The School of Translation had the honour of hosting a series of public lectures and master classes from mid-February to mid-March by Professor John Minford, world-renowned sinologist and literary translator. Having translated into English prominent works in Chinese culture such as The Story of the Stone (with David Hawkes), The Art of War, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio and The I Ching, Professor Minford has the hands-on, in-depth experience to speak on “culture and translation” with the level of authority which few in today’s world can attain.

In the first master class, Professor Minford emphasised the importance of extensive reading and writing in the self-cultivation of a translator. He then quoted excerpts from The Letters of Fu Lei to His Son to illustrate ways of manoeuvring the process of translation to attain his goal of making the readers enjoy the translation.