While walking on the sidewalks of the city, many residents of Kathmandu may have come across Chinese President Xi Jinping’s books on governance, neatly translated into Nepali. In all likelihood, they were translated by Current Publication, the translator and publisher of most Chinese books available in the Nepali market. A few other books in Mandarin have also been translated in Nepali. But how many of us know that Nepali literary works are also being translated into Chinese, and that some of them like Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s ‘Muna Madan’, have enjoyed modest success in China?

The goal is to enhance mutual trust and to bring the two peoples closer

Still, the Nepali-book market in China is relatively small. “The Chinese love to read about our society and culture, and if we can select the best publications and translate them properly, China can be a huge market,” says Kiran Gautam, Current Publication’s managing director.

Aneesh Malla, a lecturer of Mandarin at Kathmandu University and the translator and editor of many Current books, reckons Nepali works have excellent potential in China if there is good research into the Chinese market.

Nepal and China want to publish each other’s works, starting with literary ones, says Ganga Prasad Upreti, chancellor of Nepal Academy. Upreti says that Nepal Academy is particular about selecting books to translate and send to China, and hopes that like ‘Muna Madan’, which he says has sold over 100,000 copies in China, other well-translated Nepali books will also be popular in China.

The goal behind these translations, say those involved, is to enhance mutual trust and to bring the two peoples closer.

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Books in translation 

The Xinzhi Bookstore at Kamal­adi, Kathmandu is among a handful of bookstores in Nepal that sell Chinese books. It mostly caters to Chinese nationals living in Nepal and to students and pro­fessionals learning Mandarin. With a huge collection of Chinese books and magazines, the bookstore also has a small section where non-Chi­nese customers can buy Chinese books that have been translated into English or Nepali: the section has a collection of illustrated stories and Chinese folklore translated into sim­ple English and Nepali for beginners, as well as popular Chinese literary works for more advanced readers. On spending some time at the bookstore you learn that plenty of Nepalis are interested in Chinese works that have been translated into Nepali. (The store owners corrobo­rate that.) But would Nepali works of fiction and non-fiction translat­ed into Mandarin sell in China? Given China’s colossal market, could our struggling writers thrive there?

“Definitely,” says Kiran Gautam, Managing Director of Current Publication Pvt Ltd, the translator and publisher of most Chi­nese books available in Nepali trans­lation. “The Chinese love to read about our society and culture, and if we can select the best publications and translate them properly, China can be a huge market,” Gautam says.

Gautam has for past 11 years been taking part in various literary con­ferences and book fairs in China and exploring the possibility of an exchange of publications. Current Publication is a 45-year-old family business that Gautam took charge of in 2012. He has since been publishing translations of Chinese writings and researching the demand for Nepali publications in China.

Dearth of material

“In Nepal, most of what we read is home-produced or imported from India. We have always been very influenced by India but we should not forget China is also our neigh­bor,” Gautam says. Working in col­laboration with Chinese publishing houses, he and his team of transla­tors and scholars started by trans­lating children’s storybooks. They then moved on to more serious pub­lications, including a comprehensive book on the Belt and Road Initiative.

“But the main problem is that we do not have good material to pen­etrate the Chinese market,” says Gautam, who this week received the “International Publishing Cooperation Friendship Award 2018” on behalf of the Current Media and Research Center in Tai’an, Shandong. “Apart from a few Nepali classics, I don’t think the bulk of what we publish would interest Chinese readers.”

Gautam, who also writes and translates, is working on a travel­ogue based on his journeys across China. He says Current Publications is also translating Chinese President Xi Jinping’s writings.

Aneesh Malla, a lecturer of Manda­rin at Kathmandu University and the translator and editor of many of Cur­rent’s publications, reckons Nepali publications have excellent potential in China if there is good research of Chinese market. “During my stay in China as a student, I noticed that most Chinese students had the habit of reading outside their curriculum from an early age. Reading is an inte­gral part of life there,” Malla says. He thinks Nepali books, if translated and promoted well, could tap the huge Chinese market.

Malla is also the director of the “China-Chin Editorial Depart­ment,” established this year by Current Media in collaboration with China’s state-run Foreign Lan­guage Teaching and Research Press, the biggest publication in the coun­try for foreign language translations and printing.

"We have always been very influenced by India but we should not forget China is also our neighbor"

Kiran Gautam Managing Director, Current Publication

 

Two-way process

“We have been translating Chinese books for the Nepali market and with this new collaboration, we will pub­lish at least five substan­tial writings every year. But this is not enough. We strongly believe this should be a two-way process and we also need to spread our culture and literature in China,” Malla says. He cites the examples of Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s classic “Muna Madan” and Dharma Ratna Yami’s “Reply from Tibet” as successful Nepali publi­cations that have been translated into Mandarin and which were well received in China. “But we can do much more,” says Malla, who is half­way through translating Diamond Sumsher Rana’s epic “Seto Bagh”. He believes the book will create an interest among Chinese readers because of its rich historical content.

Working on “Seto Bagh” with Mal­la is Xing Yun (pen name Indira), a PhD scholar at Tribhuvan University and faculty member at the Center for Nepalese Studies in Beijing Foreign Studies University. Yun has collab­orated with Malla on translations of books like “Fun Reading About China,” and “Chinese Folk Tales” (a series of 10 books). Indira writes and speaks fluent Nepali and is an avid reader of Nepali literature. She names Nepali classics like “Muna Madan”, “Seto Bagh”, “Muluk Bahira”, “Bas­anti”, “Shirish­ko Phool” and modern popular bestsellers such as “Forget Kath­mandu” and “Jack­son Heights” as some of her favorites. “I like reading Nepali literature, but I cannot authoritatively judge Nepali books or authors,” she says. But she believes books like “Seto Bagh” that delve into Nepali culture will be a big hit in China.

Need of our times

“Although it’s fiction, I found the stories of that period fascinating. I’ve also watched a Nepali movie based on the book. The history of Nepal, the Nepali way of living, its religions and rituals, the cultures of different ethnic groups and the Nepali diaspo­ra would interest Chinese readers,” she says. Yun acknowledges the simi­larities in the two neighbors’ cultures and literature, and says although the two peoples have had age-old trade exchanges, literary exchanges are vital too.

Correction: An earlier version of this article showed an incorrected map of China. Sorry.