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a story about Wei
Mar. 15th, 2009 04:05 pmShort story, because it's finals week. There's also a note about titles at the end that's twice as long as the story. Sorry about that. I like this story because it reminds me of my friend Emily.
important stuff:
-Lord Wen: ruler of Wei and generally awesome guy. He's in the next three stories after this, too. Also, see the note about his title.
-Wei: a warring state
Lord Wen had an appointment to go hunting with his forester. On this day, he was drinking wine and enjoying himself, and it was raining. Lord Wen was about to go outside when his advisers said, "Today we are drinking and enjoying ourselves, and besides, it's raining. Why is the lord about to go out?" Lord Wen said, "I have an appointment to go hunting with my forester. Even though I am enjoying myself, could I really not keep my appointment for even a moment?" He then went to cancel the appointment in person. It was in this way that Wei began to grow strong.
notes on titles: Lord Wei is called "Wen Hou" or "Wei Wen Hou" in Chinese. The "Hou" is his title and doesn't have a great English translation. Most people translate it as Marquis, but since I don't actually know European royalty ranks, that wouldn't be helpful to me. Ranks during the warring states are confusing anyway. The ruler of one state will be called a "Wang" (king), while another is called "Gong" (duke). But they both rule states. And someone may be addressed as Wang, and referred to as Jun (lord).The rulers of Wei, Zhao, and Han are called "Hou" for historical reasons, but they rule fairly important states, and they don't have a king they owe fealty to. So they're not interchangeable with European royalty.
My inclination is to translate "Wang" as "king," since they're pretty approximate, and to replace any other title used to describe the ruler of a state with "lord." It's not ideal, because it won't convey the complexities of the different titles, but for those of us who haven't studied ancient Chinese history, those complexities will probably be lost anyway. But I'm open to suggestions. Would people rather see the untranslated titles? Would you rather I use the standard translations (king, duke, marquis)? Should I use my professor's made-up alternate translations ("commonlord" for "gong", "marklord" for "hou")? Does someone have a brilliant suggestion that solves the whole problem?
important stuff:
-Lord Wen: ruler of Wei and generally awesome guy. He's in the next three stories after this, too. Also, see the note about his title.
-Wei: a warring state
Lord Wen had an appointment to go hunting with his forester. On this day, he was drinking wine and enjoying himself, and it was raining. Lord Wen was about to go outside when his advisers said, "Today we are drinking and enjoying ourselves, and besides, it's raining. Why is the lord about to go out?" Lord Wen said, "I have an appointment to go hunting with my forester. Even though I am enjoying myself, could I really not keep my appointment for even a moment?" He then went to cancel the appointment in person. It was in this way that Wei began to grow strong.
notes on titles: Lord Wei is called "Wen Hou" or "Wei Wen Hou" in Chinese. The "Hou" is his title and doesn't have a great English translation. Most people translate it as Marquis, but since I don't actually know European royalty ranks, that wouldn't be helpful to me. Ranks during the warring states are confusing anyway. The ruler of one state will be called a "Wang" (king), while another is called "Gong" (duke). But they both rule states. And someone may be addressed as Wang, and referred to as Jun (lord).The rulers of Wei, Zhao, and Han are called "Hou" for historical reasons, but they rule fairly important states, and they don't have a king they owe fealty to. So they're not interchangeable with European royalty.
My inclination is to translate "Wang" as "king," since they're pretty approximate, and to replace any other title used to describe the ruler of a state with "lord." It's not ideal, because it won't convey the complexities of the different titles, but for those of us who haven't studied ancient Chinese history, those complexities will probably be lost anyway. But I'm open to suggestions. Would people rather see the untranslated titles? Would you rather I use the standard translations (king, duke, marquis)? Should I use my professor's made-up alternate translations ("commonlord" for "gong", "marklord" for "hou")? Does someone have a brilliant suggestion that solves the whole problem?