About My Stay in the China and What Happened After That
All started when on 2012 I have been the guest of International Poetic Festival in Qinghai, the Chinese province, which the director is excellent poet and the cultural workman, Jidi Majia. About this festival Majia wrote: "From the beginning in 2007 only biennial festival, which is intended for the poetry in the China, and the only cultural event on the shore of Qinghai Lake, brightest jewelry in the cap Qinghai-Tibetan Plato, this festival brought on this hills best poets and took ranking in that artistic form worldwide."
After it the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing of co., Ltd., the agency from the Beijing which represents of Jidi Majia, suggested to me translating from English and publishing his collection of selected poems "Words of Fire" and the collection of essays and speeches "In the Name of Land and Life" to Serbian language. It published in Literary Club Brcko district of Bosnia and Herzegovina, first publisher which published these books in countries of Ex Yugoslavia. For this year we plan, with collaboration that agency, publishing of third book by Jidi Majia, which consists of his newer poems, essays and speeches.
The book "Words of Fire" was presented in 2014 on the Book Fair in Belgrade, the biggest book fair in Balkan. That year China has been on this fair country guest of honor. On this occasion I received the special diploma from the agency Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing of co., ltd for the spreading of Chinese culture.
On 2012 I stayed, during September and October, in the Shanghai as guest writer in residence of Shanghai Writers Society. After it I suggested to the Society that Literary Club Brcko district of Bosnia and Herzegovina publishes the novel „The Elephant" their respectable writer Chen Cun. I read that novel in Shanghai and I like it. I was amazed how that novel was written in postmodern style. The novel is translated from English by my son Leontin from city Osijek in Croatia, writer, translator and the professor of Croatian language. The club published it by the grant of Chinese government as other books by Chinese writers.
After it is followed the third and largest project of translating and publishing in the Literary Club - ten books of classic Chinese literatures. In this project we entered with mediation of the agency China Intercontinental Press from the Beijing. From ten titles three novels, „Three Kingdoms" by Luo Guanzhong, „The Dream in the Red Chamber" by Cao Xueqin and „The Journey to the West" by Wu Chengen, are known long time ago in our area, but they has not been translated. It is known also for the book „The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, which was translated into Croatian and Serbian, and we published in this edition a study about it by Guo Wenping and Zhong Shaoi. Much fewer known, although very popular in China, is the novel „Outlaws from the Marsh" by Shi Naian. We know, over movie by Tsui Hark for the judge Di, Chinese Sherlock Holmes. We first time publish translating on Serbian one of novels about him, which is written in English by Dutch sinologist Hans van Gulik. The rest of four titles are novelized librettos of four famous Chinese operas – „Palace of Eternal Youth" (the author of librettos is Hong Sheng), „The Pavilion of Peonies" (the author is Tang Xianzu), „The Romance of the Western Chamber "(the author is Kong Shangren) and „Peach Blossom Fan" (the author is Kong Shangren), which all novelized by Teng Jianmin. These mentioned three classic novels, because of their large, are published shortened. The novel „Three Kingdoms" (adapted by Wang Guozhen) are written in more than thousand pages and I read it partially on Russian. The novel "Dream of Red Chamber" is also adapted by Wang Guozhen, and the novel „ The Yourney to the West" is adapted by Yun-Chong Pan. First five books from this series was been published in 2016, and others five will be published on this year.
The Chinese literature is very important and classic Chinese literary pieces also today could be read with interest and these are the source of wisdom as well as Chinese fairy tales. But literary pieces by contemporary Chinese writers are also interesting and frequently seem amazingly modern. Such is the short novel „The Elephant" by Chen Cun and poems by Tianxin Cai. Also we published the collection of selected poems "Echoes of Heart" by Ma Kai, which has been written more in the traditional style.
I had a good occasion that on the festival in Qinghai I was recommended by Gao Xing, poet, translator and the editor of Chinese literary magazine for the world literature "Word", which was guest on the oldest literary festival in the Bosnia and Herzegovina - Sarajevo days.
For the writers residence in the Shanghai told me poet Tianxin Cai. I applied for it and passed as first writer from the area of former Yugoslavia. My impressions about the Shanghai are excellent. A lot of marvelous I saw and found out there. In the Shanghai I completed my novel „The Snake from the East", which first time published in Rijeka (Croatia) on 2004, and I expect publishing of second edition (twice longer than first edition) this year in Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Electronic edition of that novel is published in Novi Sad (Serbia) on 2016. The plot of the novel takes place partially in Rijeka (where I lived from 1999 to 2006), partially in Berlin (where I lived several months during 1996), and partially in the Shanghai and that part is in the second edition got the much more space than in the first one. If I had not been the writer in residence in Shanghai I could not neither extend my novel.