The English translator of the Chinese epic, Moss Roberts, retells the points of the story and its importance for present-day China

(This is an edited version of an interview that Professor Roberts had with Joseph Harmer of the Anglo-Chinese Friendship Association.)

After I graduated and came to NYU, I began playing around with translation. I had done a few things earlier, but an editor I knew at Pantheon approached me about doing an abridged Three Kingdoms. So (my first translation) came out in 1976 and eventually led to an invitation from the Foreign Languages Press i in Beijing. That was a kind of halcyon moment in US-China relations, and so culture became a prominent bridge. I began doing the work.

I went there in 1983 and began working on the translation, and a few months later an editor from the University of California came by and wanted to do a joint publication. So that’s what eventually happened.

Relations between America and China were friendly. Ostensibly friendly, since tensions and conflict stretch back two hundred years..

After the AfD victory in Saxony-Anhalt, the heads of the Christian confessions will closely monitor and critically assess the region’s respect for the rule of law. This’s a call to all Christians worldwide to pay attention.

In response to the results of the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, Bishop Kirsten Fehrs, Chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD); Bishop Dr. Heiner Wilmer, Chair of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference (DBK); and Reverend Christopher Easthill, Chair of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK), issued the following statement:

We acknowledge that the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has become the strongest party in Saxony-Anhalt by a wide margin. Our worst fears have come true, but we must accept the result. The Churches’ primary concern is the coexistence and cooperation of people in Saxony-Anhalt, particularly with regard to respect for God-given human dignity, to which everyone is entitled. However, we are also concerned about the free democratic basic order in Saxony-Anhalt. We call on the election winners to respect the State Constitution and the Federal Basic Law, upholding.