Winton Dong

    dht620@sina.com

    THE whole world was busy last week commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of British writer William Shakespeare.

    The precise date of his death is not known, but his funeral was held on April 25, 1616, in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town in Warwickshire. Despite the fact that the playwright died 400 years ago, he still remains one of the world’s most famous writers today, living on through endlessly reinterpreted plays and globally known characters such as Prince Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and many others.

    “All the world’s a stage, all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances.” This is the sentence that begins a monologue from Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It.”

    If the whole world is really a stage, then William Shakespeare is surely the player who will never exit. His works looked into common human themes such as betrayal, murder, lust, power, ambition and love. These themes are as much a part of human nature today as they were hundreds of years ago.

    Shakespeare’s works have been translated into more than 80 languages and warmly welcomed all over the world. Plays written by Shakespeare have always been a staple and spiritual nutrition for Chinese theater and literature students. In 1839, Shakespeare’s name made its first appearance in Chinese publications. In 1902, a student production of “The Merchant of Venice” became the first Shakespearean work staged in China. Since then, the translation of his works has thrived all over the country.

    Abundant translation has helped make Shakespeare accessible to one-fifth of the world’s population. Of all the Chinese translations, the most influential version to date is the one by Zhu Shenghao (1911-1944), who completed work on 31 of Shakespeare’s plays under fierce circumstances, including his poor health and the Japanese invasion. It was said that Zhu lost his translation manuscripts more than once to Japanese fires. In 1978, based on Zhu’s translation, the first mainland-based complete version of Shakespeare’s work went to print. Altogether, it included 38 plays and 154 sonnets. (Sonnet is a kind of poem made of 14 lines that rhyme in a fixed pattern.)

    As an English learner, I am glad to see that never before have Chinese fans of Shakespeare had so many ways of approaching his immortal work. For example, activities across China were held last week to mark his 400th death anniversary. One of the films featured at the Sixth Beijing International Film Festival, which closed on April 25 this year, was the 2015 version of “Macbeth.” As an English literature major while pursuing my bachelor’s and master’s degrees, I have been, for many years, deeply impressed by the words “Fair is foul, foul is fair” in Act I, Scene I, Line 11 of the tragic play “Macbeth.”

    According to a survey conducted by the British Council, the long-dead Bard is one of Britain’s leading cultural ambassadors. His popularity not only contributes significantly to the U.K.’s prosperity and influence, but also helps generate a positive international image of Britain. “Four hundred years after his death, Shakespeare’s work continue to play a vital role in educating and entertaining people around the world,” said Rosemary Hilhorst from the council. Moreover, his popularity has a direct influence on the British economy, not just in terms of attracting visitors to theaters, but also by paying tribute to the country’s standing in the world.

    The influence of Shakespearean work in the global political arena cannot be ignored. His plays even nurture great politicians all over the world. In October last year, while giving a speech in London, Chinese President Xi Jinping recounted his exposure as a youth to the Bard, saying how he was attracted by the emotions in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Twelfth Night,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet,” “Othello,” “King Lear” and “Macbeth.” On April 23 this year, while visiting Britain to attend the 90th birthday celebration of Queen Elizabeth II, U.S. President Barack Obama took a break from political talks in London to tour Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, listening to Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy.

    (The author is the editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.)