Congratulations to all winners of the Helen Snow Translation Award. Congratulations to you who have demonstrated such outstanding ability to translate English-Chinese and Chinese-English.  You are examples of Helen’s values of hard work and of high standards of achievement.

 

I wish to thank The Shaanxi Translation Association and Foreign Language Education Journal for their sponsorship of this award. I also wish to thank the Edgar and Helen Snow Studies Center for their support of this and many other events furthering Helen’s “Legacy of Bridging” between the people of America and China.

 

When Edgar and Helen Snow made their individual trips to Bao’an and Yan’an, Translators interpreted the questions and answers from Edgar and Helen to famous leaders such as Mao, Chou Enlai, Chu Teh and others of the Long March. From these interviews, Edgar Snow wrote Red Star Over China and Helen wrote her complementary book, Inside Red China.  Later, one of these translators became the first Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations, the Vice Premier and Foreign Minister, and Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.  His name is Huang Hua.

 

Again, as the Snows wrote these books, translators played a key part as these books were translated from English into Chinese. This was important then, as it was through the Snows’ books that Mao was introduced to not only the West, but also to the Chinese, themselves. 

 

Helen desired that her works would be held in a safe place, be published, and be available for students as an influence for future generations.  Helen’s collection is archived at a new, state of the art, library at Brigham Young University (BYU) and is available for students.  If her works are to become an influence for the future generations of Chinese, it will be through translations of her works. It will be translators who play a major role in carrying forward Helen’s “Legacy of Bridging.”

 

Sheril Foster Bischoff, Trustee

The Helen Foster Snow Literary Trust

April 18, 2008