Promoting theInternational Communication ofChinese Culture：Professor Jiang Xin andJiang YiContributedtothe Successful ApplicationofChineseTea CultureforUNESCO’sIntangible Cultural Heritage throughTheir Translation WorksofChineseClassics

December 9, 2022

On the night of November 29th, the Chinese program of “traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China” was recognized on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Recently, professor Jiang Xin and professor Jiang Yi, teachers from School of Foreign Languages in Dalian University of Technology (DUT), were interviewed by China Education Television (CETV). As the journalist pointed out, the two professors have been committed to translating Chinese tea classics for dozens of years, with translated publications of multiple classics, such asThe Classic of Tea andThe Sequel to the Classic of Tea, which are both included in the Library of Chinese Classics. With their efforts, Chinese tea culture has stepped further forward towards the rest of the world.

The translation group from the School of Foreign Languages has been dedicated to facilitating the communication of Chinese fine culture by virtue of foreign language. With the objective of cultivating students’ awareness of responsibility in research and teaching processes. For dozens of years, professor Jiang Xin and Jiang Yi have concentrated on research and practice in this area:on top ofThe Classic of Tea andThe Sequel to the Classic of Tea in 2003, they have also translated and publishedThe Oriental Charisma: Tasting the Chinese Tea Culture, a gift for the United Nations (UN), andIllustrated Traditional Chinese Craftsmanship included in the series of Chinese culture translation. Supported by the National Social Science Fund of China, the two professors have been in charge of and completed two projects: “The Exploration on Intertextuality Linguistic Memes of Tea Classics & English Translation of Tea Classics from a Fusion of Multi-dimensional Horizons” and “The Cross-time domain Characterization of Tea Culture Memes & A Research on the Translation of Tea Classics”. Overall, around 80 research articles have been published by the group members, and students of the group have also participated in the studies regarding the communication of tea culture translation.

As professor Jiang Xin stated in the interview, “As DUTers, by contributing our efforts to promote Chinese fine traditional culture through foreign language teaching and research, we have a strong sense of happiness.” With extensive and profound wisdom embodied in Chinese tea culture, the successful application of UNESCO’s intangible heritage “traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China” is encouraging and of great significance. Further, it is believed by professor Jiang Xin that there is still a long way to go for the wide acceptance and promotion of Chinese tea culture in the world. Professor Jiang Xin noted that students should be equipped with an awareness and sense of responsibility through higher education, and every Chinese person could strengthen their awareness and sense as well. In this way, Chinese tea culture will be promoted and transmitted among higher levels and wider areas.

Professor Jiang Yi presented her advice on how to make tea culture more easily accessible to youths and to the world. With respect to the latter issue, professor Jiang Yi suggested that more attention and support of cultural government institutions could be directed to tea culture studies, especially in the realm of tea classics translation. At the same time, besides paper books, stories on Chinese tea culture could be elaborated in English through audio books or short videos to promote knowledge on Chinese tea culture. As professor Jiang Yi holds, it would involve both refined and popular tastes in the translation works of tea classics, which could become gifts for foreign friends. In the gift-giving process, foreigners will appreciate the virtue of tea, and Chinese tea culture will spread from China to the world at large.