Bridge Builders:
James Trapp
The translator and educator whose love of China began with an exhibition in his teens
"I wanted to find out more"
If you've ever wondered how to get through an empty afternoon, perhaps with a bored teenager to entertain, consider the option of a museum or an art exhibition. It might pass the time; it might educate as well as entertain; and it might just be the start of a lifelong passion which turns into a satisfying career.
Such was the case with James Trapp. These days, he's a world-renowned freelance translator. But he was once a teenager, and like many teenagers he was looking – perhaps unwittingly – for something to do, something to believe in, something to identify with.
"I was, I think, 14, and I was taken to an exhibition of Chinese Art at the Royal Academy in London," he tells CGTN. "It was the first major exhibition of Chinese art in the UK for about 50 years."
The effect was both instantaneous and lifelong. "I was simply stunned by it," he admits. "I'd never seen anything like it – I'd never really seen Chinese art before. So it came as something completely new to me and it fascinated me."
It didn't just fascinate Trapp. It lit a fire in him, a fire of curiosity that would dictate the course of his life and career: "I decided from then on that I wanted to find out more."
And he certainly has – for much longer, and to a much deeper extent, so than most teenage concerns. "I started with an interest, and then it moved on," he says with a large helping of understatement.
First, he studied Chinese at university. If that seems like a strong and specific commitment, it could have been even stronger and more specific: "I'd originally wanted to do a degree in Chinese archeology, but I was the only person in the country who did – so that course didn't happen."
Instead, he got a broader education before focusing in. "I went to SOAS – the School of Oriental African Studies at London University – and took the main four-year Chinese degree course, but I was able to specialize in my final two years, in pre-Han archeology and early Buddhist sculpture from the Wei dynasty up to to the end of the Tang Dynasty."
Gilt Bronze Plinth, Gansu Provincial Museum, China. /VCG
Gilt Bronze Plinth, Gansu Provincial Museum, China. /VCG
Chinese Bronze artefacts, Gansu Provincial Museum, China. /VCG
Chinese Bronze artefacts, Gansu Provincial Museum, China. /VCG
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Lost in translation
So how did Trapp jump from Bronze Age archeology to a career in translation? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, might be the surging interest in tattoos.
"I started translating Chinese almost by accident," he says. "I'd always done translation for my own entertainment, from French and from Latin and Greek, but that was just for fun. And I just happened to be contacted by a company who were looking initially for someone to write a book about Chinese characters.
"It was a coffee-table book: I think it was designed for the tattoo market, so people would know what characters they had tattooed on them."
The result was Chinese Characters: The art and meaning of Hanzi, and it opened a series of doors. "I did a couple of books for them, and then they decided that they were going to to branch out into publishing some of the the classics – particularly Sunzi bingfa, The Art of War, because that's probably the best-known Chinese classical work in the West, where it's still very, very popular."
"Chinese in particular offers a way of looking at things that many Westerners haven't considered before"
That led to more translation of classic Chinese literature, including the hugely influential philosophy text Dao De Jing and the poetry collection Book of Songs. But which did he enjoy the most?
"I think I ought to say my favorite was Dao De Jing, but actually the one I most enjoyed doing, because I was allowed to choose the poems that I wanted to translate, was the Book of Songs. It was the most challenging, but also I think the most interesting in terms of the insights it can give you into aspects of Chinese culture way back now, 3,000 or more years ago."
As you'd expect from a translator, Trapp measures and considers his words, and 'insight' is perfect for the way texts can allow a glimpse into a different culture – one separated by thousands of miles, years or both.
"Westerners have always had a very interesting relationship with China and with the Oriental thing," he says. "They admire or they appreciate what they think of as exoticism; I don't like that word, but Chinese in particular offers a way of looking at things that many Westerners haven't considered before.
"The Art of War, for instance, is still required reading for certain military organizations – I think in the United States Marine Corps, it's on the reading list. And it found a new life in the business world. So it's surprising the connections that the people make."
How to translate
Even for someone like Trapp, who readily offers that he used to translate texts from other languages for fun, Chinese presents a special type of challenge.
"Translation of Chinese is an interesting operation, an interesting exercise," he says. "I think it's unlike translating other Western languages. If you're translating a French text or a Latin text or whatever, you have a more direct link between your original text and your translation.
"That's partly a function of the way Chinese language works: the whole way it conveys meaning is very different from Western languages."
"You have to allow the Chinese text to talk to you."
However, Trapp has figured out a way of understanding, one that seems initially slightly curious but then increasingly obvious: you listen.
"You have to allow the Chinese text to talk to you first and then respond to it," he says. "That sounds a little odd, but when I'm reading the passage – especially with classical Chinese, which is very, very elliptical; it has even less grammar, as we would recognize in the West, than modern Chinese – you really have to sit with the text for a while and let it form its performance image.
"It's simplistic to say it's a very pictorial language, but it works in characters, not in words. And characters are not like Western words. Characters are a visual representation of a concept of an idea, and that concept can have lots of different aspects."
In some ways, it's a little like reading a poem or appreciating a work of art. "You have to look overall first, and then narrow down onto the particular piece you're translating at the time. It's a different process, a process of absorption, visualization and then essentially writing."
Understanding modern China
Contemporary fiction gives an insight into modern Chinese society. /CGTN
Contemporary fiction gives an insight into modern Chinese society. /CGTN
Trapp on the walls of the ancient town of Pingyao. /Trapp
Trapp on the walls of the ancient town of Pingyao. /Trapp
If translating classic literature helped Trapp get a detailed insight into Chinese history, a later commission gave him the chance to understand China's more recent past. It was an opportunity he jumped at.
"Recently I had the chance to translate a number of books concerning contemporary Chinese politics," he says. "And the most important of these, which coincided with the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Chinese Communist Party, was The Concise History of the Chinese Communist Party.
"It's fascinating reading because it gives Westerners, who don't really have a chance to do this very often, a chance to read and to understand the Chinese viewpoint about what's happening, what's being done, and why it's being done."
"You begin to see clearly why things are being done the way they are"
Again, this gives insight into a different culture – one which Trapp thinks remains misunderstood in the Western world.
"Very often with the West's reaction to contemporary China and contemporary Chinese politics, the only interpretation people can put on is a Western one: They immediately apply Western standards, Western ideas to what's going on.
"Whereas when you read the official documentation – and I'm aware it's official – you begin to see more clearly why things are being done the way they are, from the Chinese point of view. You can understand the progress and the progression that's being made.
"The most remarkable thing that I got out of reading these various political words was the overall consistency and clarity of vision, which is something that I think Westerners don't see."
This understanding, Trapp believes, would be more than useful to various Westerners – especially those whose business might increasingly benefit from better knowledge of Chinese culture.
"I think it's very important, and I think more people should read them. They are quite dry reading, but if you're at all interested in China and contemporary Chinese affairs and even Chinese history, they really are essential reading to give you a more balanced viewpoint."
Truth from fiction
Trapp chooses stories that are relatable to a Western audience. /Trapp
Trapp chooses stories that are relatable to a Western audience. /Trapp
Trapp's translation career hasn't just covered non-fiction, or indeed history. Also on his resumé is a growing list of contemporary novels – although again, it wasn't something he was necessarily looking to achieve; as with the coffee-table book for tattoo browsers, the publishers came looking for him.
"It was entirely by chance: Alain Charles Asia Publishing were looking for a translator for a novel about a Song dynasty judge, very well known in China: Song Ci," he admits – and reading the story, he was glad they'd asked.
"It's a remarkable novel, essentially a CSI for medieval China – Song Ci is the first Chinese crime scene investigator," Trapp smiles of Wang Hongjia's book, translated as Final Witness: The Story of China's First Crime Scene Investigator. "It's a fictionalized account of his life, but it describes many of his techniques and his wonderful solving of mysterious cases."
Again, Trapp had to extend himself to complete the task – but again, it was a process he enjoyed.
"It was a challenging thing. It was my very first attempt to translate contemporary Chinese; it was a challenging book, because it was very long and quite complex with a lot of historical detail.
"But it absolutely fascinated me. It engaged me in a way that I hadn't been for quite some time by anything, because it was so vivid."
"To understand a nation, read its fiction"
Trapp has now also translated novels by authors such as Su Tong, Ma Pinglai, Li Peifu and Zhang Ping. Translating these well-received stories – Trapp notes that the originals have all won the prestigious Mao Dun prize – has given the Englishman yet more insight into Chinese life.
"Always go to fiction: If you want to understand how a nation understands itself, you should always read its fiction," he advises. "The joy of translating contemporary Chinese novels is the immediacy of the images you get of how Chinese see themselves.
"Contemporary Chinese novels are so rich and varied, and often so unexpected to a Western readership who make assumptions about what China is like and what Chinese literature is going to be like. As you get in Western fiction, in Chinese fiction it's exactly the same: You get all aspects of life openly and vividly discussed, presenting a picture of contemporary China that you simply won't get anywhere else."
"There are world-class writers in China, not heard of in the West"
Trapp isn't just enchanted by the novels' content, but also their form, enthusing about the quality of contemporary Chinese novelists.
"There are some remarkable authors who deserve more recognition worldwide," he says. "There are world-class writers writing in China who simply are not heard of in the West at the moment. It's an important thing to get their voice out there."
Doing that requires book launches – an action which brings Trapp into contact with the reading public.
"When we publish the translations of Chinese novels, the book launches and book clubs are always very well attended, often by universities – we have quite a large audience of students for literature and translation."
It's not the only involvement Trapp has had with the education sector.
Learning Chinese in school
Having had his young life changed by discovering Chinese, Trapp has now worked to help other children experience the same enlightenment.
"I was very lucky to be employed at the Institute of Education, Confucius Institute at London University – it's now part of University College London. It works with schools promoting the study of Chinese language.
"Eight or nine years ago, the British government decided that they were going to introduce modern foreign languages into the primary school curriculum – something that should have been done decades ago, because when else should you start teaching language except when children are young?
"Initially there was a group of target languages of which Mandarin Chinese was one, and I was given the job of trying to develop Mandarin as a viable primary language for the second half of primary education" – for pupils aged around seven to 11.
It wasn't a simple task, but it was successful in many ways.
"Schools that were able to engage with it loved it, it was popular with the students, it was popular with the teachers – and it was popular with head teachers because learning Mandarin gives you so much more than just acquiring a language.
"Because of the way Chinese works as a language, it encourages different thinking skills. Teachers were finding that kids who weren't doing well in some of the mainstream subjects were the ones who excelled in Mandarin, because it appealed to a different way of thinking – not necessarily the linear, straight-line thinking of Western learning, but more conceptual."
"Schools were seeing benefits across the curriculum from learning Mandarin"
Warming to his theme, Trapp continues to explain how differently young minds can work.
"Students who are good at music or math often found themselves really finding Chinese very... not easy, I can never say it's exactly easy – no language is – but it suited them. And schools were seeing benefits across the curriculum from learning Mandarin."
However, logistics were always a problem, particularly the single-teacher model favored in UK primary schools.
"It was made difficult by limited funding, and a lack of teachers – in primary schools, teachers teach everything, but there isn't a base of teachers who have any knowledge of Chinese here. So we relied to a great extent on teachers coming in from China through the Hanban [Confucius Institute HQ] and the British Council.
"That worked very well, but it was limited and limiting. I did some training courses to give ordinary classroom teachers some basic understanding of Mandarin, so that they could effectively study along with their students. The teachers were very enthusiastic."
The main problem, however, was a sadly typical barrier to many a good educational initiative: money.
"In the end, essentially a lack of funding proved the obstacle. Schools who wanted to teach Mandarin would come and say, 'Where can we get a teacher?' We only had a finite number, and we couldn't cover every area.
"There are now more teacher training courses specializing in Mandarin at different universities, which is great, but until our educational establishment – more pertinently, our government – takes language learning seriously, and understands the benefits of teaching languages at primary school, then it's going to remain an uphill challenge."
At the British Museum
Trapp has also given other youngsters the chance to enjoy what started his whole Chinese odyssey – a day out at an exhibition.
"The first major opportunity I had to engage with a wider school audience was when I took up the post of China education manager at the British Museum," he recalls. "That coincided with a major exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors, which was hugely successful.
"We were able to provide a very comprehensive education – schools could get free visits to the exhibition, so that was an opportunity for the children to learn more from the exhibition itself, but then to take that learning back into their classrooms.
"I worked there for six or seven years, and my time there ended with another major exhibition on the Ming Dynasty. In between those two, I did my best to expand the museum's China education offerings – online and written resources, and sessions in the Chinese galleries."
"China doesn't really figure on the school curriculum in the West"
It was a job that gave Trapp great joy, but also frustration.
"The problem was that China doesn't really figure on the school curriculum in the West," he says. "Teachers are bound by the curriculum, they have to teach those subjects, so anything to do with China tends to be an additional thing.
"So it was quite difficult to build up anything major there – although there was a lot of support from the Museum, you can't invent an audience that isn't there. But the time I spent was very valuable in forming my opinions about how Chinese could be taught."
Trapp at a Chinese cultural teaching session. /Trapp
Trapp at a Chinese cultural teaching session. /Trapp
British Museum, London, UK. VCG
British Museum, London, UK. VCG
Trapp at British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition. /Trapp
Trapp at British Council Mandarin Speaking Competition. /Trapp
Trapp as Chinese Educational Manager, The British Museum. /Trapp
Trapp as Chinese Educational Manager, The British Museum. /Trapp
Trapp and family visiting Hangzhou, China. /Trapp
Trapp and family visiting Hangzhou, China. /Trapp
Trapp leading a tour group in Tibet. /Trapp
Trapp leading a tour group in Tibet. /Trapp
A search for wisdom
Trapp is clearly not a man to hang back with an opinion on his own country, and specifically how to improve it. His first target is ignorance.
"There's a lack of people at the top level in this country who have any understanding of China as a country and of the richness of its history and its civilization," he says. "And it's often those kinds of brick walls that stop anything progressing, whereas there are so many more points of contact and points of shared interest and shared understanding areas, where one side can learn from the other, which are not being explored."
For Trapp, what's worse than ignorance is prejudice – adding a predetermined skew to reporting. "There's a tendency in the British press: Whenever China's mentioned, there's always something negative about it," he says.
"And I'm not saying there are not things that the British would view as negative, but they dominate the conversation to such an extent that so many of the extraordinary things and the good things that are going on in China are not even known about in the West. And as a people, we shouldn't let political differences color our cultural understandings."
"There are many more opportunities for Westerners to engage with China in different ways"
James Trapp sees a bright future for cross-cultural understanding. To that end, Trapp would like to see a lot more Western immersion in China. "I think the way ahead for Anglo-Chinese, for West-Chinese relationships is through cultural exchange, through educational exchange.
"It's been very one-sided: Everyone knows that we have very large numbers of Chinese students studying at British schools and universities, and I think it would be a splendid thing if there was more encouragement for English students to go and study in China."
In the final analysis, Trapp is confident that young people will find a way to bridge cultures – just as he did, starting with that trip to an exhibition at 14 years old. That 14-year-old would be amazed by the bridges already built between the UK and China.
"There are many more opportunities for Westerners, for English students, to engage with China in different ways. And I think we have a very independent-minded younger generation who will do that – that's where the hope lies.
"I have no doubt that a better understanding of China and Chinese culture is a good thing. I've spent 50 years working with Chinese civilization in various ways, and I've never stopped benefiting from it."
Credits
Chief Editor Guo Chun
Editor Elizabeth Mearns
Writer Gary Parkinson
Producers Luo Chen, Elizabeth Mearns
Video Editor Sam Cordell
Camera Nuno Fernandes
