EURO CHINESE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Recently, "The Republic" translated by Mr. Li Chenggui, a famous Chinese expert on Greek, the chief Chinese consultant and researcher of the European-Chinese Center for Development Research (ECCRD), has come out. The book is published by People's Publishing House and will be distributed in Xinhua Bookstores in China as of today. People's Publishing House is one of the top publishing houses in China.

On the left is Li Chenggui, the translator of "The Republic". On the right is "The Republic" translated by him.

“The Republic” is the most important work of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (427 - 347 BC), and it is also one of the peak works in the history of written language in the world.

Plato is one of the greatest thinkers in all of Western philosophy and even the entire Western culture. He is a student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle. Later generations call them the "Three Sages of Ancient Greece". He is the founder of Western philosophy.

If you want to understand Greek culture and Western civilization, "The Republic" is the best work for Chinese people to approach Greek and Western thought. It is the best reference book for Chinese people to enter the ancient Greek think tank. This think tank is the foundation for laying Western culture.

“The Republic” is a philosophical work in the form of dialogues created by Plato. Plato uses the dialogues between his teacher Socrates and other philosophers and thinkers as a carrier—in fact, he expounds his own political ideals. The dialogue is divided into ten volumes. It mainly discusses Plato's construction, governance and justice of the “ideal state” in his mind. A simple understanding is that Plato believes that as long as a political system that unifies “truth, goodness and beauty” and has a complete order is designed, a just ideal state can be established. The work involves all aspects of Plato's ideological system, including philosophy, ethics, politics, democracy, religion, law, virtue, human nature and metaphysics.

Translating this book is really not an easy task. First, there have been many excellent translations before. Second, "The Republic" may be one of the most difficult works to translate accurately in the world. Comprehensive translations based on modern Greek and ancient Greek are even more difficult. Third, although this grand work written 2500 years ago does not have too many words (this Chinese translation is about 280,000 words), it is the pinnacle of Plato's thought. Translating it requires a sense of awe.

The translation of this book originated in 2008. The Greek delegation that came to China to participate in the Olympic Games that year hoped that Li Chenggui could translate Plato's "The Republic". Among them, Stavros (Nihui Ming), then chairman of ECCRD, was the most eager.

The translation began in 2010. That year, Li Chenggui was invited to attend the Kazantzakis works seminar and received the Special Contribution Award issued by the Cretan government. At the end of the conference, he unexpectedly encountered an "The Republic" in ancient Greek in Athens.

Li Chenggui wrote on the title page of the book: On January 31, 2010, after breakfast, I took a walk along University Road. In the early morning, it was cold. A lady around 40 years old set up a very large bookstall by the roadside. As I approached, I casually took a look and suddenly found this book. After looking at it for a while, fearing that my luggage would be heavy, I left. But I couldn't bear not to buy it. So I returned.

The lady at the bookstall asked, "Are you the Chinese who translated Kazantzakis?" I asked, "How do you know?" She replied, "The TV station broadcast your activities in Crete." In this way, regardless of whether my luggage was overweight, I bought this book. She said, "This is the first book I sold today. You will bring me good luck."

Words written by Li Chenggui on the title page of "The Republic" in ancient Greek on the day of purchase (screenshot).

This Chinese translation is the first "The Republic" translated based on the Greek text as the original. Therefore, this translation is maximally faithful to Plato's original work.

It should be noted that the use of "The Republic" as the book title follows the established Chinese translation convention. The reason why previous Chinese translations were titled "The Republic" is that the previous translators mainly used English versions as the original text. But this is not Plato's original intention, at least not the mainstream intention of Plato when he wrote this book.

In fact, for Plato's this work, the core word is "justice". But the justice in his context is different from what we understand as justice today. In English, it has two meanings: First is Dikaiosune, which can be understood as "suitable, appropriate or called righteousness", and has the universality of being applicable everywhere. Secondly is Justice, that is, "justice and injustice" (that is, the narrow sense of justice) as we say today.

In short, "The Republic" is a huge comprehensive work. In different eras and from different perspectives, there will always be new understandings and interpretations. Alexander, an assistant researcher at ECCRD, also said: For ancient Greek or even Latin texts, there have been many authoritative translation versions for centuries (in the West), and it is always in continuous progress. Chinese translation is a very interesting field and creates new perspectives and paths for Chinese studies of ancient Greek classics.

All explanations are superfluous. Only by entering the translation can one feel the speculative philosophy. Savor it carefully, and its fragrance will naturally overflow.

Attached is a brief introduction of Li Chenggui:

A famous translator of Greek literature. Graduated from the Russian Department of Beijing Foreign Studies University. In 1964, just after graduating and before even leaving the school gate, he was sent by the country to Albania to learn Greek. After graduating, he returned to China.

In 1979, he was sent to Athens, Greece. He successively served as a reporter and chief reporter of the Athens branch of Xinhua News Agency. In 1993, he returned to China and worked as an editor in the International Department of Xinhua News Agency. He is an adjunct professor and researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies in European Culture of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Li Chenggui (first on the right) accompanied Deng Xiaoping (first on the left) in receiving foreign guests.

Li Chenggui has served as an interpreter for leaders of China and Greece on many occasions. These leaders include Ulanhu, Li Xiannian, Deng Xiaoping, Li Keqiang and Greek Prime Minister Papandreou. As an interpreter, Li Chenggui has fully participated in the negotiation of the "Belt and Road" project cooperation between COSCO Shipping and the Port of Piraeus in Greece and has forged deep friendships with many Greek ministers.

Li Chenggui is one of the famous contemporary Chinese experts in Greek. In 2010, he won the special award granted by the Cretan government of Greece for his translation of Kazantzakis' works. The translation manuscript of "Zorba the Greek" was collected by the Kazantzakis Museum. In 2012, based on Li Chenggui's outstanding contribution to spreading Greek culture in China, the Greek government awarded him the Greek Culture Contribution Award.

Translated by Gao Xiaotong

Author: Zhao Wenchao, Euro-Chinese Centre for Research and Development

Original download https://www.cgw.gr/static/content/HYYW/2021-07-22/867857505475235840.html