Written by a Presbyterian missionary and an American teacher Marjorie Rankin Steurt, and voluntarily translated by Mr. Sun Min locally from Weifang, Shandong Province, the Chinese draft version of her book Broken Bits of Old China was completed on December 12th, 2020. The book’s Chinese title is The Collected Memories of China from a Female Missionary of the Weihsien Courtyard of the Happy Way. The translated work has been donated to Weifang Library and other public libraries such as Kuiwen, Fangzi, Anqiu, and Linqu.
Although the translator Sun is not a Christian, in his view, the local literature value of this book is worthy of attention.
As a native of Weifang, Sun Min, the translator, would like to eventually help people who need to know Weifang better through efforts of mining, collecting, and filing the local historical documents of Weifang.
Recently, Christian Times, a Chinese Christian newspaper, interviewed Sun Min virtually, who shared his experience and reflection of translating the book.
Christian Times: What kind of book do you think Broken Bits of Old China (hereinafter referred to as Broken Bits) is?
Sun Min: First of all, Broken Bits is a memoir. It is not large in word number with a total of 26 sections. It was translated into about 70,000 Chinese characters. The original English version was published in 1973 presenting recordings of events from 1912 to 1917. According to the introduction by the publisher Thomas Nelson Publishing Company, the book was based on letters from Marjorie to her father.
Marjorie Rankin Steurt was initially an educator and she had an academic background in the education sector. Born in Pennsylvania in 1888, she first obtained a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, and successfully obtained a master’s and a doctor’s degree from Columbia University. In 1912, she was appointed to China by the North American Presbyterian Church. She once worked as a teacher and the principal of Wen Mei School for Girls which was affiliated with Wei County (Weihsien) Le Dao Yuan. From 1926 to 1927, she taught in the English Department of Cheeloo University. In 1929, at the invitation of Zhang Boling (a famous Chinese educator, translator’s note), she came to China again from the United States to serve as an experiment instructor at Nankai Primary School. Three years later she resigned and returned to the United States.
In the book, Marjorie recorded the first five years (1912-1917) of life that she experienced as a church teacher when she worked in Weixian County (Weihsien), Shandong Province. She chose what she thought was the best part.
Regarding her experience in Weixian County, she said: “Though (I) was assigned to China by the Presbyterian Church, I never claimed to be a missionary. I would rather recognize myself as a teacher who had experienced unusual adventures in China.” According to the translator himself, her book was first published for American readers. “I hope that through these brief and fragment recordings, readers can get a general idea of the deep-rooted traditional civilization of ancient China, and then help Americans know more about modern China.”
All her recordings were the daily scenes of the ordinary, “their weddings and funerals, their approvals and prejudices, their face-saving approaches, their poverty and daily life, all these life fragments sad or hilarious were presented with a little humor from the perspective of this sympathetic western observer.”
Christian Times: What was your original intention in translating this book?
Sun Min: As a volunteer who mines and collates local documents, the original intention of translating this book was the same as that of collating other local documents - I call it the “origin” issue.
I want to know something about what kind of people there were in this land where I was born, grew up, or lived temporarily. What happened? The time is the past, the place is here, they are the people, and the events are history.
In this process, I encountered this book by Marjorie Rankin Steurt. The records made by westerners from the first person’s view are highly authentic and interesting, from which we can truly understand the social features of China in centuries gone by, especially in Wei County.
Christian Times: What kind of learning and inspiration do you hope Broken Bits will bring to today’s readers?
Sun Min: In addition to knowing some historical truth through this book, I hope readers can gain a view of the history of “respect” and “sympathy”. “Sympathy” here does not mean taking pity, but the ability to have a kind of “empathy”.
In Marjorie Rankin Steurt’s records, her writing was objective, maintaining an objective “respect” and “sympathy”. Although she also described some backwardness as well as bad customs in the book, she did not show contempt or disdain but presented her understanding of the plight that others had with a sense of empathy.
It is this kind of respect and empathy that Broken Bits presents under a variety of differences. Marjorie Rankin Steurt, from America, observed Wei County and even China from her perspective. It is a kind of spatial difference. Our current readers are from the 20s of the 21st century, looking back at Wei County and China in the early 20th century. It is a difference in time period. Will readers in the latter dimension of time be able to maintain a kind of respect and empathy like Marjorie Rankin Steurt did in the earlier and thus vastly different dimension of space?
Christian Times: What are the concrete manifestations of what were the greatest difficulties in the lives of missionaries in Weifang at that time?
Sun Min: The foreigners serving Wei County Le Dao Yuan mainly had language, living conditions and lifestyle problems, differences in medical conditions, and conflicts with local people.
Christian Times: In the process of translation, what do you think of the historical contribution and value left initially by the missionaries through their service in Le Dao Yuan? How do you think we view these contributions today?
Sun Min: The book does not cover the macro picture of construction and development, but depicts some small details, such as education or medical care and so on. However, according to my understanding of the history of Weihsien Le Dao Yuan, the final development pattern of Le Dao Yuan was the trinity of church, school, and hospital. For the social development process, although the functions of education and medical care were around missionary work, it objectively promoted the development process of regional modern education and medical care.
For missionaries, we should still understand and evaluate them from an objective standpoint. Like Marjorie Rankin Steurt, we should also understand the efforts of foreign missionaries for religious dissemination and their objective contributions to the promotion of social civilization in a place with a view of respect and empathy.
- Translated by Charlie Li
2020年12月12日，由美国女教师马乔里•兰金•斯特尔特（Marjorie Rankin Steurt）著；潍坊当地一位孙珉先生翻译并印制完成的《中国琐忆》（中文译著名为《潍县乐道院女教士的中国琐忆（征求意见稿））捐赠入藏潍坊市图书馆以及奎文、坊子、安丘、临朐等公共图书馆。
译者并非基督徒，但是这本书的地方文献价值在他看来值得重视。
这本《中国锁忆》（英文名为《Broken bits of old China》）翻译作者是孙珉，作为潍坊人，他想通过挖掘、收集和整理潍坊历史的文献，最终可以希望帮助有需要的人更好的认识潍坊。
日前，有幸邀请这位翻译作者孙珉，在线上分享了他翻译这本书的来龙去脉和心得体会。
问：您觉得《中国锁忆》是一本什么样的书？
答：《中国琐忆》首先是一本回忆录性质的书，体量并不大，总共26小节，翻译为中文大约7万字左右。出版是在1973年，而记录的内容是发生在1912年至1917年。出版这本书的托马斯•纳尔逊出版公司的介绍，说这本书是基于阮芝仪女士写给父亲的书信而成的。
阮芝仪女士（Marjorie Rankin Steurt）首先是一位教育工作者，她本身具有教育学的学业背景。1888年出生于宾夕法尼亚州，她先是获得了蒙特霍利约克学院（Mount Holyoke College，又译曼荷莲文理学院）的学士学位，又先后获得了哥伦比亚大学的硕士与博士学位，1912年受美国基督教北长老会委派来中国，她曾任教职于潍县乐道院文美女中，并一度担任其校长。1926年至1927年，她执教于齐鲁大学英语系。1929年，受张伯苓所邀从美再次来到中国，出任南开小学实验导师，三年后辞职返美。
在书中，阮芝仪女士记录了自己在山东潍县工作时的第一个五年（1912年至1917年）里，作为教会教师的她，自己经历的若干生活场景和片段。她选取的都是她自己认为最精华的部分。
对于她在山东潍县的这段经历，她自己说：“（我）虽为长老会派往中国的，但我从不曾自称传教士，我宁愿认可自己是一位在中国经历了不同寻常冒险的教师。”按照作者自己的说法，她这本书首先是出版给美国的读者来看的。“我希望通过这些简略琐碎的片段，让读者大致了解古老中国根深蒂固的传统文明，进而有助于美国人更加了解现代中国。”
她所记录的那些完全属于民众自己的情景，“他们的婚礼和葬礼、他们的赞美和偏见、他们维护面子的手法、他们的贫困及日常生活...这些或令人心酸、或让人捧腹的各式生活片段，都通过这位富有同情之心的西方观察者的视角，略显幽默地呈现了出来。”。
问：您翻译这本书的一个初衷是什么？
答：作为一个挖掘和整理地方文献的志愿者，翻译这本书的初衷跟整理其他地方文献的初衷是一样的——我把它称之为“本源”问题。
我想知道一些，我出生、成长或者暂居过的这方土地上，曾经有过怎样的人？发生过怎样的事？时间是曾经，地点是这里，人物是他们，事件就是历史。
在这个过程中，我遇到了阮芝仪女士的这本书。这种西方人以第一视角所作的记录极为真实有趣，我们从中得以真切体会旧时代里中国尤其是山东潍县地区的社会风貌。
问：您希望《中国琐忆》给今天的读者带来怎样一种收获和启发？
答：除了通过这本书了解一些历史的真实以外，我希望读者能够收获一种“尊重”和“同情”的历史观。“同情”不是怜悯意义上的那层意思，而是指能够有一种“共情”的能力。
在阮芝仪女士的记录中，她的笔触是客观的，保持了一种客观的“尊重”和“同情”，她在书中虽然也描述了一些落后和陋习，如此种种，但看不到轻蔑和鄙夷，而是带着一种共情去理解他人的困境。
《中国琐忆》所呈现出来的正是这么一种层级差异之下的尊重和共情。自美国而来阮芝仪女士，用她视角观察潍县乃至中国，这是一种空间上的层级差异。我们的读者现在已经站在21世纪的20年代，回望20世纪早期的潍县和中国，这是一种时间上的层级的差异。处于时间点较高维度的读者们，是否会跟居于空间高维度的阮芝仪女士一样能够保持一种尊重，一种共情的能力呢？
问：当时的传教士在潍坊的生活最大的困难有哪些具体的表现呢？
答： 为潍县乐道院服务的外籍人员，主要有语言问题、生活条件和生活方式的问题、医疗条件的差异，另外就是与地方人士的矛盾。
问：您在翻译的过程中，如何看待起初那些传教士通过在乐道院的服务所留下的历史的贡献和价值？您觉得我们今天如何去看待这些贡献呢？
答：在这本书里，并未涉及建设与发展的宏观内容，只是刻画一些小的细节，关于教育，关于医疗等等。但以我对于潍县乐道院的历史的了解来看，乐道院最终形成发展格局是教会、学校、医院三位一体的。从对于社会发展进程来说，尽管教育和医疗功能是围绕传教工作服务的，但客观上是促进了区域现代教育和医疗的发展进程的。
对于传教士们，我们还是应该秉持一种客观的立场去理解和评价，如阮芝仪女士一样，我们也应该带着一种尊重和共情的眼光，去理解异国教士们对于宗教传播的努力，对于一地社会文明的推进所做出的客观奉献。
专访|《潍县乐道院女教士的中国琐忆》译者：带着尊重与共情的心回望阮芝仪眼中的潍县历史
Written by a Presbyterian missionary and an American teacher Marjorie Rankin Steurt, and voluntarily translated by Mr. Sun Min locally from Weifang, Shandong Province, the Chinese draft version of her book Broken Bits of Old China was completed on December 12th, 2020. The book’s Chinese title is The Collected Memories of China from a Female Missionary of the Weihsien Courtyard of the Happy Way. The translated work has been donated to Weifang Library and other public libraries such as Kuiwen, Fangzi, Anqiu, and Linqu.
Although the translator Sun is not a Christian, in his view, the local literature value of this book is worthy of attention.
As a native of Weifang, Sun Min, the translator, would like to eventually help people who need to know Weifang better through efforts of mining, collecting, and filing the local historical documents of Weifang.
Recently, Christian Times, a Chinese Christian newspaper, interviewed Sun Min virtually, who shared his experience and reflection of translating the book.
Christian Times: What kind of book do you think Broken Bits of Old China (hereinafter referred to as Broken Bits) is?
Sun Min: First of all, Broken Bits is a memoir. It is not large in word number with a total of 26 sections. It was translated into about 70,000 Chinese characters. The original English version was published in 1973 presenting recordings of events from 1912 to 1917. According to the introduction by the publisher Thomas Nelson Publishing Company, the book was based on letters from Marjorie to her father.
Marjorie Rankin Steurt was initially an educator and she had an academic background in the education sector. Born in Pennsylvania in 1888, she first obtained a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College, and successfully obtained a master’s and a doctor’s degree from Columbia University. In 1912, she was appointed to China by the North American Presbyterian Church. She once worked as a teacher and the principal of Wen Mei School for Girls which was affiliated with Wei County (Weihsien) Le Dao Yuan. From 1926 to 1927, she taught in the English Department of Cheeloo University. In 1929, at the invitation of Zhang Boling (a famous Chinese educator, translator’s note), she came to China again from the United States to serve as an experiment instructor at Nankai Primary School. Three years later she resigned and returned to the United States.
In the book, Marjorie recorded the first five years (1912-1917) of life that she experienced as a church teacher when she worked in Weixian County (Weihsien), Shandong Province. She chose what she thought was the best part.
Regarding her experience in Weixian County, she said: “Though (I) was assigned to China by the Presbyterian Church, I never claimed to be a missionary. I would rather recognize myself as a teacher who had experienced unusual adventures in China.” According to the translator himself, her book was first published for American readers. “I hope that through these brief and fragment recordings, readers can get a general idea of the deep-rooted traditional civilization of ancient China, and then help Americans know more about modern China.”
All her recordings were the daily scenes of the ordinary, “their weddings and funerals, their approvals and prejudices, their face-saving approaches, their poverty and daily life, all these life fragments sad or hilarious were presented with a little humor from the perspective of this sympathetic western observer.”
Christian Times: What was your original intention in translating this book?
Sun Min: As a volunteer who mines and collates local documents, the original intention of translating this book was the same as that of collating other local documents - I call it the “origin” issue.
I want to know something about what kind of people there were in this land where I was born, grew up, or lived temporarily. What happened? The time is the past, the place is here, they are the people, and the events are history.
In this process, I encountered this book by Marjorie Rankin Steurt. The records made by westerners from the first person’s view are highly authentic and interesting, from which we can truly understand the social features of China in centuries gone by, especially in Wei County.
Christian Times: What kind of learning and inspiration do you hope Broken Bits will bring to today’s readers?
Sun Min: In addition to knowing some historical truth through this book, I hope readers can gain a view of the history of “respect” and “sympathy”. “Sympathy” here does not mean taking pity, but the ability to have a kind of “empathy”.
In Marjorie Rankin Steurt’s records, her writing was objective, maintaining an objective “respect” and “sympathy”. Although she also described some backwardness as well as bad customs in the book, she did not show contempt or disdain but presented her understanding of the plight that others had with a sense of empathy.
It is this kind of respect and empathy that Broken Bits presents under a variety of differences. Marjorie Rankin Steurt, from America, observed Wei County and even China from her perspective. It is a kind of spatial difference. Our current readers are from the 20s of the 21st century, looking back at Wei County and China in the early 20th century. It is a difference in time period. Will readers in the latter dimension of time be able to maintain a kind of respect and empathy like Marjorie Rankin Steurt did in the earlier and thus vastly different dimension of space?
Christian Times: What are the concrete manifestations of what were the greatest difficulties in the lives of missionaries in Weifang at that time?
Sun Min: The foreigners serving Wei County Le Dao Yuan mainly had language, living conditions and lifestyle problems, differences in medical conditions, and conflicts with local people.
Christian Times: In the process of translation, what do you think of the historical contribution and value left initially by the missionaries through their service in Le Dao Yuan? How do you think we view these contributions today?
Sun Min: The book does not cover the macro picture of construction and development, but depicts some small details, such as education or medical care and so on. However, according to my understanding of the history of Weihsien Le Dao Yuan, the final development pattern of Le Dao Yuan was the trinity of church, school, and hospital. For the social development process, although the functions of education and medical care were around missionary work, it objectively promoted the development process of regional modern education and medical care.
For missionaries, we should still understand and evaluate them from an objective standpoint. Like Marjorie Rankin Steurt, we should also understand the efforts of foreign missionaries for religious dissemination and their objective contributions to the promotion of social civilization in a place with a view of respect and empathy.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Interview: 'With Respect and Empathy, We Look Back at Weihsien’s History in the Eye of Marjorie Rankin Steurt', Says Translator of Her Book Broken Bits of Old China
