down-to-earth spirit of Ma Yide who has honed his sword for ten years.
When talking about the future development of the Petersburg School in Russia, Ma Yide said frankly: "I have both concerns and expectations. The Petersburg School has a long history of Sinology traditions and a complete and stable system of mentoring. Although not everyone can sink Set your mind to do research or translation for a long time, but I am relieved that there will always be a few students who can immerse themselves in the wonderful study of Chinese culture and make plans for Russian translation of Chinese classics. To be honest, I am looking forward to them The translation can be completed as soon as possible.”
(The author is a postdoctoral fellow at the School of International Journalism and Communication, Beijing Foreign Studies University)
"People's Daily Overseas Edition" (Version 07, December 9, 2022)