Eric Wang
on translating Shi Yan
I chose this poem because it came with this remarkable explanatory note; usually, these New Shijing poems don’t have something so helpful for our interpretation. It helps paint the picture of a crowded Shanghai cinema where lovers can have privacy and entertainment away from the rest of society. Love in the public space was part of the radical cultural change China was experiencing in the 1920s, and it was evidently a selling point for this cinema.
One difficulty I’ve had with translating Chinese poems is that the meaning can often seem very obvious, but rendering it in poetic English is quite challenging. Chinese poetry is terse, uses archaic vocabulary, and says a lot with a little.
about the author
The poet Shi Yan was not anyone famous or noteworthy, and there is no further information on his identity. It is likely he was writing under a pseudonym. "The Moon Palace Cinema" was part of a larger group of entertainment buildings in Shanghai in the late 1920s, including a Moon Palace dance hall. This poem was likely written as an advertisement for the atmosphere on offer, there.
about the translator
Eric Wang is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying English. He grew up in Lansdale, Pennsylvania and speaks English and Mandarin Chinese. His interest in the classical worlds of Greece and Rome, as well as history, inform his translation of this poem, which adapts a classic form of Chinese poetry to the modern age of newspapers and advertisements. For this translation and interpretation, Eric was assisted by his advisor, Professor Chloe Estep, in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations.
