Liu Wan-lai (劉萬來), a well-known translator of numerous Japanese-language books for young adults during the Martial Law era and retired teacher at Dalin Elementary School in Chiayi County, died on Wednesday last week at the age of 89.
An influential Japanese-to-Chinese translator, who worked under strict ideological censorship — but lax copyright laws — Liu translated materials that were as diverse as they were voluminous.
Books Liu translated included space operas, horror, folklore, illustrated guides to electric trains, aviation and warships, and the then-popular manga series Galaxy Train 999 and Space Battleship Yamato, which are now considered classics of the genre.
“To a generation of readers born in the 1960s, or even earlier, Liu Wan-lai was a mystery and a literary demigod. During the age of information lockdown, his translations brought joy to countless fans and touched many lives,” National Taiwan University history professor Chou Wan-yao (周婉窈) said in a social media post marking Liu’s passing.
“The man is a legend,” said Hung Chih-wen (洪致文), a geography professor at the National Taiwan Normal University, who is also a prolific author on matters related to trains and railways.
Chinese-language extracurricular reading material was rare during the 1960s and Liu was responsible for introducing numerous Japanese books to Taiwanese readers by taking advantage of a lack of copyright protections at the time, Hung said.
Hung said his life-long passion for trains and railways was inspired by two books he bought as an elementary-school student that were translated by Liu — An Illustrated Guide to Trains and Railways and An Illustrated Guide to Electric Trains.
Liu’s made many translations of hobbyist literature and nourished many budding interests, Hung said.
“I started a club for train buffs in college and found out that everybody in the club grew up reading books Liu Wan-lai had translated,” he added.
Liu last year published an autobiography entitled Memoirs of An Old Kano: Liu Wan-lai, A Son of Dalin Tells His Story, with a preface written by Chou, the daughter of a colleague of Liu Wan-Lai’s at Dalin Elementary School.
The title of the book refers to the nickname of Liu’s alma mater, the Chiayi Agricultural and Forestry Vocational High School, the baseball team of which was the subject of the 2014 film Kano directed by Umin Boya.
According to Chou’s preface, Liu was younger than 16 when World War II ended and he had to transition from speaking Japanese to Chinese.
Later, Liu began Japanese-to-Chinese translation to supplement his income, with commissions coming mostly from Dashan Bookstore, a Tainan-based publishing company active during that time, which gave him a variety of titles to work on.
Liu and his publisher were often obliged by Martial Law-era censorship and anti-Japanese xenophobia to make strategic alterations to the material, for example changing book titles originally containing references to “Japanese trains” to “Asian trains,” and rechristening the titular Space Battleship Yamato to Space Battleship Yellow Emperor, Chou said.
Liu’s life and times bore witness to the “confusion and disorientation” that people of his era experienced as a result of Taiwan’s transformation from a pre-war society to a post-war society, Chou added.
Lin Chun-heng (林群恆), a historian who previously worked for Chiayi County Government’s committee to manage its archives, said Liu’s mastery of the Japanese language and personal knowledge of the Japanese colonial period made him a fountain of knowledge to historians of Taiwan.
Liu’s daughters, Liu Pi-chen (劉碧真) and Liu Pi-yu (劉碧玉), said that although he eventually earned enough money from his translations to live comfortably, he continued to tutor people in Japanese and translate books out of a sense of obligation, donating his commission to charitable causes and managing a charitable foundation operating out of Dalin.
Liu Pi-chen said her father battled diabetes and lung cancer for the last three years of his life, but on the day of his death, he merely complained of slight discomfort before reclining to rest, passing away peacefully.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS