Founded in July 2021, Henan Research Center for Translation and Communication for Intangible Cultural Heritage is an academic research institution established by Zhengzhou University of Light Industry in cooperation with the Office of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee. It relies on the advantages of the School of Foreign Languages, the School of Art and Design, Henan Provincial Chanting Society (a provincial-level association), Henan Provincial Research Base for Intangible Cultural Heritage and Henan Cultural Industry Development Research Base. The aims of establishing this center are to spread intangible culture, promote intangible culture dissemination to the world, and further deepen the cooperation between the university and the local community to achieve complementary advantages and better serve the development of The Belt and Road Initiative and the all-round high-level strategies opening to the world in Henan.
The main tasks of this Centre are as following. 1) to regularly organize outstanding scholars in humanities and social sciences research from Zhengzhou University of Light Industry and relevant institutions or research institutes at home and abroad to explore the unique value and international significance of intangible cultural heritage, exchange the latest research achievements on intangible cultural heritage in order to lay a great foundation for systematic research on the spread of intangible cultural heritage, apply for the relevant scientific research projects and write the relevant academic papers. 2) to hold regular conferences and seminars to discuss the content, progress and other work plans of intangible cultural heritage translation, which can provide translation services for Henan Provincial Foreign Affairs Office and Zhengzhou Municipal Foreign Affairs Office.
The research content of the centre is to translate and introduce the distinctive intangible cultural heritage such as legends, handicrafts, operas and folklore to overseas according to the Fourth Listof Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage in Henan Province. The focuses include 1) the promotion of myths and folklore with deep roots in Chinese civilization and Central Plains culture, such as the Pan Gu myth (Uyang County and Tongbai County), the Shao Original World Mythology Group ( Jiyuan City), the myth and legend of Dayu (Yuzhou City) and the legend of the Yellow Emperor of Lingbao (Lingbao City) etc.; 2) the unique handicraft skills represented by Jun porcelain firing techniques (Yuzhou City), Zhenping jade carving techniques (Zhenping County), Ru porcelain firing techniques (Baofeng County and Ruzhou City) and tri-colored glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty (Luoyang City); 3) the traditional wedding customs of the Central Plains (Song Mountain wedding customs and Ningling Grand Wedding), folk beliefs (Miao Shan Guanyin beliefs at Xiangshan Mountain) and the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar. The exhibition will gradually build up the foreign language system of intangible culture in Henan Province, promote the outreach of Henan's intangible cultural heritage and enhance the Cultural Soft Power of Henan.
The translation research team in CTS has high academic attestation, and the members include three professors, six teachers with PhD degree and eleven master supervisors. The teachers teach English, Korean, Japanese and other language courses. Many of the team members are the expert members of Provincial Foreign Affairs Office (hereafter referred to as PFAO). They have been responsible for the translation tasks of PFAO for a long time. The team has undertaken two National Social Science Fund projects and over 10 provincial and ministerial projects, published more than 10 books, about 30 high-level papers, and 6 books about translation.
The representative achievements of the center are shown in the following.
1) In 2020, the center wrote, translated and published the “Translating Henan” series of Chinese Civilization, Stories from Henan, Handicraft, and won the first prize in the works category of the PFAO.
2) “Research on the English Translation and Transmission of Central Plains Handicraft in the Context of Culture ’ Going Out” won the first prize of translation paper.
3) The writing and translation of the sub-volume of Chinese Civilization, Stories from Henan, Ceramic Art has been completed (to be published).
The center will give full play to its resource advantages in the research, translation and transmission of ceramic culture, and make use of the resources in and out of the university to jointly complete the tasks of sorting out, translating and transmitting ceramic culture, so as to provide more intellectual support for “Translating Henan” and actively promote the international transmission of Chinese ceramic culture.