Society & Culture

WESTEAST MEETS E06-07Tuesday, 23 October, 2007

A lone writer did much to give the Western world an impression of themselves through the eyes of an Oriental, writes Janet Wong

Translated by Lon Yan

TravellerTHE name Chiang Yee (蔣彝) may not be familiar to Chinese read-ers. But the Chinese name of Coca-Cola (可口可樂) definitely is. The connection between the two is that Chiang Yee gave Coca-Cola its famous Chinese name.

Painter, calligrapher, poet and travel writer, Chiang Yee (1903-1977) was banished from his home province in China at the age of 30. Dejected, he left China to live in London, where he remained for a few years before settling down in the United States. Away from home and his family, he wrote the famous The Silent Traveller (《啞行者》) travel series, covering cities such as Oxford, New York and Dublin.

Chiang Yee’s life and workTHE writer’s life before he left China was described in Wikipedia:

“Chiang Yee was born in Jiujiang, China, on a day variously recorded as 19 May or 14 June. He married Tseng Yun in 1924, with whom he had four children. In 1925, he graduated from National Southeast University in Nan-jing.

He served for more than a year in the Chinese army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, then taught chemistry in middle schools, lectured at National Chi-Nan University, and worked as assistant editor of a Hangzhou newspaper.

He subsequently served as magistrate (縣長) of three counties − Jiujang (九江) in Jiangxi, and Dangtu (當塗) and Wuhu (蕪湖) in Anhui. Dissatisfied with the (political) situation in China, he left for England in 1933, leaving (his) wife and family behind.”

Chiang Yee was a prolific writer and completed more than 20 works in English during his 40 years in England and the United States. His works included The Chinese Eye − An Interpretation of Chinese Painting (《中國書法》) (1935), Chinese Calligraphy (《中國書法》) (1938), as well as novels and children’s literature.

But his most famous work remains The Silent Traveller series. The first in the series, The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lakeland (《湖區畫記》), was republished nine times, and is considered a travel literature clas-sic.

In 1937, when he wrote The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lake-land, Chiang Yee had been living in London for four years, working as a Chinese teacher. Like his father, Chiang Yee was a fine painter. He illustrat-ed many of his own works in a refreshing style that crossed cultural bounda-ries.

Chiang Yee’s popularity in the Western literary world remains strong 30 years after his death. To commemorate his 100th birthday, a symposium on his works was held in the United Stated earlier this month. Starting last year, some of his works have been translated into Chinese.

Chiang Yee – a Chinese perspective of the Western worldIN The Silent Traveller in London, Chiang Yee wrote: “I can imagine there must be a good number of people who will still wonder why I have no pig-tail on my head, or who think I must be the same sort of person as Mr. Wu or Charlie Chan!”

A review of the book explains the Western world’s fascination with his works: “By the 1930s, Western books about China were common. But a book about the West, and particularly London, written by a Chinese author, was a rarity − and continues to be so.”

Chiang Yee’s account of London, first published in 1938, is original in various ways. One of the first widely available books written by a Chinese author in English, it reversed the expected conventions of travel writing. Here, the “exotic” subject matter was none other than London and its peo-ple, quizzically observed as an alien culture by a visiting foreigner.

The East-West chasmCHIANG Yee was acutely aware of the Western world’s bias towards the Chinese culture and art. So, he was determined not to fall into the same trap when he wrote about the Western world. His travel literature promoted the Chinese culture to the Western world. As a result, some lauded him as an “international ambassador of the Chinese culture.”

Chiang Yee did not intend to offer a comparison between Eastern and Western cultures, but attempted to find common ground from the differ-ences. Chiang Yee’s writing has been praised for expanding the horizons of his readers, giving them a fresh view of the world, and serving as a reminder to all about the urgency of cultural exchanges and mutual respect.

culturesCHECK how well you remember what you have read by

answering the following question:

Which of the following places was not mentioned in the text as a destination of The Silent Traveller series?

between

Questions to ponder

1. Why is Chiang Yee called “The Ambassador of Chinese Culture”? How did he help promote Chinese culture and art to the Western world?

2. What were the Western world’s impressions of China at the beginning of the last century? Have such impressions changed?

3. What is the effect of globalisation (全球化) on the interaction of Eastern and Western cultures? Will this bring the two cultures closer?

Online references

An article commemorating the 100th birthday of Chiang Yeehttp://www.mgyj.com/american_studies/2003/first/first07.htm

A good silent speakerht tp://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/trad/hi/newsid_540000/news-

id_546700/546705.stmOrientalism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OrientalismChiang Yee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Yee

Coca-Cola’s first Chinese name

WHEN Coca-Cola first set up a production line in Shanghai in the 1920s, it needed a local name, so it adopted the translation “蝌蝌啃蠟”. The name was considered weird, and it turned cus-tomers away. No wonder Coca-Cola’s first attempt to enter the China market ended in failure.

The drink made a comeback in China in 1936. This time, it placed a newspaper advertisement inviting people to send in suggested names. The winner was Chiang Yee, who submit-ted the name “可口可樂” from London. For this, he received a reward of US$6. The translated name received high acclaim. It is also easy to remember.

Chiang Yee’s achievements

CHIANG Yee travelled to more than 80 countries on five continents. His travel classics are highly regarded in the West. He was also an accomplished scholar and teacher with a solid reputation, having been awarded honorary doctoral degrees by universities in the United States, Australia and Hong Kong. He was listed in the Who’s Who, and was Pro-fessor Emeritus of Chinese, Columbia University.

‘Silent Traveller’

TO Chiang Yee, the pen name Silent Traveller (啞行者) has multiple meanings. It was an expression of his disappointment and frustration at the political corruption of his time, and a description of the loneliness he felt as a stranger in a foreign land. It also referred to the way he liked to silently observe the world as he travelled.

Until very recently, The Silent Traveller series had not been translated into Chinese. That was how Chiang Yee wanted it to be. Chinese versions on four of the books in the series were finally produced last year by a Taiwanese publisher of travel literature. These were The Silent Traveller in London (《倫敦畫記》), The Silent Traveller in Edingburh (《愛丁堡畫記》), The Silent Traveller in Oxford (《牛津畫記》) and The Silent Traveller in Lakeland (《湖區畫記》).

Game

A. LakelandB. Dublin

C. LondonD. Moscow

Answer: D