Clement Egerton's Translation of The Golden Lotus (Jin Ping Mei)

In 1939, two English versions of Jin Ping Mei were published: Clement Egerton’s The Golden Lotus, a “complete” translation, and Bernard Miall’s abridged version based on a German edition. Decades later, David Tod Roy produced a full English translation (The Plum in the Golden Vase, 1993–2013). Despite limited knowledge of Chinese, Egerton’s translation captured the spirit of the original and became widely influential, though it contains notable errors. Studying these errors helps us understand translation choices, cross-cultural publishing, and the impact of Golden Lotus in the English-speaking world. 

Speaker: Professor Xuanlong Zhou, professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Tsinghua University, specializing in Ming and Qing dynasty literature.

Welcome & Introduction: Dr. Siddharth Chandra, Director of the Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University

A special thank you to Jiahang Li (Outreach Coordinator at Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University) for providing English translation for this evening’s presentation.

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Event Booklet 

Presented by Ayana Dey

Kang lives alone in a big house. Through a glass facade, he looks out onto the treetops lashed by wind and rain. He feels a strange pain of unknown origin which he can hardly bear and which grips his whole body. Non lives in a small apartment in Bangkok where he methodically prepares traditional dishes from his native village. When Kang meets Non in a hotel room, the two men share each other's loneliness.

This screening is part of the FLM 200 series, a gathering of MSU professors, students, filmmakers, screenwriters, and cinephiles who come together weekly to watch and discuss great films.

Free and open to all.