Published 5 October 202310 October 2023 · Poetry The art of excavating a word or character: a minor case study Ouyang Yu Let me plunge into the story-essay straight away without any preambles. I’ll make it easy, in fact so easy that any perpetual linguistic ignoramuses will understand it immediately without having to pay a single cent, for a free lesson to be had. 1. 兵. 2. This is a Chinese character, pronounced ‘bing’, meaning ‘soldier’ or ‘soldiers’. 3. It consists of two parts: 丘and八, which is why soldiers are commonly known in the past, derogatorily, as丘八, pronounced ‘qiuba.’ 4. If you remove“八”underneath it, it becomes“丘”, pronounced ‘qiu’. 5. 八is pronounced ‘ba’ and means ‘eight’. It doesn’t have a meaning attached to the word兵although anyone is welcome to read more into it depending on the whim. 6. If you do not know how to pronounce ‘qiu’, pronounce it as ‘chiu’. Yes, you get it right. 7. It means ‘mound’ or ‘mounds’. 8. If you remove the right part of“八”, it becomes“乒”. 9. If you remove the left part of“八”, it becomes“乓”. 10. “乒”and“乓”, pronounced ‘ping’ and ‘pang’, are onomatopoeic words indicating the sound of shooting. 11. “乒”and“乓”, if associated with a ball, becomes乒乓球, equivalent to your ping pong balls, 球being pronounced ‘qiu’. 12. Now, a quiz: Can you make a poem out of the sheer character: 兵, bing, soldier? 13. You can’t? I know you can’t. Nor can I. But陈黎—Li Chen in Taiwanese pinyin or Chen Li in mainland Chinese pinyin—a contemporary Taiwanese-Chinese poet can. See his poem below,[1] 14. Need an explanation? Sure. Must needs. Stanza 1: All soldiers. Stanza 2: Soldiers that begin to disintegrate into the sounds of shooting. Stanza 3: All mounds. 15. Isn’t this something simple enough to be translated into English? Give it a go, although I doubt it very much, whoever you are. 16. A translator must have some level of genius to do it apart from the skills and knowledge. 17. I’ll give you time to do that. Let’s wait for a few days, a few years or a few decades, particularly in a country like Australia that has always refused to be integrated with what it thought is foreign languages. Got to start learning straight away or suffer China-initiated sanctions. 18. Hit them hard, China, for being so linguistically uncool. 19. I don’t know how long it took me to do it but when the idea arrived it took seconds. Or perhaps minutes. It does require imagination. More, it requires excavation, an excavation of the word. Your word. An English one. 20. Towards the end of 2006, when I was a professor at Wuhan University, I translated the poem and revised my translation, as follows, Soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier 21. It’s not until yesterday evening, seventeen years after, that I found an online article, in Chinese, that compares my English translation with Chen Li’s Chinese poem: in which my translation is differently presented,[2] 22. Obviously, this is not quite right. Problem with online stuff is that it’s hard to trace back to the origin (I tried but in vain), so it’s impossible to correct him or her, this being someone with a pen-name: 流马（Liu Ma or Flow Horse）. But I have my own way of getting things done. I chased myself up to the end of the day and found my self-published version in《告别汉语》（Goodbye to Chinese）, of 16 lines, with a detailed note of explanation in Chinese, A War Symphony[3] soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier 23. My Chinese note of explanation goes,[4] 此诗需要解释一下。首次标下划线的“sol”，在西班牙文中是“太阳”的意思。 其次标下划线的“old”，在英文中的意思是“老”或“旧”。再次标下划线的 “die”，在英文中的意思是“死亡”。最后标下划线的“ier”，没有任何意思，只 是一个象声词，音似“哎呀”。全诗用的也是一个字: soldier (兵)。读解起来， 不妨说一个如初生太阳的士兵，一进入战场，很快就老旧并死亡，最后只剩下 一声“哎呀”的叹息，来自读者的叹气或者士兵死时的叹气。 24. Without self-translating it, I’ll just paraphrase it: a. The underlined ‘sol’, in Spanish, means the sun. b. The underlined ‘old’, self-explanatory. c. The underlined ‘dier’ means the one who dies. d. The underlined ‘ier’, in Chinese, sounds like aiyah, used to express dismay, exasperation, sadness, and surprise. 25. An erratum. The third four lines should have actually been underlined where ‘die’ is, as my first version shows: soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier 26. A subsequent revision goes, dateless, with a total number of 20 lines, as follows, A War Symphony soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier soldier 27. An afterthought. Thanks to the POD technology, and with the third edition of ten copies sold out, I shall be able to print a new edition, of ten copies or one hundred copies, with the translated poem revised even though ‘dier’ does make a lot of sense on its own. 28. Before I meant to wrap up this one, I bumped into a poem[5] by Gary Snyder that I thought superficially resembles Chen Li’s poem, which could have been improved with all the words of ‘smog’ squeezed together in a thick mass. If he had gone through the smog of the Chinese kind, he would have appreciated what I suggested here. I may sound harsh in my criticism here only because we, I a member of it, at the Otherland Smashing Poetry Group on WeChat have got used to pick on poetry by whoever wrote it, famous or not, and smashed it, our highest praise for a poem being ‘unsmashable’, which does not apply to Snyder’s poem in question. Want to hear my comment? Here you have it: just a shallow play of the word without any philosophical profundity and not even dense enough to produce the dismal effect, too light-touched. 29. I happen to recall that Chen Li’s poem was used as the cover of a book of Chinese poetry I translated and that Five Islands Press published, in 2015, its cover below, Even though the book is long out of print, the noise of the war symphony, through the dismantling of the character, remains pictorial enough to hit the viewer hard. [1] This poem, titled, ‘The War Symphony’, ended up being used as a picture for the cover design of a collection of Chinese poetry I translated into English, Breaking New Sky: Contemporary Poetry from China. 5 Islands Press, 2013. [2] It should be ‘Translated by Ouyang Yu’, but it’s a typo made by Liu Ma, not me. [3] Qtd in Ouyang Yu,《告别汉语》（Goodbye to Chinese）. Otherland Publishing, 2022, third limited edition of ten copies only, pp. 336-337. [4] Ibid, p. 337. [5] Gary Snyder: Collected Poems. The Library of America, 2022, p. 566. Image by Jason Leung Ouyang Yu Ouyang Yu is a poet based in Melbourne and since his first arrival in April 1991 in Australia, he has published quite a few poems. His eighth novel, All the Rivers Run South, is forthcoming with Puncher & Wattmann in 2023. More by Ouyang Yu › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. 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