Mabel Lee
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Mabel Lee, B.A. (Hons I), Ph.D., is Honorary Associate of the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Sydney where, from 1966 to 31 January 2000, she was a member of the Chinese studies academic staff. During this period she served on various interdisciplinary committees and was appointed founding Head of the School of Asian Studies (1991-3). She taught undergraduate Chinese courses at all levels and successfully supervised ten Ph.D graduates. Her own research publications focus on 20th century Chinese literature and history, but in recent years she has also turned to introducing contemporary Chinese writings to the English-speaking world through translation. She continues to publish her academic research and to work with colleagues across disciplines at the University of Sydney.
Her translation of Gao Xingjian’s novel Soul Mountain brought her international recognition when Gao Xingjian was declared 2000 Nobel Laureate for Literature. She went on to translate Gao’s second novel, One Man’s Bible (September 2002) and a collection of his short stories, Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather (February 2004). She has also translated three collections of poetry by Yang Lian, 1999 winner of the Flaiano Prize for poetry. Masks and Crocodile and The Dead in Exile were both published in 1990, and a work inspired by the Book of Changes entitled Yi was published in 2002. Her translations of novelist Hong Ying’s poems have also been published in various literary magazines.
Mabel Lee co-edits two University of Sydney series: the East Asian Series and the World Literature Series. She is also is editorial adviser of Southerly and serves on the Editorial Board of Literature & Aesthetics. From 1985-2001 was assistant editor of the Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA). She is founder and managing director of Wild Peony Pty Ltd, which to date has produced thirty-two titles and placed them on the international market. Wild Peony publications are aimed at promoting better understanding of Asian cultures to the English-speaking world and to promote the work of Australian academics, writers and translators in the field. Recognizing the primary importance of translation in promoting cross-cultural understanding, a large number of Wild Peony titles are literary translations.
In 2001 she was recognised for her work as a translator and awarded the NSW Premier’s Prize for Translation and the PEN Medallion. She has served on the Board of the Sydney Writers’ Festival, the Management Committee of the NSW Writers Centre, and the Literature Program Committee of AsiaLink. She is a Life Member of PEN International (Sydney Centre). In 2003 she was awarded the Centenary of Federation Medal “for service to Australian Society and literature”, and the University of Sydney Alumni Award “for her commitment to the promotion of Asian scholarship and creativity in Australia”.
- Source, University of Sydney
List of Publications
Books & Edited Volumes Articles and chapters Uncollected Literary Translations Miscellaneous Papers & Book Reviews BA Thesis Supervision (AWARDED) PhD Thesis Supervision (AWARDED) Masters/Postgraduate Diploma Thesis Supevision (AWARDED) Recent Academic, Literary & Community Activities
BOOKS & EDITED VOLUMES
Mabel Lee & Beng Tat Ee, Teaching Chinese as a Community Language: A Curriculum and Teacher's Manual (Sydney: NSW Chinese Language Teachers, 1982), 100 pp.
Mabel Lee, Liu Wei-ping, and others, Readings in Modern Chinese (Sydney: Wild Peony, 1987, repr. 1988, 1992), 161 pp.
Mabel Lee & Zhang Wu-ai, Putonghua: A Practical Course in Spoken Chinese (Sydney: Wild Peony, 1988, repr. 1992, 1995), 101 pp.
A. D. Syrokomla-Stefanowska & Mabel Lee, Basic Chinese Grammar and Sentence Patterns (Sydney: Wild Peony, 1986, repr. 1988, 1995, 2002), 99 pp.
Yang Lian, trans. Mabel Lee, Masks and Crocodile: A Contemporary Chinese Poet and His Poetry (University of Sydney East Asian Series Number 3; Sydney: Wild Peony, 1990), 146 pp.
Yang Lian, trans. Mabel Lee, The Dead in Exile (Canberra: Tiananmen Publications, 1990), 75 pp.
Mabel Lee & A. D. Syrokomla-Stefanowska (eds), Modernization of the Chinese Past (Sydney: Wild Peony, 1993), 195 pp.
Mabel Lee & Michael Wilding (eds), History, Literature and Society: Essays in Honour of S. N. Mukherjee (Sydney & Calcutta: Sydney Association for Studies in Society and Culture, Sydney, 1997), 284 pp.
Mabel Lee & Meng Hua (eds), Cultural Dialogue and Cultural Misreading (University of Sydney World Literature Series No. 1; Sydney: Wild Peony, 1997), 422 pp.
Mabel Lee & A D Syrokomla-Stefanowska (eds), Literary Intercrossings: East Asia and the West (University of Sydney World Literature Series No. 2; Sydney: Wild Peony, 1998), 216 pp.
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee, Soul Mountain (Sydney, New York and London: HarperCollins, 2000), 510 pp.
Yang Lian, trans. Mabel Lee, Yi (Los Angeles: Green Integer, 2002), 361 pp.
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee, One Man’s Bible (New York, Sydney and London: HarperCollins, 2002), 412 pp.
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee, Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather (New York, Sydney, London: HarperCollins), 172 pp.
ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS
“The Exalt Commerce Movement of the Late-Ch’ing Period”, Journal of Modern History, XXIII, 2 (Academia Sinica, Taipei, 1972): 207-221.
“In Lu Hsün’s Footsteps: Pai Hsien-yung, A Modern Chinese Writer”, Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 9, 1-2 (1972-3): 74-83.
“Liang Ch’i-ch’ao and the Literary Movement of Late-Ch’ing”, in A. R. Davis (ed.), Search for Identity: Modern Literature and the Creative Arts in Asia (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1974), pp. 203-224.
“Reflections on the Question of Language Reform in China”, Journal of Chinese Teaching and Studies, 1.1 (October 1977): 10-27.
“Chinese Women and Social Change: A Theme in Late-Ch’ing Fiction and Its Subsequent Development”, in Wang Gung-wu and others (eds), Society and the Writer: Essays on Literature in Modern Asia (Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, 1981), pp. 128-138.
“Suicide of the Creative Self: the Case of Lu Hsün”, in A. R. Davis & A. D. Stefanowska (eds), Austrina: Essays in Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Founding of the Oriental Society of Australia (Sydney: Oriental Society of Australia, 1982), pp. 140-167. Reprinted in Yue Daiyun (ed.), Haiwai xuezhe yanjiu Lu Xun lunwen ji (Beijing: Peking University, 1981), pp. 383-417.
“Solace For the Corpse With Its Heat Gouged Out: Lu Xun’s Use of the Poetic Form”, Papers on Far Eastern History (Canberra, 1982): 145-174.
“Chang Ping-lin’s Concept of Self and Society: Questions of Constancy and Continuity After the 1911 Revolution”, in Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica (ed.), Essays from the Conference on the Early History of the Republic of China (Taipei: Academia Sinica, 1983), pp. 193-228.
“From Chuang-tzu to Nietzsche: On the Individualism of Lu Hsün”, Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 17 (1985): 21-38. Reprinted in the following: Mingbao Monthly, 5 (Hong Kong, 1991): 55-63; Yue Daiyun (ed.), Dangdai Yingyu shijie Lu Xun yanjiu (Jiangxi Renmin Chubanshe, 1993), pages not known; and in Gao Yuanbao (ed.), Nicai zai Zhongguo (Shanghai: Sanlian, 2001), pp. 739-58.
“Rethinking Literature in the Post-Mao Period: Liu Zaifu's Theory of the Subjectivity of Literature”, Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 18 & 19 (1986): 101-125.
“The Philosophy of the Self and Yang Lian”, in Yang Lian, Masks and Crocodile (Sydney: Wild Peony, 1990), pp. 9-36.
“May Fourth: Symbol of Bring-it-here-ism for Chinese Intellectuals”, Papers on Far Eastern History, 41 (Canberra, 1990): 77-96.
“Man Confronts History: Yang Lian’s In Symmetry With Death”, Ulitarra, 3 (1993): 57-66.
“Before Tradition: The Book of Changes, Yang Lian’s Yi and the Affirmation of the Self Through Poetry”, in Mabel Lee & A. D. Syrokomla-Stefanowska (eds), Modernization of the Chinese Past (Sydney: Wild Peony, 1993), pp. 94-106.
“Without Politics: Gao Xingjian on Literary Creation”, The Stockholm Journal of East Asian Studies, 6 (1995): 82-101.
“Walking Out of Other People’s Prisons: Liu Zaifu and Gao Xingjian on Chinese Literature in the 1990s”, Asian & African Studies, 5.1 (1996): 98-112.
“Octavio Paz on Literary Translation and Yang Lian’s Poems on Poetry”, Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, 23.4 (December 1996): 943-959.
“Personal Freedom in Twentieth Century China: Reclaiming the Self in Yang Lian's Yi and Gao Xingjian’s Lingshan”, in Mabel Lee & Michael Wilding (eds), History, Literature and Society: Essays in Honour of S. N. Mukherjee (Sydney & Calcutta: Sydney Association for Studies in Culture and Society, 1997), pp. 133-155.
“Discourse on Poetics: Octavio Paz’s Sunstone and Yang Lian’s Yi”, in Mabel Lee & Meng Hua (eds), Cultural Dialogue and Misreadings (University of Sydney World Literature Series Number 1; Sydney: Wild Peony, 1997), pp. 86-99.
“Gao Xingjian’s Soul Mountain: Modernism and the Chinese Writer”, HEAT 4 (1997): 128-157.
“Gao Xingjian’s Dialogue with Two Dead Poets from Shaoxing: Xu Wei and Lu Xun”, in R. D. Findeisen and R. H. Gassman (eds), Autumn Floods: Essays in Honour of Márian Gálik (Bern: Lang, 1998), pp. 401-414. Reprinted in Kwok-kan Tam (ed.), Soul of Chaos: Critical Perspectives on Gao Xingjian (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2001), pp. 277-292.
“Chinese Writers in Australia: New Voices in Australian Literature”, Meanjin, 57.3 (1998): 578-585.
“On the Annihilation of Time in Yang Lian’s Poetics”, Five Bells: Australian Poetry, 6.3 (July 1999): 14-16.
“Gao Xingjian on the Issue of Literary Creation for the Modern Writer”, Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 9. 1 & 2 (1999): 83-96. Reprinted in Kwok-kan Tam ed., Soul of Chaos: Critical Perspectives on Gao Xingjian (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2001), pp. 21-41.
“Pronouns as Protagonists: Gao Xingjian’s Lingshan as Autobiography”, China Studies, 5 (1999): 165-183. Reprinted as “Pronnomina selaku Protagonis: Lingshan Gao Xingjian sebagai Otobiografi”, KALAM: Jurnal kebudayaan, 17 (2001): 139-160. Also reprinted in Kwok-kan Tam (ed.), Soul of Chaos: Critical perspectives on Gao Xingjian (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2001), pp. 235-256.
“Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian and His Novel Soul Mountain”, Comparative Literature and Culture, 2.3 (2000). URL http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb00-3/lee00.html . Reprinted as “Gao Xingjian: First Chinese Winner of the Nobel Prize”, Persimmon: Asian Literature, Arts, and Culture (Spring 2001): 38-44. Also reprinted in China Education Newsletter (December 2001).
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee “The Case for Literature”, Nobel Lecture 2000. URL: http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/2000/gao-lecture.html . Reprinted in the following: World Literature Today, 75.1 (Winter 2001): 4-11; Publications of the Modern Language Association of America (PLMA), 116. 3 (May 2001): 594-601; Matthew J. Bruccoli (ed.), Dictionary of Literary Biography—Yearbook: 2000, ed. by (Detroit, San Franxcisco, London, Boston, Woodbridge, Conn.: Bruccoli Clark Layman, 2001), pp. 9-15.
“The 2000 Nobel Prize in Literature: Gao Xingjian”, in Matthew J Bruccoli (ed.), Dictionary of Literary Biography—Yearbook: 2000 (Detroit, fan Francisco, London, Boston, Woodbridge, Conn.: Bruccoli Clark Layman), pp. 3-8.
“On Nietzsche and Modern Chinese Literature: From Lu Xun (1881-1936) to Gao Xingjian (b. 1940)”, Literature and Aesthetics: The Journal of the Sydney Society of Literature and Aesthetics (November 2002): 23-43.
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee, “Literature as Testimony: The Search for Truth”, in Horace Engdahl (ed.), Witness Literature: Proceedings of the Nobel Centennial Symposium (New Jersey, London, Singapore, Hong Kong: World Scientific, 2002), pp. 113-127.
“Nobel in Literature 2000 Gao Xingjian’s Aesthetics of Fleeing”, CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (March 2003). URL: http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb03-1/lee03.html
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee, “The Temple”, The New Yorker (Anniversary Issue, February 2003): 178-183.
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee, “The Accident”, The New Yorker (2 June 2003): 82-7.
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee, “Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather”, Grand Street, 72 (Fall 2003): 108-123.
Gao Xingjian, trans. Mabel Lee, “In the Park”, The Kenyon Review (winter 2004):
“Returning to Recluse Literature: Gao Xingjian”, in Joshua Mostow (ed.), The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003), pp. 610-616.
“Translations from Asian languages and Wild Peony”, Southerly, 1 (2003): 147-153.
“Zarathustra’s ‘Statue’: May Fourth Literature and the Appropriation of Nietzsche and Lu Xun”, Brian Kiernan ed., Festschrift for Michael Wilding (forthcoming 2004).
UNCOLLECTED LITERARY TRANSLATIONS
Yang Lian, “Height of a Dream”, “Dead Poet’s City”, Literature and Aesthetics: Journal of the Sydney Aesthetics Society (1992): 20-21.
Yang Lian, “Hospital”, “Dead Land”, Hermes (1993): 54, 56.
Yang Lian, “Masks”, in China Avant-Garde: Counter-Currents in Art and Culture (New York & Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1993): 70.
Yang Lian, “Where the Sea Stands Still”, Leonard Schwartz (ed.), “The Contemporary Instance: A Selection of New Chinese Poems”, Talisman: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, 12 (1994): 182-190.
Chu Ke, “Dead Water”, Alitra (Australian Literary Translator’s Association) Newsletter (August 1994).
Yang Lian, “Transformation of Fossils”, “Fish”, Literature and Aesthetics: Journal of the Sydney Aesthetics Society (1994): 64-5.
Yang Lian, “Heaven”, “Masks” Poems 1, 2, 8, 29, 30, and “Crocodile” Poems 1, 14, 15, 20, 30, in Leonard Schwartz, “Contemporary Chinese Poetry and the Experience of the Sacred: Three Chinese Poets”, Journal of Chinese Religions, 23 (Fall 1995): 97 & 102-4.
Yang Lian, “To a Nine Year Old Girl Killed in the Massacre” and “The Dead in Exile”, in Joseph S. M. Lau and Howard Goldblatt (eds), The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature (Modern Asian Literature Series; Columbia University Press, 1995), pp. 577-579.
Feng Hai-shan, “The Clown”, in Robyn Ianssen and Yiyan Wang (eds), Footprints on Paper (Sydney: Robyn Ianssen Productions, 1996), p. 78.
Yang Lian, “Mountain”, Renditions (1996): 84-91.
Yang Lian, “Earth I”, Talisman: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, 17 (Summer 1997): 155-6.
Yang Lian, “Crocodile” Poems 1-15, in Jerome Rothenberg & Pierre Joris (eds), Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern & Postmodern Poetry, Volume 2: From Postwar to Millennium, (University of California Press, 1998), pp. 763-766.
Yang Lian, “Masks” Poems 1, 8, 21, 30, Contemporary Chinese Art and the Literary Culture of China, (Catalogue of exhibition by Patricia Eichenbaum Karetzky, held at Lehman College Art Gallery, 29 September 1998 to 15 January 1999, and Fisher Gallery at Bard College, 1 to 28 February 1999), p. 63.
P’eng Jui-chin, “The Primary Issue for Taiwan Literature is Identifying with the Land”, Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series, 4 (1999): 9-11. [Forum for the Study of World Literatures in Chinese, The interdisciplinary Humanities Center, University of California, Santa Barbara]
Hong Ying, “045/London”, “046/Berlin”, “047/Aarhus”, “048/Copenhagen”, “049/Prague”, “050/Dresden” (from A Record of Nine Cities), Otherland, 6 (2000): 19-23.
Hong Ying, “034/About Fate”, “035/Jaws”, “036/Summer Rain”, “037/If the Elm is in Flower”, “038/Avalanche”, Meanjin, 4 (2000): 196-7.
Hong Ying, “039/Arizona”, “040/Mud”, “041/Mystical Fungus”, “042/Conspiracy”, Southerly (2001): 34-35.
Hong Ying, “How You Became a Fish”, “033/Poetry and Fleeing”, Talisman: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, 21 & 22 (New Jersey, winter/spring 2001): 151.
Yang Lian, “Ten Years”, Jacket 15, December 2001 http://www.jacket.com.au/jacket15/yanglian-poem.html
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS AND BOOK REVIEWS
“The Individual and the Meaning of Personal Freedom in Twentieth Century China: A Century of Development”, Chinese Studies Association of Australia Newsletter (August 1994): 1-4.
“Year 2000: the End of an Era in Chinese Studies”, Arts: Journal of the Sydney University Arts Association, 22 (December 2000): 133-141.
“Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian and His Notion of Cold Literature”, Colette Rayment ed. Sighs Too Deep for Tears: Society for Religion Literature and the Arts, Lectures 2001 (Sydney: RLA Press, 2002): 33-40.
Chiu-yee Cheung, Lu Xun: the Chinese ‘Gentle” Nietzsche. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2001. Reviewed in Asian Studies Review, 26. 4 (December 2002): 511-2.
Henry Y. H. Zhao, Towards a Modern Zen Theatre: Gao Xingjian and Chinese Theatre Experimentalism. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 2000. Reviewed in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture, 14. 2 (2002): 247-252.
BA THESIS SUPERVISION (AWARDED)
HUANG, Frances. "Ding Ling: Disgraced Stalin Literary Prize Winner". BA Hons 1.
LEE, Philip. "Ts'sai Yüan-p'ei: The Man and His Philosophy of Life". BA Hons 1.
CHIA, Susan. "The Tempering of Steel: Ai Wu's Early Life". BA Hons 2.
O'SHEA, Terence. "Art and Politics- A Successful Synthesis: The Short Stories of Zhang Tianyi". BA Hons 2.
DUKES, David. "Fiction in the Nationalist Areas of China, 1945-1949". BA Hons 1.
LI, Gloria. "Portrayal of the Rootless Generation: The Fiction of Yü Li-hua". BA Hons 1.
SUSSMAN, Sally. "Romance and Reality: Some Aspects of Tian Han's Early Life, Essays and Dramatic Works". BA Hons 2.
KENNETT, Graham. "Wu Tsu-hsiang and Literature of the 1930s in China". BA Hons 1.
BAIRD, Sally. "Hsüeh Fu-ch'eng (1838-1894): A Late-Ch'ing Official and Diplomat". BA Hons 2.
ZHANG, Wu-ai. "An Unfulfilled Exploration: Shi Tiesheng's Humanism". BA Hons 3.
PATON, Michael. "Fengshui: The Inner Chapter of the Classic of Burial and the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Siting". BA Hons 2.
LIU, Alan. "A Study of Xu Dishan and His Early Works". BA Hons 1.
VALE, Elise. "A Discussion of Two 'Exploration' Plays". BA Hons 1.
McKENZIE, Archibald. "Su Shaozhi: Lexical Usage". BA Hons 1.
PANG, Rotina. "Chang Ai-ling and Pan-sheng yüan". BA Hons 2.
WILLIAMS, Martin. "The Short Fiction of Bo Yang". BA Hons 1.
SAUVIAT, Deborah. "The Individual in Gao Xingjian's Early Fiction" BA Hons 1.
PhD THESIS SUPERVISION (AWARDED)
KELLY, Anthony Dylan. "Sincerity and Will: The Existential Voluntarism of Li Shicen, 1892-1935". AWARDED
LOUIE, Kam. "Inheriting Tradition: Interpretations of the Pre-Qin Philosophers in Communist China, 1949-1966". AWARDED
CHEUNG, Chiu-yee. "Nietzsche and Lu Xun". AWARDED
DEHE, Joel. "Encounter with Yu Dafu, 1896-1945". AWARDED
PATTON, Simon. "A Poetics of Wu bu wei: Two Texts by Gu Cheng". [External Associate Supervisor: University of Melbourne] AWARDED 1995
PATON, Michael. "Feng-shui: An Historical Overview". AWARDED 1996
ZHANG, Wei. "Politics and Freedom of the Media: A Comparison of Australia and China with Particular Reference to Press Coverage of Some Significant Events Since 1970". [External Associate Supervisor, UTS, Sydney] AWARDED 1996
WANG Yiyan. "Narrating China: Defunct Capital and Jia Pingwa's Fictional World". AWARDED 1999.
CUI, Zhiying. "The Philosophical Foundations of Zhu Guangqian's Aesthetics" AWARDED, 2000.
KUMAGAYA, Hideo. "Yu Dafu's Theoretical Discussions of Literature and Japanese Influences" AWARDED 2001.
MASTERS/POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA THESIS SUPERVISION (AWARDED)
STAPLEHURST, Gary. "Wang Ya'nan and the Economics of Reality: The Political Economy of the Ideal". AWARDED
XIA, Jun. "A Survey of Gao Xiaosheng's Literary Works". AWARDED
ZHANG, Wei. "Today Magazine (1978-1980) and Menglong Poetry". AWARDED
ZHAO, Qian Yi. "Western Literary Influence in Contemporary Chinese Literature: With Special Reference to Poetry and Fiction in the 1980s". AWARDED
WONG, Viola. "Jia Pingwa's White Night". AWARDED 1999.
CHAN, Yuk-Ping. "Human Nature in Jin Yong's Martial Arts Fiction" [associate supervisor]. AWARDED 1999.
Wang Zhiyuan. "Chinese Artist Wang Zhiyuan Relocates to Australia: A Case Study" [associate supervisor]. AWARDED with Merit, 2001.
RECENT ACADEMIC, LITERARY AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
3 May 2000: Presentation to the Australia-China Friendship Society, Trades Hall, Goulburn Street. Topic "What is a Modern Chinese Novel": The Case of Gao Xingjian".
1 August 2000: Lecture "What is a Modern Chinese Novel: The Case of Gao Xingjian" at Waikato University.
3 August 2000: "The Shaoxing Connection: Lu Xun and Gao Xingjian" at Auckland University.
7-8 October 2000: Panelist in "Issues in Translating Poetry" session chaired by Robyn Ianssen in the 2-day workshop "Valuing our World Poetic Heritage" organized under the auspices of the World Congress of Poets.
7 November 2000: Seminar: "On the Nobel Laureate 2000 Gao Xingjian" in the School of Asian Studies, University of Queensland.
11 November 2000: Panelist at PEN International (Sydney) "Day of the Imprisoned Writer" held at Gleebooks.
24 November 2000: Chinese Australian Academics Society (NSW) Seminar "Gao Xingjian and His Novel Soul Mountain", held in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW.
February 2001: Participated with Gao Xingjian as his translator and also discussant at Public Meetings held in Washington, Seattle, New York and Harvard, 22-27 February 2001.
24 March 2001: "The Art of Translation" at the Writers' Harvest Festival at the NSW Writers'Centre. Interviewed by Irina Dunn.
4 April 2001: "On the Relevance of Literature in Life" for Centre for English Teaching international students at Nursing Faculty, University of Sydney.
18 April 2001: "To the Heart of Chaos: Nobel Laureate 2000 Gao Xingjian", Arts Alumni, University of Sydney, Staff Common Room Fisher Library.
9 May 2001: "Crossing Boundaries: Gao Xingjian Nobel Laureate 2000", seminar at ST Pauls College, University of Sydney.
13 May 2001: Awarded inaugural NSW Premier's Prize for Translation and the PEN Medallion at NSW Parliament House.
14-20 May 2001: Participant at the Sydney Writers Festival 14-20 May 2001, in events including introducing Mo Yan and Howard Goldblatt at a Literary Lunch; PEN session on translation "Beyond Borders" with Howard Goldblatt, Sylvia Li-chun Lin, Simon Patton and Julie Rose; chair of Asia Society session "The Ever Present Past: Asian Mythology in Contemporary Australian Writings" with Ang Chin Geok, Merlinda Bobis, Adib Khan and Christopher Cyrill.
12 June 2001: "2000 Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian and His Notion of Cold Literature" Lecture for the Society for Religion, Literature and the Arts within the Department of Religion at the University of Sydney in association with the State Library of NSW.
17 June 2001: "Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian and His Concept of No-Isms". Lecture for the China Education Centre at the University of Sydney.
22 June 2001: Panelist in "Reinventing Chinese Tradition and Culture" at Gallery 4A Asia-Australia Arts Centre. Other panelists: Greg Leong, Xiao Xian, David Nomchong. Chair: Helen Fong.
9 August 2001: Guest Speaker at International Day of International Grammar School, Sydney.
7-11 October 2001: World Congress of Poets. Presentation with Yang Lian in “International Showcase” (Chair: Ann Deveson; other poets: Josef Baran, Amarendra Chakravorty and Han-Yi Baek). Participating Chair: “Poetry in Translation” session. Panel: Dr Dorothea Muller-Ott (Austria: trans of German/Polish); Professor Evelyn Voldeng (Ottowa: French/English poet); Vrasidas Karalis. ”Readings of Chinese Poetry” session (Chair Robyn Ianssen; Yang Lian, Ouyang Yu, Willing Hwang; Jiayun Qin (China); Geling Gong (Australia)
16 October 2001: Sponsored by the James Joyce Foundation. Celebration of Poetry with Yang Lian. Readings of Yang Lian’s poetry in translation. Sir Hermann Black Room, University Club, University of Sydney.
20 October 2001: Carnivale NSW Writers’ Centre. (1) “Literary Translation: How to do it, how to fund it”: Chair: With participants: Vrasidas Karalis, Ferit Berk and Bi Xiyan. (2) “Multicultural Publishing: How hard is it to do in Australia?” Chair: With participants: Raghid Nahhas (Kalimat--Arabic/English); Veronica Sumegi (Brandl & Schlesinger) Gerald Ganglbauer (Gangan Publishing)
4 February 2002: “On Nietzsche and Chinese Literature: From Lu Xun (1881-1936) to Gao Xingjian (b. 1940)” Keynote speaker, LANGUAGE, TEXT & CULTURE WORKSHOP 3, “Translating Worlds”. An Interdisciplinary conference organised by the School of European, Asian & Middle Eastern Languages & Studies (SEAMELS, 4-5 February 2002.)
18-23 April 2002: Participant in the Hong Kong International Literary Festival in various translation and reading panels.
19 May 2002: Presentation on translation to the students and staff of Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong.
22 &23 April 2002: Presentation of paper “Nietzsche and Modern Chinese Literature: From Lu Xun to Gao Xingjian” plus seminar discussion of translation to the English Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong.
24 April 2002: Presentation of paper “On the Motif of Fleeing in Gao Xingjian’s Writings”, Centre for Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong.
May 2002: Sydney Writers’ Festival: Chair of “Translation” session (Sherif Hetata, Alexis Stamatis and Chung Chong-hwa); and particpant in “Yu Hua in Conversation with Mabel Lee”.
10 October 2002: Carnivalé Literary Festival at the NSW Writers’ Centre. Chair of session “An Evening of Classical Chinese Poetry” presented Wang Ping and Bi Xiyan.
17 October 2002: “Mabel Lee in Conversation with Chinese Artist Shen Jiawei at Gallery 4A”.
19 October 2002: Carnivalé Literary Festival at the NSW Writers’ Centre. Panelist in “Translating From and Into English and Australian” session. Chaired by Barbara McGilvray; other participants: Tejpal Singh, Soumyen Mukherjee, Rudi Krausmann, MayBrit Akerholt.
24 October 2002: Carnivalé Literary Festival at the NSW Writers’ Centre. Chair: “Recent Literary Trends in China” presented by Xinhong Wei (Chief Editor of Shanghai Literature & Arts Publishing House, and Fiction World) and Guangdong Wang (Professor of Chinese Literature at Shanghai University); translator Dr Bi Xiyan.
15 November 2002: PEN International: “Day of the Imprisoned Writer” at Gleebooks. Chair: Alison Broinowski; panelist with Christopher Kremmer and Zijie Pan.
15 November 2002: Margaret Throsby Program on ABC Classic FM radio interview.
July 2003: CSAA 8th Biennial Conference. Paper Presented: “Gao Xingjian: Against Aesthetic Modernity”.
