On Thursday, July 14, the China Cultural Centre in Malta in collaboration with Faraxa Publishing launched the book Għoljet il-Qasab which was translated from Chinese to Maltese by Stephen Cachia. This is the third Chinese literature translated into Maltese and also the first Chinese children’s literature translated into Maltese.

Written by the Shanghai author Yin Jian Ling in 2016, Għoljet il-Qasab (Wild Reeds Hill) is a very popular book in China. Yin is a famous writer of children's literature and a member of the National Committee of China Writers Association. She has won numerous awards for her books, including the prestigious Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award. 

“It is my great pleasure that my novel was published in Maltese,” said Yin in a short video message. “This is a story about self-exploration and finding the direction in life. It is also a story about art, place and humanity. Religion and art have a common ultimate point - the conversion of the human mind. Such belief can let a person wait for the light in the dark and watch the joy in misery. As it has struck a chord with many readers in China, I hope the Maltese readers will like it too.”

The fiction story narrates the experience of a young Chinese boy named You An who lived over a century ago. He is an unfortunate child who lost his mother at birth and lived with a deaf father and an abusive stepmother. The boy eventually flees home and ends up in an orphanage administered by foreign nuns. From there, he is taken to Wild Reeds Hill where he starts to interest himself in painting and sculpture in spite of all the difficulties that he has to face, including the fact that he has to deal with a foreign culture that has been imposed on his country.

Stephen Cachia

As a lecturer in Chinese language and Chinese history at the Department of Middle Eastern and East Asian Studies and the Department of History at the University of Malta, Cachia is well versed in this Eastern language. When he was approached in 2019 by the National Book Council to translate the book into Maltese, Cachia was aware that this task had considerable challenges. 

During the launch, together with the book’s editor Prof. Anthony Aquilina, Cachia shared his thoughts about the narrative of the book, as well as the difficulties that both had to overcome in order to retain the fluidity and meaning of the original story. Their discussion was enhanced by the reading of some excerpts by Dr Patrick Sammut.

“When you are translating a European language into another, you tend to find some common ground between them. However, when the languages pertain to two such different and distant countries like Malta and China, translation gets more difficult. For example, there are Chinese trees, ingredients, dishes, tools and festivals which are completely foreign to us and so we do not have any contemporary Maltese words to refer to them,” explained Cachia.

He resolved such issues by using different strategies. There were cases, such as in plants or trees, where he used their scientific Latin name. Some others were popularly known words such as wontons and so they were left unchanged. Then there were instances where he succeeded to trace old Maltese words which were very approximative to the Chinese meaning.

Yin Jian Ling

“Another challenge was how to write Chinese place names and names of people. Initially, I considered writing them in Maltese orthography but then I found out that when words are so foreign, it is better to leave them as they are. In the case of Chinese, I could make use of pinyin which is a system that spells Chinese names and words with the Latin alphabet based on their pronunciation. However, in order to assist the reader in the correct pronunciation of Chinese words, I have included a guide at the beginning of the book.”

When Prof. Aquilina heard Cachia reading the original version of the book, he noticed that the writing was poetic. However, the lengthy sentences used in the Chinese language had to be divided into a number of shorter sentences in the translation since Maltese readers, particularly children, are not used to such a style of writing. Likewise, while craftily choosing rhyming Maltese words to translate certain poems in the book, Aquilina and Cachia did not try to reinvent the wheel, such as when they decided to include an existing traditional Maltese Christmas song.

Joanne Micallef, Director of Faraxa Publishing said: “This translation is an extension to the testament of the author’s creativity, hard work and dedication. A book that combines fiction and reality, it has left us with a renewed understanding of the complexities of humanity and the world we live in. It is a work that resonates with readers of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life.”

Għoljet il-Qasab forms part of the Faraxa Translation series, also known as Kullana Traduzzjonijiet. It is the 28th work in the series where challenging foreign literature is translated into the Maltese language.

Mark Camilleri, executive chairman of the National Book Council announced that this translation to Maltese is the result of a literary exchange between Malta and China. This is a sister project to the one which is currently being finalised by Archipel Press in Shanghai, in the translation to Chinese of the novel The Confectioner’s Daughter by Maltese-Australian author Lou Drofenik.

Yuan Yuan, Director of the China Cultural Centre in Malta hosted this book launch, and expressed warm welcome to the translator, Cachia, who was a student of the Chinese language course at the Centre, and eventually, the first Maltese teacher of Chinese at this Centre in Valletta.

“Literature has always been a meaningful platform for cultural exchange, and children’s literature holds a special place in nurturing young minds and shaping their perceptions of the world. By introducing Chinese stories to young Maltese readers, we are building bridges between our two cultures, two peoples and our young generations in particular,” she concluded.