NewChinese translation of Indian Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore’s classic, Stray Birds, pulled off shelves for being ‘vulgar’

Copies of a new Chinese translation of Indian Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s Stray Birds by Chinese writer Feng Tang have been pulled off the shelves after readers complained about the “vulgar” language used in the book.

In a rare response to readers – especially parents of school-going children on whose reading list the book is on – Zheng Zhong, publisher of Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, said on his verified Weibo account on Monday that the publishing firm had pulled Feng’s translation from bookstores and online shops over the controversy.

The firm would decide whether to resume sales of the book after experts review the material, Zheng said.

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But the move has itself spawned greater controversy as internet users stood up for Feng, saying his translation read more poetically than others and that the choice whether to buy the book should be left to the public instead.

Feng, whose real name is Zhang Haipeng, is a renowned Chinese novelist famed for his works depicting Beijing’s youths. He published One Hundred Poems of Feng Tang two years ago, and his translation of Stray Birds was published in July.

Sun Yixue, a professor of comparative literature with Tongji University, who is familiar with Tagore’s works, said it was too early to pull the book off shelves as the move did not do Feng justice.

The publisher should have instead waited to see if the translation proved popular among readers, Sun said.