Manchu became a literary language after the creation of the Manchu script in 1599. Romance of the Three Kingdoms was translated by Dahai.[1] Dahai translated Wanbao quanshu 萬寶全書.[2]

Hong Taiji sponsored the translations of many Chinese language histories and classics in his newly declared Qing dynasty.

The majority of literary works in Manchu during the Qing dynasty consisted of officially sanctioned translations of Chinese Confucian classics and political works, and later translations of Chinese novels and texts on medicine, history, religion.[3] There were few Manchu archetypal literary works.[4]

The German sinologist Eric Hauer argued that the Manchu translations of Chinese classics and fiction were done by experts familiar with their original meaning and with how best to express it in Manchu. Because Manchu is easy to learn, these translations enable the student to use the Manchu versions of the classics to verify the meaning of the Chinese text, for instance, the Manchu translation of the Peiwen yunfu or the language of difficult Chinese novels, such as Jin Ping Mei.[5] Most original material produced in Manchu were histories and documentary texts relating to military and foreign affairs on the northern frontiers which were handled by the Lifan Yuan, such as campaigns against the Dzungars.

Many Chinese medical texts were translated into Manchu under the Qianlong Emperor.[6]

List of works

Works translated into Manchu

Classics and Histories

Military manuals

The first Manchu translations of Chinese works were the Liu-t'ao 六韜, Su-shu 素書, and San-lueh 三略- all Chinese military texts dedicated to the arts of war due to the Manchu interests in the topic, like Sun-Tzu's work The Art of War.[7][8][9] The military related texts which were translated into Manchu from Chinese were translated by Dahai.[10] Manchu translations of Chinese texts included the Ming penal code and military texts were performed by Dahai.[11] These translations were requested of Dahai by Nurhaci.[12] The military text Wu-tzu was translated into Manchu along with Sun-Tzu's work The Art of War.[13] Chinese history, Chinese law, and Chinese military theory classical texts were translated into Manchu during the rule of Hong Taiji in Mukden with Manchus placing significance upon military and governance related Chinese texts.[14] A Manchu translation was made of the military themed Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.[15][16] Chinese literature, military theory and legal texts were translated into Manchu by Dahai and Erdeni.[17] The translations were ordered in 1629.[18]: xxxvi [19] The translation of the military texts San-lüeh, Su-shu, and the Ta Ming hui-tien (the Ming law) done by Dahai was ordered by Nurhaci.[20] While it was mainly administrative and ethical guidance which made up most of San-lüeh and Su Shu, military science was indeed found in the Liu-t'ao and Chinese military manuals were eagerly translated by the Manchus and the Manchus were also attracted to the military content in Romance of the Three Kingdoms which is why it was translated.[21] The Art of War was translated into Manchu as ᠴᠣᠣᡥᠠᡳ
ᠪᠠᡳᡨᠠ
ᠪᡝ
ᡤᡳᠰᡠᡵᡝᠩᡤᡝ Wylie: Tchauhai paita be gisurengge,[18]: 39 [22] Möllendorff: Coohai baita de gisurengge, Discourse on the art of War.[23] Another later Manchu translation was made by Aisin Gioro Qiying.[24]

Novels

Plays

Bannerman tales

A notable genre is 'Bannerman tales' (子弟書, zidishu), a sung verse narrative genre that developed within the Manchu bannerman community in Beijing in the 18th century, flourished in the 19th century and continued to be practiced even during the Republican era. There is at least one example of a Manchu-Mandarin bilingual text, but the Manchu version has been argued to be a translation from the Chinese one. Some other texts contain Manchu expressions within the Mandarin text, but most were only in Mandarin and were based on classic works of Chinese fiction. The performers were sometimes professionals, but often amateur bannermen and members of the Manchu elite.[15][16][25]

Works issued in multilingual copies

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Original Manchu literature

A rare example of Manchu folklore recorded in a Manchu-language manuscript is the Tale of the Nisan Shaman.[26] Some Qing emperors such as the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors composed poems in Manchu, such as Ode to Mukden. An official by the name of Tulišen (1667-1741) wrote Record of Foreign Regions (Manchu: Lakcaha jecen be takūraha babe ejehe bithe), a journal describing his journey to the Volga to meet Ayuki, khan of the Torguts. The most extensive original work in Manchu is Record of the Words of One Hundred and Twenty Old Men (Manchu: Emu tanggū orin sakda-i gisun sarkiyan) by Sungyun (1754-1835), a collection of 120 essays on numerous different subjects.[4]

References

  1. ^ Claudine Salmon (13 November 2013). Literary Migrations: Traditional Chinese Fiction in Asia (17th-20th Centuries). Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-981-4414-32-6.
  2. ^ Richard J. Smith (23 October 2015). The Qing Dynasty and Traditional Chinese Culture. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-1-4422-2194-9.
  3. ^ Norman 2003, pp. 485-6.
  4. ^ a b ed. Idema 2007, p. 211.
  5. ^ Hauer (1930), p. 162-163.
  6. ^ Hanson 2003, p. 114.
  7. ^ Early China. Society for the Study of Early China. 1975. p. 53.
  8. ^ Durrant, Stephen. 1977. “Manchu Translations of Chou Dynasty Texts”. Early China 3. [Cambridge University Press, Society for the Study of Early China]: 52–54. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23351361.
  9. ^ Durrant, Stephen. 1977. “Manchu Translations of Chou Dynasty Texts”. Early China 3. [Cambridge University Press, Society for the Study of Early China]: 53. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23351361?seq=2.
  10. ^ Sin-wai Chan (2009). A Chronology of Translation in China and the West: From the Legendary Period to 2004. Chinese University Press. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-962-996-355-2.
  11. ^ Peter C Perdue (30 June 2009). China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. Harvard University Press. pp. 122–. ISBN 978-0-674-04202-5.
  12. ^ Wakeman, Jr., Frederic (1985). The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-century China. University of California Press. pp. 44–. ISBN 978-0-520-04804-1.
  13. ^ Early China. Society for the Study of Early China. 1977. p. 53.
  14. ^ Claudine Salmon (13 November 2013). Literary Migrations: Traditional Chinese Fiction in Asia (17th-20th Centuries). Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 94–. ISBN 978-981-4414-32-6.
  15. ^ a b Cultural Hybridity in Manchu Bannermen Tales (zidishu). 2007. pp. 25–. ISBN 978-0-549-44084-0.
  16. ^ a b West, Andrew. "The Textual History of Sanguo Yanyi: The Manchu Translation". Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  17. ^ Arthur W. Hummel (1991). Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing period: 1644-1912. SMC publ. p. vi. ISBN 978-957-638-066-2.
  18. ^ a b Shou-p'ing Wu Ko (1855). Translation (by A. Wylie) of the Ts'ing wan k'e mung, a Chinese grammar of the Manchu Tartar language (by Woo Kĭh Show-ping, revised and ed. by Ching Ming-yuen Pei-ho) with intr. notes on Manchu literature.
  19. ^ Translation of the Ts'ing wan k'e mung, a Chinese Grammar of the Manchu Tartar Language; with introductory notes on Manchu Literature: (translated by A. Wylie.). Mission Press. 1855. pp. xxxvi–.
  20. ^ Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). "Dahai" . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.
  21. ^ Durrant, Stephen. 1979. “Sino-manchu Translations at the Mukden Court”. Journal of the American Oriental Society 99 (4). American Oriental Society: 653–61. doi:10.2307/601450. https://www.jstor.org/stable/601450?seq=2 pp. 654-656.
  22. ^ http://library.umac.mo/ebooks/b31043252.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  23. ^ Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. North China Branch, Shanghai (1890). Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Kelly & Walsh. pp. 40–.
  24. ^ http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp178_art_of_war.pdf p. 82
  25. ^ Zhenzhen Lu. 2019. Book review: Bannermen Tales (Zidishu): Manchu Storytelling and Cultural Hybridity in the Qing Dynasty, by Elena Suet-Ying Chiu. In Saksaha: A Journal of Manchu Studies
  26. ^ "Нишань самана битхэ (Предание о нишанской шаманке) (豆瓣)". Archived from the original on 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2021-11-17.

Bibliography

Further reading

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