Dr. WU Xiaofang, Melody

Biographical Note

Wu Xiaofang received her PhD in translation from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019 under the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme. She obtained her BA and MA in English from Renmin University of China in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Her current research interests include the history of translation, theatre translation, and early Sino-European cultural contacts. Before joining Lingnan University, she held teaching and research appointments at The University of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and City University of Hong Kong between 2019 and 2026. Her teaching experience spans a wide range of subjects in translation at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including translation history and theory as well as various specialised areas.

Her PhD thesis adopts a historical-archival approach to the early English translations of Xiyouji during the late Qing and the Republican periods. It traces how Samuel I. Woodbridge, Timothy Richard and Helen M. Hayes interpreted the novel’s religious themes and elements, often reframing them through their own religious and cultural perspectives. The project highlights the influence of Japanese Buddhist scholarship on Hayes’ rendition amid the global rise of Japanese Zen. It also clarifies the source-text variations employed by different translators in light of the novel’s fluid textual history, and examines how they manipulated textual and paratextual elements to reinforce their ideological positions.

Her academic training also includes research experience as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, in 2017–18, and an exchange program at the Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation Studies, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan, in 2011–12. A native speaker of Southern Min, she is multilingual and draws on several East Asian and European languages in her research and teaching. Her recent translation projects include a Chinese translation of Herman Melville’s short story “Billy Budd, Sailor,” contracted with Nanjing University Press.

Research Interests

• Literary Translation
• History of Translation
• Theatre Translation
• Early Sino-European Cultural Contacts

Publications

1. “A Literary Experiment of ‘Mahayana Christianity’: On Timothy Richard’s English Translation of Xiyouji.” In Crossing Borders: Sinology in Translation Studies, edited by Lawrence Wang-chi Wong and T. H. Barrett. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2022, pp. 297–340.
2. “中國古典小說英譯研究的底本問題——以《西遊記》為中心” [The Issue of Source Text in the Studies on the English Translation of Classical Chinese Novels — Centering on Xiyouji]. Comparative Literature in China 中國比較文學, no. 4 (2021), pp. 97–115.
3. “兩個世界的對話：《西遊記》的英譯與《西遊記》的研究” [Dialogue between two worlds: The English translation of Xiyouji and the studies on the novel itself]. Journal of Translation Studies (New Series) 翻譯學報 3, no. 2 (2019), pp. 59–91.
4. “圖文互證：李提摩太《西遊記》英譯本的底本考論” [Mutual corroboration between illustration and text: On the source text of Timothy Richard’s English translation of Xiyouji]. Compilation and Translation Review 編譯論叢 12, no. 2 (2019), pp. 1–44.
5. “《西遊記》英譯史概述（1854–1949）” [A survey of English translations of the Xiyouji, 1854–1949]. Newsletter of the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy 中國文哲研究通訊 28, no. 3 (2018), pp. 155–184.
6. “多元宗教的對話：論海倫．M．海耶斯對《西遊記》的節譯（1930）[A quest for East-West religious dialogue: on Helen M. Hayes’ abridged translation (1930) of Xiyouji]. In 翻譯史研究（2017） [Studies in translation history (2017)], edited by Lawrence Wang-chi Wong 王宏志. Shanghai: Fudan University Press, 2018, pp. 245–320.
7. “「不崇永生上帝之榮，反拜速朽世人禽獸昆蟲之像」：論吳板橋對神書西遊故事的英譯（1895）” [God vs. dragon: On Samuel I. Woodbridge’s English translation (1895) of “Westward Journey Stories” contained in a script of Tongzi drama]. Modern China Studies 當代中國研究 25, no. 2 (2018), pp. 145–165.

Invited Talks

1. “中國古典小說英譯研究的底本問題——以《西遊記》為中心” [The Issue of Source Text in the Studies on the English Translation of Classical Chinese Novels — Centering on Xiyouji]. Humanities Lecture 人文講堂, Department of Chinese, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, October 27, 2020.
2. “多元宗教的對話：論海倫．M．海耶斯對《西遊記》的節譯（1930）” [A Quest for East-West Religious Dialogue: On Helen M. Hayes’ Abridged Translation (1930) of Xiyouji]. Lecture, the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, May 17, 2018.

Awards 

1. Talent Development Scholarship 2015/16, HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund, July 2016.
2. Honourable Mention, 2013 China International Translation Contest, State Council Information Office of the PRC, August 2014, for the English translation of Mo Yan’s “The Moonlight Blade”.
3. Second Prize (First Prize not awarded), 24th Han Suyin (韓素音) Youth Translation Contest, English-to-Chinese Section, Translators Association of China, December 2012.
4. Second Prize, 23rd Han Suyin (韓素音) Youth Translation Contest, Chinese-to-English Section, Translators Association of China, October 2011.