Zhang Zhizhong Talks About 365 English Translations of "Quiet Night Thoughts": How Poetry Goes to the World

Professor Zhang Zhizhong of the School of Foreign Languages at Nankai University and director of the Chinese Poetry Translation Center was recently interviewed, where he talked about how he translated Li Bai’s "Quiet Night Thoughts" into 365 English versions and compiled and published the related translations. He said this process stemmed from the continuous accumulation of inspiration while reading English literature over many years, and that his ultimate hope is to use multiple forms of expression to help foreign readers gain a deeper understanding of the moon imagery and homesickness in Chinese poetry. Zhang Zhizhong believes that poetry translation should not stop at literal correspondence; it also needs to take into account the rhythm of language, changes in form, and emotional expression. He proposed the idea of "prose technique, poetic content," emphasizing that translators must find a balance between fidelity and creative recreation, so that the translated text not only preserves the original poetic mood but also appeals to the aesthetic habits of English readers. When speaking about the overseas传播 of Chinese poetry, Zhang Zhizhong pointed out that Chinese classical poetry still has great room for dissemination in the Englishspeaking world, and many Tang poems have yet to be fully translated. He believes that poetry, with its short length and fast spread, is an important way to introduce Chinese culture, and that in the future more translators and scholars of Chinese studies will still be needed to advance this effort together.