Mediating Chinese Yi minority culture: The indirect translation of Jidi Majia’s poetry into Portuguese

The poetry of Jidi Majia celebrates the traditions of the Yi minority in China, especially the Nuosu tribe, or Black Yi. His works have attracted global recognition, thanks to their translation into over 40 languages, including English, Spanish, Irish, Greek and Scots. In 2019, a Portuguese version of Jidi’s poetry was produced by José Luís Peixoto, as part of a project jointly promoted by the National Press and Publication Administration of China and corresponding Portuguese cultural agencies. Given the relative scarcity of literary translators who are proficient in Mandarin and well-versed in the culture of Chinese ethnic minorities, the translation of Jidi Majia’s poetry into other languages usually relies on “indirect translation”, often using English as an “intermediate language.” For his Portuguese renditions, Peixoto used English, French, and Spanish as intermediate languages and solicited the collaboration of a Portuguese-speaking Chinese scholar, Cláudia You, to check his translations. The published version of Jidi Majia’s poetry in Portuguese is, therefore, the result of multiple layers of interpretation, rewriting, cross-checking and redrafting. As with all examples of indirect and collaborative translation, the process raises questions about responsibility and the relative authority of the contributing actors and intermediate texts. This article explores these questions, drawing not only on the Chinese source text, the English intermediate text and the Portuguese target text, but also on paratexts, including the introduction to the Portuguese edition, the email correspondence between José Luís Peixoto and Cláudia You, Cláudia You’s notes on Peixoto’s draft translations, and an interview with her about her experience as a collaborator. From this case study, the author of the present paper seeks to identify the boundaries and roles that must be negotiated in cases of collaborative and indirect translation, particularly when the outcome is to represent an ethnic minority for a cosmopolitan readership.