Local publishers Nanmeebooks has just brought out a translation by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of a Chinese-language novel which reflects on the conflict of values and morals between traditional and contemporary Beijing society in a narrative which spans several decades, starting with the revolution that brought the communists to power.
Bearing both Thai (Talod Kal Na Nan Khae Nai) and English (How Long Is Forever?) titles, this is the ninth work of translation by the Princess to be published by Nanmeebooks.
An enthusiastic China scholar, the Princess is fluent in the language and has done much to promote Thai-Chinese cultural relations over the years. She has written several travelogues about China based on her numerous trips to that country and has translated several Chinese novels into Thai. As a result, her name was one of those listed in “Chinese Connection — Top Ten International Friends Of China”, an online selection initiated by China Radio International back in 2010.
Her last translation before the present work was Naree Nakara, an interpretation of the novel Her City written by Chi Li; it was brought out in 2013 by Nanmeebooks.
How Long Is Forever? Translated by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Published by Nanmeebooks Available at leading bookshops 135 baht
During the recent launch organised for How Long Is Forever?, the Princess, in her address to the gathering, noted that novels were a good way to learn more about a foreign country, a complement to studying textbooks on its history. Even though novels are necessarily works of the imagination, she observed, there is always an essence of reality perceivable in the background.
The author of the book in question, Tie Ning, is the current president of the Chinese Writers Association and her work has been translated into many languages, although this is the first time her words have been rendered into Thai, the Princess said.
The novel reflects perspectives held by Chinese people towards their own country, Princess Sirindhorn continued. The story is spread over several decades, starting with the Chinese Revolution when the protagonist, Bai Da Xing, is less than 10 years old. A resident of Hutong One, the little girl witnessed the changes in her "hutong" (a term used for traditional courtyard dwellings or the narrow alleys or old urban neighbourhoods in which they were built) as progress and development alters the face of Beijing. Many of the city’s traditional houses are razed to make way for modern skyscrapers, while others are transformed into commercial premises, tourist destinations and film sets.
Bai Da Xing is an innocent, selfless girl whose good heart makes her a target for people who would take advantage of her, from members of her own family to the men she falls in love with. She suffers, but never loses hope. She loses love time and time again, but she still sees love as a noble thing and worthy of endless sacrifice. In the end, love finds her, though perhaps in a different form from that which we, the readers, might have imagined.
“Like Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, the narrator in the story remains unnamed, though we know she is Bai Da Xing’s older sister,” the Princess observed.
In her Foreword to the translation, she writes, “The title ‘How Long is Forever?’ could be both a question and an answer that the author wishes to communicate to the reader in the modern world, to whom material objects and personal gain take priority. People in the modern world would find it difficult to grasp the ideals of ‘eternal goodness’ or ‘eternal love’.
“Is it possible, then, that ‘forever’, no matter how long that is — a moment or eternity — is at once both ‘truth’ and ‘illusion’ that human beings from every period have must use their wisdom to ponder upon forever?”
The novel is full of humour and nostalgia. In its prologue, the narrator returns to Beijing and takes refuge from the rain in the gateway to a deserted old hutong with a boarded-up entrance. As she stands on the stone steps, the old hutong comes alive in her mind. She and her younger sister, Bai Da Xing, are on an errand to the corner store. Through the very descriptive passages that follow, the reader can almost see, smell and taste all the simple pleasures of this hutong community, from the deliciously fragrant Chinese sausage being sliced and the sweetness of the yang mei plum soda to the effect of a refrigerator being opened with a gush of icy vapour that hits them “like a small fist knocking our faces”.
Bringing to mind the ability to caricature exhibited by some contemporary Chinese art is another passage describing an occasion when the narrator and a young Bai Da Xing get the opportunity to watch a movie that’s been imported from North Korea. Here’s an unofficial translation of the Thai text:
“This film made everyone bawl. Both Bai Da Xing and I cried, though I didn’t cry as much as Bai Da Xing because an older person sitting in front was crying as if she were having a nervous breakdown, her back banging loudly on the backrest of the seat. No one complained, though, because they were all so engrossed in their own sobbing. The elderly person on my left was staring at the screen, tears streaming down her face. Her nose was dripping so much there was a foot-long strand of mucus and yet she still wouldn’t wipe it. Bai Da Xing was sitting on my right, tears flowing, sobbing hysterically and burping incessantly.”
This slim folio features colour illustrations by Kosol Thongduang and an appendix entitled “Hutong: A Remarkable Feature Of Beijing” which goes into the cultural background of these traditional dwellings and supplies photographs including images of the Princess visiting a well-preserved specimen of this fast-disappearing style of architecture.
