A Destined and Dedicated Translator

When I pushed the office door open in an early winter afternoon， Dong Huiming was working inside the office. After learning that I wanted to write a story about his dedication to translation， he beamed. Over a cup of tea， he let me into his memories about his joy of life derided from translation over the past decades.

Without preamble， Dong said English was his personal passion. After a brief pause， he added that it was his destiny. He took a great interest in English in middle school days probably not simply because it was a language with musical vowels and consonants but largely because it would open the door to the exotic images and legends about which he had known a little. In those years， most middle schools in China offered both English and Russian as foreign languages. He chose English. He soon made his reputation among his classmates through his top scores. He matriculated as an English major student in Hangzhou University， which is now part of today’s Zhejiang University. After graduation， many classmates chose jobs that had nothing to do with English. He did not want to part with the language. So he became an English teacher.

In 1993， he was appointed to a key administrative post in the school. He was unable to teach again even though he wanted teaching English to be part of his routine schedule. Shortly afterwards， he was transferred to the Zhejiang Education Administration where he worked an administrative job and had no opportunity to teach in classroom anymore. He tried to find a way to maintain his intimate ties with the beautiful language that sang to him.

He had been translating an American novel for a while at that time. The book was a gift from a foreign friend. Fascinated with the plots， he decided to translate it into Chinese so that his friends and colleagues could enjoy reading it. Now as he was trying to find a new way to keep up his English language skills， it occurred to him that translating western literary masterpieces could be a way out. The thought made him take the ongoing translation project most seriously.

The memory of the publication of the translated novel in China is vivid with him even today. He said to me， “The sense of accomplishment was so overwhelming and so huge that I knew I never had experienced anything like it in the past decades of my life. It was the feel of a dream coming true.”

In the following years， he worked as a department chief at the Zhejiang Education Administration. Now he is president of Zhejiang Education Newspapers Publishing House， a large education publication institution that prints 12 newspapers for school administrators， teachers and students in primary and secondary education institutions across the province.

Despite a tough and busy schedule， Dong Huiming has kept his hands busy in translation. His daily translating task is at least one page of a text in the original language. Over the past 20-plus years， he has kept working at it. All his spare time he spares for himself. He accepts no invitation to parties and similar activities. His social activity schedule is kept to the minimum. His loving wife spares him his share of house chores.

Dong’s translation magnum opus is “The Kent Family Chronicles” by John Jakes， a series of eight novels by the American novelist to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

In the late 1980s， Dong Huiming ran into “The Americans”， the last of the eight-volume saga. He enjoyed reading it so much that， when a friend called from America in 1988 asking what he could bring back for Dong from America， Dong did not hesitate to ask his friend to buy him all the eight books of “The Kent Family Chronicles”. Even today， Dong still can’t find words for the excitement and joy surging through his heart when he first set eyes on the volumes in front of him.

Over years， his dedication to English evolved. At first， he just couldn’t endure the thought of giving it up even though his teaching career had ended. Gradually， he developed a strong interest in translating. Now it is one of his lifelong pursuits. Translating day in day out may sound very monotonous， but Dong encourages himself with the positive social value the books may produce. He wants to leave something valuable behind him.

In order to be a better translator， he reads extensively. His reading list includes books in philosophy， religion， biographies， history， classical and modern literary masterpieces. Of all the writers， he prefers Lu Xun， a 20th century Chinese literary giant. To polish his art， Dong studied translation theories. In order to translate the Chronicles well， he even did a field study in America.

Dong has translated seven volumes of “The Kent Family Chronicles” into Chinese. The translations amount to 5 million Chinese words， a lot of which were handwritten character by character before he was able to do it on his computer.

Dong has dedicated his leisure time to the epic translation project and he dedicates his work time to his work. His colleagues describe him as a man of knowledge and gentility and a leader with insights into education. He is a scholar-type leader. Many of his papers on education have won first prizes for excellence in nationwide appraisals.