Esperanto and the Translation of the Literature of Marginalized Nations

Although it has now almost been forgotten in the history of Sino-foreign literary communications in the twentieth century, the Esperanto movement once impacted on many regions all over the world. The inter-lingual and intercultural practices, with Esperanto as the interlanguage, is an understudied subject. This is especially so for the study of Sino-foreign literary relations. Esperanto might be considered as an uncharted territory within Chinese literary field, although this would clearly be seen to be a mistake if one had a glance of the list of renowned Chinese writers and translators who took part in the Esperanto movement, including Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Qu Qiubai 瞿秋白, Mao Dun, Ba Jin, Xiao Jun 萧军, Xiao Hong 萧红, Ding Ling 丁玲, Wang Luyan, Jin Kemu, Lou Shiyi, Ye Junjian 叶君健, Zhong Xianmin 钟宪民 and Sun Yong. This list would be even longer if renowned Chinese modern intellectuals are also considered, such as Cai Yuanpei 蔡元培, Liu Shifu 刘师复 (also known as Liu Sifu 刘思复), Liu Shipei 刘师培, Wu Zhihui 吴稚晖, Li Shizeng 李石曾, Hu Yuzhi 胡俞之 and Chen Yuan 陈原, who all participated in the Esperanto Movement in China to some extent.