The first Chinese actor captured (征服) the hearts of many Chinese in the USA. He read a letter by Zhuge Liang (181～234) to the emperor of Shuhan during the Three Kingdoms (220~280) period in the new season of Growling Tiger and Roaring Dragon (《虎啸龙吟》).
The letter has been read by so many students. We would never have thought that the text written in old Chinese could be so beautifully read in another language. As a result, foreigners begin to show interest in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, translated by C. H. Brewitt-Taylor and Robert E. Hegel.
Earlier in November 1979, pupils in England were able to watch a new TV programme called Monkey. Most of them were hearing the story for the first time. However, the story of the Monkey King isn't new to Chinese children in the traditional Chinese book Journey to the West.
As soon as the TV programme came out more than 30 years ago, western children became interested in reading this story because the clever Monkey King keeps fighting to help the weak and never gives up.
Chinese scholars (学者) should do a better job of introducing Chinese literature (文学) to the rest of the world. At the same time, we could encourage western schools to try something different.
Reading international literature is aneffectiveway of understanding other peoples in the world. And the more we understand each other, the more beautiful the world will be.
