Vader on the radar for Star Wars fans

Two novels set in the Star Wars universe have been translated into Chinese in a bid to get young Chinese up to speed with the US franchise ahead of the release of a new movie in the series in December.

The two books, which tell the same story as the first two episodes in the sci-fi series - The Phantom Menace and The Attack of the Clones, were written by United States fantasy writer Patricia C. Wrede. The Chinese versions of the books were released at the China Children Book Expo in Beijing on May 31.

The books were translated by Zhang E, associate professor of translation at East China Normal University, and proofread by Nanfang Zhanshi, the webmaster of the largest Chinese online community of Star Wars - Starwarschina.com

The remaining four books have already been translated into Chinese and will soon be available to the public, according to Nie Zheng, editor-in-chief of the Children's Fun Publishing Company.

With each book dedicated to one Star Wars film, the series, aimed at young readers, faithfully recounts the wars between good force Jedi and bad force Sith "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away".

Since the success of the first Star Wars film in 1977, the sci-fi franchise has become part of the collective memory for a generation of people in the United States and part of global popular culture. It has spawned a large number of spinoffs such as comics, video games and novels.

But the films were not screened in China until the US Film Week II held in 1985 under a 1979 cultural exchange accord between the US and Chinese governments.

"I was very impressed by the film when I walked out of the cinema, but one famous non-fiction writer beside me said that he thought the film was too childish," recalls Wu Yan, a professor of sci-fi literature at Beijing Normal University, speaking about the first time he saw the movie in 1985.

Wu says the film's wild imagination was difficult for Chinese adults at that time. The "cultural revolution" (1966-76) had only recently ended, and the Chinese people were weighed down with many historical and political burdens.

"But the sci-fi genre has become more popular among the younger generation," says Wu. "The Star Wars series has influenced many young sci-fi writers in China."

Yang Peng, a popular writer of children's literature, says that the most powerful weapon in his novels is the "light saber". He says when he was in high school he wrote the Star Wars motto "May the Force be with you" by his bedside to encourage him to study every morning.

George Lucas, the creator of the series, doesn't put strict terms on the recreation of the world of Star Wars and the result of this liberal stance is hundreds of books based in the fantasy universe. Some books were translated into Chinese in the 1980s, but the first large scale translation of Star Wars books happened in the early 2000s as the prequel trilogy were released in 1999, 2002 and 2005.

"In 2002, the People's Literature Publishing House published a series of novels of Jedi Apprentice," says Meng Li, senior manager of licensed publishing at The Walt Disney Shanghai Company. "But this is the first time Star Wars novels have been published in China since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012."

Partnered with Disney, Children's Fun Publishing Company planned to release 20 translated Star Wars books by the end of 2015, and anticipates a sales of more than 1 million copies.

"We are recruiting Chinese writers who are interested in writing Star Wars literature," says Nie. "Right now we are calling for works and after selection, the finalists will become Disney's first Chinese Star Wars writers."

xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 06/03/2015 page7)