Comments on: The perilous nature of Chinese government “policies” in quotation marks http://www.beijingnewspeak.com/2007/03/20/the-perilous-nature-of-chinese-government-policies-in-quotation-marks/ Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:26:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: duzhe http://www.beijingnewspeak.com/2007/03/20/the-perilous-nature-of-chinese-government-policies-in-quotation-marks/#comment-130 duzhe Thu, 22 Mar 2007 03:29:23 +0000 http://www.beijingnewspeak.com/2007/03/20/the-perilous-nature-of-chinese-government-policies-in-quotation-marks/#comment-130 Such an interesting blog! Such an interesting blog!

]]> By: Will http://www.beijingnewspeak.com/2007/03/20/the-perilous-nature-of-chinese-government-policies-in-quotation-marks/#comment-107 Will Wed, 21 Mar 2007 01:32:56 +0000 http://www.beijingnewspeak.com/2007/03/20/the-perilous-nature-of-chinese-government-policies-in-quotation-marks/#comment-107 I always thought the "Three Represents" had its own poetry. Like the "Friendlies", for instance, the phrase could never have sprung full-formed from the mouth of a native English speaker. Vladmir Sklovsky wrote in his <i>Theory of Prose</i> that the power of art was to make the familiar world strange. These rigid phrases, passed along from newspaper to newspaper like unwanted fruitcake, force a reader to carefully evaluate not only the potential meaning of the slogan itself, but of the language which he speaks and understands without otherwise thinking. I know translations of this type can mangle the fluency of the original Chinese (or does it all sound as stilted in Mandarin?), but I always attributed such phrases to an instinctive poetic synergy between the original writer and the the translator. I am especially delighted when numerical metaphors, so deeply rooted in Chinese literature, show up in government proclamations. As a Soviet officer once told a subordinate, "I like music, especially the drum." I always thought the “Three Represents” had its own poetry. Like the “Friendlies”, for instance, the phrase could never have sprung full-formed from the mouth of a native English speaker. Vladmir Sklovsky wrote in his Theory of Prose that the power of art was to make the familiar world strange. These rigid phrases, passed along from newspaper to newspaper like unwanted fruitcake, force a reader to carefully evaluate not only the potential meaning of the slogan itself, but of the language which he speaks and understands without otherwise thinking.

I know translations of this type can mangle the fluency of the original Chinese (or does it all sound as stilted in Mandarin?), but I always attributed such phrases to an instinctive poetic synergy between the original writer and the the translator. I am especially delighted when numerical metaphors, so deeply rooted in Chinese literature, show up in government proclamations. As a Soviet officer once told a subordinate, “I like music, especially the drum.”

]]> By: JBS http://www.beijingnewspeak.com/2007/03/20/the-perilous-nature-of-chinese-government-policies-in-quotation-marks/#comment-85 JBS Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:38:09 +0000 http://www.beijingnewspeak.com/2007/03/20/the-perilous-nature-of-chinese-government-policies-in-quotation-marks/#comment-85 Howdy partner, holy crap you’re good! Howdy partner, holy crap you’re good!

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