"The copyright of Pu Songling's works has been infringed for nearly 100 years by an American press. I cannot accept this and will get justice back for Mr. Pu," said Qiu Xun, a children's literature writer from the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, at a symposium on September 13 in the province's capital Jinan City.
The symposium was devoted to the protection of copyright of the works by Pu Songling (1640-1715), or P'u Sung-ling. Pu, a native of Shandong, is a literary giant in ancient China whose magnum opus is Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Tales of Make-do Studio), a collection of mythic stories. The book cost Pu's life energy as he began to work on it at about the age of 20 and only completed it upon his death.
Qiu said he found the two stories in the best-selling series The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls published by University Society Inc., New York, during his family reunion visit to the US, that he claims were plagiarized from Strange Tales of Make-do Studio.
Qiu said University Society Inc. is an old American press specializing in publishing books on education and culture. It published the ten-volume book series in 1909 and renamed it The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls, its present name, in 1912.
"The edition I saw was the series' 20th printing in 1970. It has been a very popular set since its first publication and was read by many American children of several generations," Qiu said.
The two apparently plagiarized stories appeared in the third volume of the book series, which consists of 89 famous fairy tales including those by Danish writer Andersen and German authors Grimm Brothers. Eighty-seven stories in it, except two stories with illustrations of Chinese characters, bear names of their original authors. The author of the two maverick stories was documented as "Frances Carpenter" in the book.
One story of them, "The Wonderful Pear Tree," is almost identical to the story of "Zhong Li" (Planting a Pear Tree) in Liaozhai Zhiyi in terms of plot, characters and detail. Only a few words and expressions look different, which are the result of poor literary knowledge and understanding of Chinese culture in translation, said Qiu, who heard stories from Liaozhai Zhiyi told by his mother early in his childhood.
The other story, "The Maid in the Mirror," was developed on the basis of the major plot of the story of "Fengxian" (Phoenix Fairy) from Liaozhai Zhiyi. Even the names of the characters are the same in both stories.
The word "Adapted" are seen at the ends of the two stories in The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls.
"An adapted work should give its original author or it constitutes copyright violation," Qiu said.
Qiu's finding has attracted great attention from Chinese literary academia.
Ma Ruifang, an expert on Pu Songling and his works and a professor from Shandong University, said that the earliest translation of Liaozhai Zhiyi appeared in the early 19th century and over 20 translations of the work in various languages are now available in libraries around the world. He said the century-long copyright violation by University Society Inc. is a rare case in the history of international cultural communication.
Xiao Dongfa, a professor from Peking University and the director of the university's Modern Publishing Research Institute, said that China's weak national power in the early 19th century led to lengthy copyright infringement. He urged Chinese scholars to request University Society Inc. to respect the copyright of Liaozhai Zhiyi.
Zhang Wei, the president of the Shandong Writers' Union, said the case is more an ethical issue than a legal one.
Sources said that great progress has been made in the investigation into the identity of Frances Carpenter. And Pu Songling's offspring have learnt about the case and are acting vigorously to uphold the literary rights of their ancestor.
(China Youth Daily, translated for China.org.cn by Chen Chao, September 24, 2003)
