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100 years of Andersen’s fairy tales in China
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NO one can parallel the influence Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen has had on children’s literature in China since his works were introduced 100 years ago.
For generations of Chinese people, Andersen’s fairy tales remain a cozy memory of childhood, when parents read a bedtime story from Andersen’s books every night. His works were the first Western literature that most Chinese people encountered.
In fact, Andersen’s enlightening fairy tales are not only bedtime stories for Chinese, but also listed as texts in Chinese primary and middle schools. Educators think that noted fairy tales including “The Emperor's New Clothes” and “The Ugly Duckling” can nourish children’s minds and cultivate morality.
To mark the centennial of Anderson’s fairy tales entering China, the Zhejiang Museum is holding an exhibition displaying Anderson’s life path through pictures, paper cuts, manuscripts and literature works in cooperation with the Danish Embassy and other Danish organizations.
This is not the first time the Hangzhou local museum has displayed Andersen’s works. Early in 1988, the Zhejiang Museum collaborated with Andersen’s hometown of Odense, Denmark, to hold an exhibition themed on Andersen’s fairy tales, which lured steams of visitors, according to media reports at the time.
Andersen was born into a Danish lower-class family in 1805. His father was a cobbler and his mother was a washerwoman. To deal with the hardship of life, Andersen turned to myth and fairy tales, in which he immersed himself in stories and his own imagination.
Andersen was sent to a local school for poor children, where he received a basic education and was forced to support himself working as a weaver's apprentice. He moved to Copenhagen to seek employment when he was 14. Thereafter, he began to drift from place to place and started to write.
Andersen’s initial fairy tales were revisions of stories that he heard in childhood. In 1835, he published his first fairy tale book, which was not immediately recognized by readers, and sold poorly.
Two years later, his second collection of fairy tales came out. That immortal book included “The Tinderbox,” “The Princess and the Pea,” “Thumbelina,” “The Little Mermaid” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” which were spread to every corner of the world in the next 200 years.
Two of his fairy tales related to China. “The Nightingale” is set in China and tells the story between a Chinese emperor and a nightingale, while “The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep” tells of the romance between a Chinese porcelain shepherdess and a Chinese porcelain chimney sweep.
In addition to writing, Andersen was into paper cut and sketch. “Learn to cut out — that is the very beginning of creativity,” Andersen wrote in a letter in 1867.
Unlike sophisticated Chinese paper cut, Andersen’s works feature bold shapes and simple lines. The exhibited works embody Anderson’s paper cut styles and showcase the writer’s hobby and aesthetic. Anderson’s pen, scissors, original scripts are also displayed in the exhibition.
At the same time, the exhibition embraces costumes designed by Margrethe II of Denmark, who has engaged in creating dramas, animations and illustrations based on Andersen’s fairy tales.
In 2009, she designed costumes and paper cuts for the cartoon “The Wild Swan” that is adapted from Andersen’s fairy tale of the same name. Her works expressed the theme of Anderson’s fairy tales and were consistent with his literature style.
Another part of the exhibition is the introduction of Chinese translators, without whom Chinese people could never know about the everlasting charm of Anderson’s fairy tales.
Zhou Zuoren first introduced Andersen into China in 1913, and two years later writer Liu Bannong translated “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” which is the story by which Chinese people first got to know Anderson’s fantastic fairy tales.
From then on, more and more Chinese writers and translators translated Andersen’s stories, which in return helped his work spread across China.
Among them was Ye Junjian, the best-known translator whose versions, along with an American version, was considered one of the two best translations. In 1988, Margrethe II of Denmark awarded him the Order of the Dannebrog to commend his contribution of translating Andersen’s works.
To date, China has published more than 200 versions of Andersen’s fairy tales. His works have been adapted into children plays, drama, and acrobatics. The country also prints stamps, metro tickets and phone cards themed on his stories.
Date: Through February 9, 9am-5pm
Venue: Gushan Pavilion, Zhejiang Museum, 25 Gushan Rd
Tel: (0571) 8797-1177
Admission: Free
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