武宇林序

斗轉(zhuǎn)星移，中英學(xué)者經(jīng)過三個(gè)春秋的跨國合作研究，英文版《絲綢之路上的民間歌謠—花兒》一書終于問世了。作為中文原著《中國花兒通論》作者，回首此書的誕生過程，思緒萬千，感觸良多。

本書基于筆者中文原著《中國花兒通論》翻譯而成，而后者基于日文專著《絲綢之路口傳民歌“花兒”研究》，這是筆者在日本廣島大學(xué)的博士論文。提及筆者的日本留學(xué)，與本書譯者之一的英國籍史若蘭教授不無關(guān)系。我們相識(shí)于20多年前的1994年，當(dāng)時(shí)，筆者作為寧夏政府公派的一名海外技術(shù)研修員，來到日本島根縣立女子大學(xué)進(jìn)修學(xué)習(xí)，而若蘭教授是該校英文教員。寧夏和島根縣于1993年締結(jié)了友好關(guān)系，按照協(xié)議，寧夏每年都向島根派遣研修員，筆者就是其中之一。命運(yùn)安排我們兩人在日本島根縣立女子大學(xué)相識(shí)，而博大精深的中國文化讓我們成為摯友。用若蘭教授的話說：“在日本的這所大學(xué)里，就我們兩個(gè)外國人，好多習(xí)慣都一樣。你是中國人，而我是學(xué)中文的英國人，我喜歡中國和中國文化。感謝上帝把你派到我身邊！”其實(shí)，若蘭教授的中文水平相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)，她1974年畢業(yè)于英國倫敦大學(xué)亞非學(xué)院（SOAS）漢語言文學(xué)專業(yè)，會(huì)講流暢而標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的漢語普通話。她之所以選擇中文，是受了父親的影響。出生于50年代的她，少年時(shí)期跟隨油畫藝術(shù)家的父親及家人到過很多國家。受那個(gè)時(shí)代風(fēng)潮的影響，十分向往東方文化，尤其是向往東方古國—中國。而后之所以對(duì)中國“花兒”民歌感興趣，也可以說是受到了聲樂藝術(shù)家的母親的影響。1976年2月，她有幸參加了英方組織的中國參訪團(tuán)，去了北京、上海和杭州等地。同年8月，得到英國文化協(xié)會(huì)的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金資助，在北京語言大學(xué)短期留學(xué)。其后，來到東方國度之一的日本從事英文教學(xué)，并于1983年考入日本廣島大學(xué)，攻讀中國文學(xué)專業(yè)的博士前期課程，即碩士課程，研究方向是中國現(xiàn)代作家戴望舒的詩歌研究，可謂是此次“花兒”民歌翻譯合作研究的伏筆。其間，她邂逅了一位會(huì)漢語的日本男生，后來成為她的丈夫。她說，從英國初到日本的她，還不太會(huì)說日語，倆人便用漢語交流與溝通，最終結(jié)為伉儷，并有了可愛的一兒一女，她也長期定居日本，一直在大學(xué)從事英文及中文教學(xué)工作。1994年夏，筆者來到她所在的島根縣立女子大學(xué)進(jìn)修了8個(gè)月。其后，在她和一些日本友人的幫助下，筆者于1995年9月再次來到日本，考入島根大學(xué)，攻讀教育學(xué)（美術(shù)教育）碩士學(xué)位，開始了10年之久的留學(xué)生涯。3年后的1998年秋，若蘭教授再次舉薦并支持筆者考入其母校日本廣島大學(xué)文學(xué)研究生院碩博連讀，開始了中國“花兒”民歌的研究之路。日本留學(xué)期間，我們都在做兼職中文教師。為了有一本得心應(yīng)手的漢語教材，我們于2000年合作編輯出版了日文版《實(shí)用中國語基礎(chǔ)課本—石井先生的北京三周》（日本南云堂出版社）的教科書，被島根大學(xué)、京都大學(xué)等選作大學(xué)教材，也是我們各自首選的漢語教科書，這是我們的第一次學(xué)術(shù)合作。她在那本書的署名為“狩野キャロライン”，這是她的日本名字。按照日本習(xí)俗, 女性婚后和丈夫同姓，后面是自己英文名字的日文音譯。據(jù)此，筆者為她取了中文名字“若蘭”，她十分中意。本書中，使用了該中文名字署名，前面并加上了父親的姓氏“史密斯”的“史”。

筆者在廣島大學(xué)的研究方向?yàn)椤爸袊鞑靠趥髅窀琛▋?span >’研究”，其間，每年暑假都回國到甘肅、青海、寧夏和新疆各地，沿古絲綢之路進(jìn)行“花兒”的田野調(diào)查，取得了珍貴的第一手材料。該研究多次得到日本文部省和其他團(tuán)體的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金資助，也享受過“小林節(jié)太郎紀(jì)念基金會(huì)”的博士生研究資金。最終形成的博士論文得到了日本博士生導(dǎo)師及學(xué)界的充分肯定，于2004年12月順利通過答辯，獲得文學(xué)博士學(xué)位。之后，日本導(dǎo)師推薦筆者的日文博士論文《中國西部口傳民歌“花兒”研究》在信山社出版。出版社對(duì)此評(píng)價(jià)：這是日本出版界第一本關(guān)于中國西部少數(shù)民族民歌的書籍，其研究對(duì)象有獨(dú)自性，研究內(nèi)容有獨(dú)創(chuàng)性，研究水平有高度性，日語表達(dá)有準(zhǔn)確性。并建議書名為《絲綢之路口傳民歌“花兒”研究》，還給予了出版補(bǔ)貼。2005年8月，這部32萬多字的專著在日本公開出版發(fā)行。2008年，該著作獲寧夏第十次哲學(xué)社會(huì)科學(xué)優(yōu)秀成果獎(jiǎng)著作類“一等獎(jiǎng)”。

2005年初筆者回國，來到北方民族大學(xué)工作以來，繼續(xù)開展“花兒”研究。翌年，赴中亞吉爾吉斯斯坦調(diào)研境外古絲綢之路的“花兒”民歌，以及西北各地“花兒”新動(dòng)態(tài)，進(jìn)一步補(bǔ)充完善了日文版的“花兒”專著，于2008年在寧夏人民出版社出版《中國花兒通論》。這部約40萬字的中文專著，系統(tǒng)地闡述了我國非遺之一的“花兒”民歌的歷史淵源、流派、分類、形式、內(nèi)容、修辭、民族特色和文化傳承等內(nèi)容。全書梳理、引用了780多首原生態(tài)“花兒”，展示了中國西部的回、漢、撒拉、東鄉(xiāng)、保安、土、藏、裕固、蒙古族，以及中亞東干族“花兒”的奇特藝術(shù)魅力。并附有筆者在田野調(diào)查中拍攝的寧夏、甘肅、青海、新疆和吉爾吉斯斯坦東干族“花兒”現(xiàn)狀的數(shù)十幅照片，圖文并茂、全方位地展示了中國“花兒”的全貌。國內(nèi)專家予以高度評(píng)價(jià)：“該書填補(bǔ)了我國長期以來‘花兒’研究的空白”。該著作于2009年獲中國民間文藝第九屆“山花獎(jiǎng)”。同年，西北四省區(qū)聯(lián)合申報(bào)的“花兒”，入選“聯(lián)合國人類非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)代表作”，成為我國為數(shù)不多的世界級(jí)非遺項(xiàng)目。

正是這部獲得國家級(jí)獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)的《中國花兒通論》，幾年前引起了北方民族大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院的有識(shí)之士楊曉麗、王靜和張曉瑾三位女老師的關(guān)注，她們都是年輕有為的英語教師，醞釀著要將該著作中的“花兒”民歌嘗試翻譯成英文。十分巧合的是，她們的想法竟和若蘭教授的計(jì)劃不謀而合。那是2013年，筆者邀請(qǐng)若蘭教授來到北方民族大學(xué)再次進(jìn)行“花兒”英文翻譯的學(xué)術(shù)合作。之前，筆者和若蘭教授還有過第二次合作。那是筆者回國不久，接受了學(xué)校安排的一項(xiàng)艱巨的科研任務(wù)：發(fā)揮在日本留過學(xué)、懂日語的優(yōu)勢(shì)，完成日本藏西夏文文獻(xiàn)的收集整理研究及出版。于是，筆者請(qǐng)若蘭教授幫助尋找日方西夏學(xué)合作者。真是機(jī)緣巧合，那時(shí)，她正好從島根縣立女子大學(xué)調(diào)任東京外國語大學(xué)任英文教師，而該校就有西夏學(xué)研究機(jī)構(gòu)。在她的牽線引薦下，筆者和該校日本著名西夏學(xué)家西田龍雄先生的弟子荒川慎太郎博士取得了聯(lián)系，并達(dá)成了合作意向。其后，筆者作為項(xiàng)目主持人，成功地申報(bào)并獲批2007年度國家社科基金重點(diǎn)項(xiàng)目“日本藏西夏文文獻(xiàn)收集整理研究出版”。不僅是荒川博士，若蘭教授也成為了合作者之一：她應(yīng)邀承擔(dān)了該項(xiàng)目研究成果《日本藏西夏文文獻(xiàn)》著作中筆者撰寫的中文前言的英文翻譯工作，曾于2009年來到北方民族大學(xué)進(jìn)行共同研究。在中日英學(xué)者的精誠合作下，2010年底，《日本藏西夏文文獻(xiàn)》二冊(cè)大型圖書在中華書局正式出版，很快被日本、俄羅斯等世界各國西夏學(xué)研究機(jī)構(gòu)收藏。該著作獲2011年度全國優(yōu)秀古籍圖書二等獎(jiǎng)，我們也為之欣慰。

我們的第三次合作開始于2013年秋，筆者帶著從日本東京來我校學(xué)術(shù)訪問的若蘭教授，走進(jìn)本校外國語學(xué)院，和院長閆麗君教授談起她的“花兒”翻譯計(jì)劃。閆院長告知：楊曉麗等幾位英語教師也正嘗試翻譯“花兒”民歌呢！團(tuán)隊(duì)中也正好需要英語是母語的成員呢！就這樣，2013年9月9日上午，在外國語學(xué)院小巧而溫暖的資料室里，若蘭教授、閆麗君院長、楊曉麗、王靜、張曉瑾三位老師及筆者組成的“花兒”翻譯團(tuán)隊(duì)開始了第一次合作研究。大家一拍即合，決定依據(jù)筆者專著《中國花兒通論》，從中精選有代表性的200首左右民歌及相關(guān)篇章，翻譯為英文，向英語世界介紹這一聯(lián)合國人類非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)代表作。并確定了挑選及翻譯“花兒”的基本原則：健康向上、通俗易懂。還進(jìn)行了分工，由3位英語教師和若蘭教授人均分擔(dān)約50首的英文翻譯，最后由若蘭教授訂正。良好的開端，是成功的一半。接下來的兩年里，若蘭教授每年都撥冗來華，和幾位翻譯團(tuán)隊(duì)成員及筆者共同研究。然而，她作為一名英國人，對(duì)于中國“花兒”歌詞中提及的寧夏“六盤山”等西北風(fēng)土人情畢竟生疏費(fèi)解。于是，2013年9月13日，筆者等陪她一起乘坐朋友的私家車，往返七百多公里，專程前往寧夏南部山區(qū)的涇源縣、原州區(qū)和海原縣考察數(shù)日，游覽了雄偉壯麗的六盤山，體驗(yàn)了當(dāng)?shù)氐娘嬍车让袼?，使她?duì)“花兒”的歌唱環(huán)境有了直觀感受，進(jìn)而促進(jìn)了對(duì)“花兒”英文的準(zhǔn)確把握。

“花兒”英譯的過程是艱辛的。要將充滿鄉(xiāng)土氣息的“花兒”民歌翻譯成英文，遠(yuǎn)比想象的困難。不僅是若蘭教授，對(duì)于幾位初次接觸“花兒”民歌的年輕英語教師來說也是不小的挑戰(zhàn)。首先面臨的困難是，很難準(zhǔn)確解讀“花兒”歌詞的中文意思。因?yàn)椋?span xml:lang="zh-CN">“花兒”都是西北各民族群眾用方言俚語即興創(chuàng)作的，雖然非常生動(dòng)有趣、含蓄有味，但基本上都是隨心所欲的口語，幾乎無語法規(guī)則而言。如果不懂方言，很可能曲解歌詞本意，更談不上將它們翻譯成貼切優(yōu)美的英文。然而，她們并沒有知難而退，而是集思廣益、群策群力、共同攻關(guān)。實(shí)在不明白之處，就虛心和筆者商討，直到弄清歌詞原意。而遠(yuǎn)在日本單兵作戰(zhàn)的若蘭教授，則反復(fù)閱讀筆者的日文和中文原著中的歌詞說明，揣摩含意。實(shí)在不解，就一次次通過電子郵件，列出“花兒”中的一個(gè)個(gè)單詞或句子，讓筆者用日語或中文再次解釋。就這樣，反反復(fù)復(fù)，書中的每一首“花兒”都幾易其稿，傾注了幾位翻譯者的心血和智慧。

“花兒”英譯的過程也是快樂而難忘的。幾位中英譯者都是大學(xué)一線的英語教師，擔(dān)當(dāng)著繁重的教學(xué)任務(wù)。為了靜心翻譯研究，大家相約利用寒暑假開學(xué)前的一段時(shí)間進(jìn)行集體研究。于是，若蘭教授應(yīng)邀于2014年暑假和2015年寒假頻頻來華赴寧“會(huì)戰(zhàn)”。由于大學(xué)尚未開學(xué)，不能入住校賓館，她們就為若蘭教授預(yù)訂銀川市內(nèi)的賓館，幾個(gè)人擠在一個(gè)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)間里，圍著筆記本和電腦，從早到晚，熱烈地展開翻譯討論。兩年前，王靜老師考入上海外國語大學(xué)就讀博士，但并未因此影響她的翻譯任務(wù)。當(dāng)團(tuán)隊(duì)成員們需要見面商討時(shí)，便上網(wǎng)通過電腦視頻，與遠(yuǎn)在上海的王靜老師進(jìn)行面對(duì)面對(duì)話交流。現(xiàn)代化的航空交通及視頻音訊手段，讓遠(yuǎn)在東京及上海的團(tuán)隊(duì)成員召之即來、近在咫尺。為了讓遠(yuǎn)道而來的若蘭教授在寧夏過得舒心而快樂，團(tuán)隊(duì)成員們不時(shí)為她帶來回族面點(diǎn)“油香”和“馓子”、各種時(shí)令水果，偶爾也帶她去中山公園觀賞踢毽子、廣場舞、探戈舞，感受銀川人的活力，讓她在寧夏翻譯“花兒”的日子格外開心。

正是靠著中英學(xué)者的凝心聚力、鍥而不舍，一部英文版的《絲綢之路上的民間歌謠—花兒》著作終于付梓了。在此之前，有美國等其他國家學(xué)者的“花兒”英文論著，但中國學(xué)者和英國學(xué)者合作完成的英文“花兒”著作尚屬首部。毫無疑問，它是一部具有創(chuàng)新意義的“花兒”著作，標(biāo)志著我國“花兒”研究步入新階段與新形式，也填補(bǔ)了我國“花兒”研究的空白，它將載入中國“花兒”理論研究的史冊(cè)。該著作的研究成果，將向英文世界打開一扇窗戶，把充滿藝術(shù)魅力和泥土芬芳的“花兒”，以優(yōu)美而精準(zhǔn)的英文，展獻(xiàn)給世界各國的人們。這對(duì)于傳播、傳承和保護(hù)聯(lián)合國人類非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)代表作“花兒”勢(shì)必有著重要的意義。作為中文原著的作者深感欣慰，也衷心期望中外英語讀者欣賞和喜歡中國“花兒”民歌。也衷心祝愿該著作的幾位英文譯者再接再厲，在中國民歌的英文翻譯領(lǐng)域開疆辟土，再創(chuàng)輝煌！

原著《中國花兒通論》作者 武宇林

2015年11月30日

Preface by Wu Yulin

More than three springs and autumns of joint research by Chinese and British scholars have come round, and the English version of Zhongguo Hua’er Tonglun （A Study of Chinese Hua’er）, entitled Hua’er—Songs from the Silk Road, is now being published. When, as the author of the original Zhongguo Hua’er Tonglun, I look back on its creation, countless happy and moving episodes come to mind.

While the present English work is based on Zhongguo Hua’er Tong-lun, this work itself was in fact based on the academic work Hua’er no Kenkyu—Shirukurodo no Kosho Minyo （Research on Hua’er—Orally Transmitted Folk Songs from the Silk Road）, written in Japanese, which was in turn based on the PhD thesis which I wrote in completion of my studies at Hiroshima University in Japan. Indeed, in referring to the time I spent studying in Japan, I cannot but also mention the British translator who has participated in the present work, Professor Shi Ruolan （Caroline Kano）. We first met more than twenty years ago, in 1994. At the time, I had been sponsored by Ningxia regional government to conduct a period of professional training at Shimane Prefectural Women’s College in Japan, and Ruolan was a member of the English teaching staff at the same college. In 1993, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Shimane Prefecture had just established a “twin region” friendship agreement, whereby every year Ningxia would send a group of professional trainees to Shimane, and I was amongst those participating in the second group. Fortune brought the two of us together at Shimane Prefectural Women’s College, and the greatness of Chinese culture caused us to become close friends. I still recall Ruolan saying to me, “You and I are the only non-Japanese at the college, and we have many things in common. You are Chinese, and, although I am British, I am studying Chinese. I love China and Chinese culture, and I am so grateful to God for sending you here to me!”

In fact, Ruolan’s Chinese was not bad at all. She had graduated in 1974 in Chinese from the School of Oriental and African Studies （SOAS）, University of London, and spoke very correct standard Chinese. In first choosing to study Chinese, she had no doubt been influenced by her parents, who had always taken her with them to many countries abroad, her artist father painting the landscape wherever they went. Then, growing up as she did in the London of the sixties, when the atmosphere of the times was one of looking to the East, she became fascinated by oriental culture and, in particular, by the culture of ancient China. Her later great interest in Chinese Hua’er folk songs could well be said to have resulted from the influence of her singer mother. In February of 1976, she had the opportunity to participate for the first time in a study tour of China organized by the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, and in August of the same year, she received a British Council Scholarship to study Chinese at Beijing Languages Institute （now Beijing Language and Culture University）.

A few years later, Ruolan moved to another country of the Far East, Japan, to teach English. In 1983, she had the opportunity to enter Hiroshima University, to pursue postgraduate studies in Chinese literature, focusing on the poetry of the contemporary Chinese poet, Dai Wangshu. This research could well be said to have been a prelude to this present Hua’er folk song research and translation project. In the meantime, it was through Chinese yet again that she had another chance encounter, this time with a Japanese man who could also speak Chinese, and who subsequently became her husband. Apparently, when she first arrived in Japan, she could not yet really speak Japanese, so that the two of them communicated by means of Chinese. After their marriage, Ruolan moved with her husband to Shimane Prefecture, and settled permanently in Japan. She subsequently had two children, and took up a full-time career teaching English at Shimane Women’s College, later also teaching Chinese part-time at Shimane University. The former was, of course, where we met in the summer of 1994.

Shortly after I went back to China at the end of my eight-month period of study at Shimane Women’s College, with the help of Ruolan and several Japanese friends, I was able to return once more to Japan, and this time entered Shimane University to study for an MA in Art Education. This was the start of a ten-year period of study in Japan. Three years later, in the autumn of 1998, Ruolan once again helped me to enter Hiroshima University, where she had studied, to read for a joint MA and PhD degree in Chinese literature, and I thus set off on my journey of research into the folk song genre of Hua’er, folk songs from the Silk Road.

During my time in Japan, in addition to my studies, I also taught Chinese, as did Ruolan. Since we had both been looking for an easy-to-use and effective Chinese textbook for our respective classes, we decided to write one ourselves. This was our first joint research project together, and, in 2000, our Jitsuyo Chugokugo Kiso Tekisuto—Ishii-kun no Pekin 3 Shukan （A Practical Textbook of Basic Chinese—Ishii-kun’s Three Weeks in Beijing）, for Japanese students of Chinese, was published by Nan’undo, Japan. In the case of this textbook, Ruolan wrote under the name of Caroline Kano, with her Japanese surname written first in Kanji （as according to Japanese custom, unlike Chinese custom, women after marriage assume the surname of their husband） and then her English given name written as it is pronounced in Japanese, in the Hiragana script. Afterwards, however, I felt that she deserved to have a Chinese name, and so I chose for her the name Shi Ruolan, with which she seemed to be thrilled. The pronunciation of Ruolan （which means “l(fā)ike an orchid”） sounds somewhat similar to the latter two syllables of her English name, Caroline. The Chinese surname Shi （which means “history”） is also the first character of the Chinese rendering of her English maiden name, Smith （Shimisi）, and a natural Chinese surname in its own right. It thus seemed very appropriate for her to include her Chinese name in the pre-sent publication.

During the period when I was studying at Hiroshima University and doing research on Hua’er, it became necessary for me to conduct actual fieldwork in China. Accordingly, whenever time permitted in the summer holidays, I visited the Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang regions of the northwest of China, located along the ancient Silk Road, and home of Hua’er, to collect important material. I was most fortunate to be awarded a grant for my research by the Japanese Ministry of Education, together with other funding, including that from the Setsutaro Kobayashi Memorial Fund for postgraduate research, for which I am ever grateful. Eventually, thanks to all the kind support I received, I completed my thesis, which was approved for a PhD. Not long afterwards, my thesis was recommended by the university to Shinzansha, with a view to publication in book form, and, in August of 2005, it was published under the Japanese title Hua’er no Kenkyu—Shirukurodo no Kosho Minyo （Research on Hua’er—Orally Transmitted Folk Songs from the Silk Road）. The book received a gratifying review for its originality and specialized content, and as the first work on the folk songs of the ethnic groups of Northwest China to be published in Japan. In 2008, it was selected for first prize in the Publications Category of the Tenth Ningxia Award for Outstanding Achievements in the Fields of Philosophy and Social Science.

In 2005, I returned permanently to China, and began to teach at Beifang University of Nationalities, in Yinchuan, Ningxia, while continuing my research on Hua’er. In 2006, I visited Kyrgyzstan, one of the Central Asian countries along the ancient Silk Road, to conduct fieldwork, and also many parts of Northwest China, to explore the development of Hua’er there. On the basis of my new findings, I subsequently improved further on my Japanese publication, and, in 2008, my Zhongguo Hua’er Tonglun （A Study of Chinese Hua’er） was published by Ningxia Publishing House. In this work, I described the historical origins, genres, classifications, structure, content, rhetorical imagery, ethnic characteristics and cultural traditions of Hua’er, which are now recognized as one of China’s intangible cultural assets. This Chinese work introduced more than 780 examples of Hua’er, illustrating their unique artistic charm, and representing the Hui, Han, Salar, Dongxiang, Bao’an, Tu, Tibetan and Mongolian ethnic groups in the northwest of China, and the Central Asia Dungan ethnic group. Together with many pictures which I had taken during my fieldwork in Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xingjiang, and Kyrgyzstan, the work therefore presented a comprehensive survey of every aspect of Hua’er. The work was highly rated by experts within China, as having “filled a long blank in research on Hua’er in China”. In 2009, it was awarded the Ninth Shanhua Jiang National Award for Folk Literature. The same year, the four provinces of the northwest of China submitted a joint application to UNESCO, requesting that Hua’er be considered for inclusion in the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The application was accepted, and Hua’er became one of China’s as yet few internationally recognized intangible cultural assets.

It then came about that my Zhongguo Hua’er Tonglun aroused the interest of three young and promising scholars and teachers of English at Beifang University of Nationalities, Yang Xiaoli, Wang Jing and Zhang Xiaojin, who were very enthusiastic about the idea of trying to translate the Hua’er contained in the work into English. Extraordinarily, and most fortunately, their idea coincided with a similar desire previously expressed by Ruolan. It therefore came about that, in 2013, I invited Ruolan to pay a second visit to Beifang University of Nationalities, this time to begin what was to be our third joint research project.

It was indeed a second visit as I had already invited Ruolan to the university once before, in connection with our second joint research project. This was not long after I returned to China and started to teach at Beifang University of Nationalities. Since I had the experience of studying in Japan, and could understand Japanese, I received a request from the university to undertake an important task to complete the cataloguing of research data and publications on the ancient civilisation of Xixia, or Western Xia （located in Northwest China with its capital in present-day Ningxia）, in Japan. Accordingly, I asked Ruolan to try to help me find a Japanese scholar in the field of Xixia culture. Miraculously, Ruolan had just transferred from Shimane Women’s College to take up new English teaching duties at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies （TUFS）, and the Research Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa affiliated with the university just happened to be conducting a research project related to Xixia studies. Thanks to Ruolan’s assistance, I was able to make contact with a Xixia scholar at the Research Institute, Dr Arakawa Shintaro, a former student of the Xixia expert, Dr Nishida Tatsuo, who expressed willingness to participate in a joint project. As a result, I was able to successfully collect data and publish the work, Ribencang Xixiawen Wenxian Shouji Zhengli Yanjiu Chuban （Collating, Cataloguing, Research and Publications Related to Xixia Documents in Japan） in 2007. The publication of the work was supported by a grant from the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, being specially selected for the rare category of “Key Project”. Ruolan also became a member of the project, by agreeing to my request for her to translate my Chinese foreword to Ribencang Xixiawen Wenxian （Xixia Documents Collected in Japan） into English. As a result of this collaboration, at the end of 2010, Ribencang Xixiawen Wenxian, by Wu Yulin and Arakawa Shintaro, was published in two large volumes by Zhonghua Book Company Beijing, and soon entered the collections of research institutes in Japan, Russia and many other countries. In 2011, the work was awarded the prestigious National Prize for Outstanding Publications on Ancient Books.

Subsequently then, the third joint project with Ruolan began in the autumn of 2013, when I took her to see the Head of the School of Foreign Languages and Cultures at my university, Professor Yan Lijun, to discuss her desire to translate Hua’er into English. Professor Yan then announced, “It just so happens that Yang Xiaoli and two other English teachers also want to try to translate Hua’er into English, and they are in need of a native speaker of English to join their team!” Thus it came about that, on the morning of the 9th September, 2013, in the small, comfortable reference room of the School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Ruolan, Professor Yan Lijun, Yang Xiaoli, Wang Jing, Zhang Xiaojun and I held the first meeting of the Hua’er Translation Project Team. It was agreed that the translation would be based on my work, Zhongguo Hua’er Tonglun, and that approximately 200 representative Hua’er, together with their respective explanatory texts, would be selected to translate into English, with the purpose of introducing this example of Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage recognized by UNESCO, to the world. In choosing which examples of Hua’er to translate, it was decided to concentrate on those which would be most appealing and easy to understand. They also decided that the four members of the team would each translate approximately 50 Hua’er, with further final revision by Ruolan in consultation with the team as a whole.

As the saying goes, a good start is already halfway on the way to success. During the course of the following two years, Ruolan visited us two or three more times, to conduct meetings with the other three members of the team and myself. Moreover, as she expressed the wish to see for herself more of the landscape of Northwest China, such as Ningxia’s Mount Liupan, which features greatly in Hua’er. In September of 2013, I accompanied her in a friend’s car on a four-day trip, covering a distance of more than 700 kilometres, to Jingyuan County, Guyuan County and Haiyuan County in the mountainous southern part of Ningxia. I certainly wanted her to see with her own eyes the magnificent sight of Mount Liupan, and experience something of the local food and customs of the region, and have a taste of the environment in which Hua’er were composed, in order to deepen her understanding of the content and facilitate translation.

The process of translating Hua’er folk songs, which are filled with the atmosphere and life of the region where they were created, proved to be more difficult than imagined. This was not only the case for Ruolan, it was also somewhat of a challenge for the three young English teachers who were translating Hua’er for the first time. The first difficulty was to correctly understand the content of the Chinese itself. This is because the words of Hua’er are composed in a spontaneous way, using the dialects and slang of the northwest. Although they are all full of poetic vibrance and subtle meaning, they are fundamentally extemporized, with little attention paid to strict grammatical rules. Without a good understanding of the dialect, it is very easy to misinterpret the real meaning, and thus it is even more difficult to translate them into suitable and effective Eng-lish. Nevertheless, the translators by no means wanted to give up, but constantly and tirelessly discussed their different ideas and interpretations until they came to a consensus. When they really came up against expressions they did not understand, they asked for my assistance （until they were really clear about the meaning）. Ruolan, who “battled”a lot of the time on her own far away in Japan, repeatedly referred to my Japanese translations and explanations of the Hua’er in my earlier Hua’er no Kenkyu—Shirukurodo no Kosho Minyu, comparing them with the original Chinese. If she still had any questions, she contacted me by email, asking me to explain further in Japanese or Chinese. In this way, as a result of the great devotion to the task and effort on the part of the translators, the translation of each Hua’er gradually took shape.

All four members of the translation team are university teachers, responsible for numerous teaching and other duties. In order to be able to concentrate on their translating, they mutually agreed to use the brief periods of their winter and summer holidays to work intensively. Consequently, we invited Ruolan to Ningxia during these periods, in order that they might “pitch into their work together”. As the university was then officially on holiday, it was not possible for her always to stay in the accommodation on campus. The three Chinese members of the team therefore arranged for her to stay at a hotel in the city, where the four of them got together with their notebooks and computer, from morning to night, enthusiastically discussing their translation. Two years previously, Wang Jing had been accepted to study for a PhD at Shanghai International Studies University, but this in no way affected the progress of her translation. When she was in Shanghai, and the other members of the team needed to discuss the translation work with her, they did so online, conducting video meetings. Modern-day means of air travel and Internet communication thus enabled members in faraway Tokyo and Shanghai to come together.

In order to give Ruolan a worthwhile and happy time in Ningxia, the Chinese members of the team specially made her youxiang and sanzi （deep fried bread specialities of the Hui ethnic group）, and brought her many kinds of local fruit, the names of which frequently appear in Hua’er. They also took her early on a Sunday morning to Yinchuan’s Zhongshan Park, to experience tijianzi （shuttlecock kicking） and other traditional sports and games, as well as Tango and various other kinds of dance, such as are a part of the present-day life of Yinchuan, in order that she might enjoy to the full her time of translating Hua’er in Ningxia.

Thanks to the untiring determination of the Chinese and British translators, this English translation, “Hua’er—Folk Songs from the Silk Road”, has finally appeared in print. Although there have previously been scholars from America and other countries who have published research on Hua’er in English, our joint Chinese and British research project is the first of its kind. Without a doubt, this work is significant in its originality, constituting a new stage in, and approach to, research on Hua’er, and will have a place in the history of research on Hua’er in China. Thanks to this fine translation of the fruits of my own research, Hua’er folk songs, with their abundant artistic appeal and “local” flavour, can now enter into the English speaking world, and be presented to people everywhere. This is undoubtedly of great significance from the point of view of promoting knowledge of, and protecting, this UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage asset, Hua’er. As the author of the original Chinese work, I feel both exceedingly happy and heartened, and truly hope that English speakers outside China will appreciate and love Hua’er. I also sincerely hope that the translators of my book will continue their work in the as yet little-trodden territory of Chinese Hua’er folk songs, and produce many more excellent publications.

Wu Yulin

Author of Zhongguo Hua’er Tonglun

30th November, 2015