Penglin Chen
on translating Haizi
Haizi wrote “July is around the corner” in 1986. In this love poem, Haizi utilizes Qinghai Lake as a confidant and employs subtle imagery like horses and fresh blooms to convey his profound sense of solitude and the excruciating pain of lost love.
One of the most challenging aspects of this translation is in the line, “I am still in love with you / With no herbs to heal.” A direct translation from the original text would be, “Wildflowers and green stems are not far away, ancient last names in the medical chest are not far.” However, such a rendering appears quite vague. The Chinese pronunciation of “green stems” is a homophone for 情根 (qing gen), which conveys the enduring nature of the poet’s faithful love. It likens this steadfast love to the root and stem of a plant, implying that this unwavering love has been deeply rooted in the poet's heart.. Therefore, I translated it as “I am still in love with you,” emphasizing such deep-rooted affection. “Ancient last names in the medical chest are not far” shows the author’s search for a remedy for his wounds of love. This is because many Chinese herbal medicine names include common surnames. “Ancient last names” thus symbolize various herbs. Although “ancient last names” are “not far,” they are still unattainable, implying that the author’s suffering is actually incurable. Signifying the poet’s profound emotional pain, I chose to translate this line as “with no herbs to heal.”
Lastly, in the original poem, the term 情种 (qing zhong) literally translates to “the love seed.” However, within the Chinese cultural context, 情种 refers to an individual deeply enamored of someone. This phrase describes love as a seed rooted in one’s heart. Finding no equivalent in English, I chose to translate 情种 as “the seed of love.”
about the author
Zha Haishen, who wrote under the pen name Hai Zi, was born in Anhui Province (China) on March 24, 1964. He spent his childhood in rural China during the Cultural Revolution. In 1979, he enrolled in Peking University at the age of 15. He began writing as a student in the early 1980s. After graduation, he worked at China University of Political Science and Law. From what he felt was an extremely dull environment at the university, Hai Zi sent his poems to different newspapers and presses, but his works were rarely accepted for publication. He remained unknown to the general audience until he passed away in 1989.
about the translator
Penglin Chen is a junior majoring in English Literature and World Literature at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. She came to Penn for a semester in 2023 and studied literary translation.
photo by Aiyana Nosizwe Mate
