A Study on the Chinese Translation Strategies of Natsume Soseki’s *The Grass Pillow*

—Based on a Comparison of Cui Wanqiu’s and Feng Zikai’s Translations

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_38How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Grass Pillow; Feng Zikai; Cui Wanqiu; Natsume Soseki; Mono no aware; Chinese philosophy

Abstract

Cui Wanqiu and Feng Zikai, both modern Chinese writers, translated Natsume Soseki’s *The Grass Pillow*, but their perspectives differed. Cui Wanqiu’s translations of *The Grass Pillow* embody Natsume Soseki’s literary philosophy of “leisurely observation.” Having spent nine years in Japan, Cui Wanqiu’s exposure to Japanese literature and interactions with members of the Japanese literary circle gave him a deep understanding of Japanese literature and culture, resulting in a faithful translation that frequently incorporates original Japanese words. Feng Zikai’s profound knowledge of Chinese literature, on the other hand, led to a highly subjective translation of *The Grass Pillow*, reflecting his own Chinese literary concepts and philosophical understanding, while also striving to make Japanese literary allusions accessible and understandable.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhongxin Jia
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/15
TI  - A Study on the Chinese Translation Strategies of Natsume Soseki’s *The Grass Pillow*
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 5th International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities and Arts (SSHA 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 367
EP  - 374
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_38
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-577-5_38
ID  - Jia2026
ER  -