Transculturation in East Asia: literary and media adaptations, past and present

ABSTRACT

The present paper looks at adaptations in East Asia, which contrast with those of the West. Freely rewritten versions, particularly of Chinese literature, figured prominently in pre-modern times, an example being the cluster around Qu You’s New Tales of Trimming the Wick (1378). Stories from that collection evince the outward, transcultural movement of literary texts from China to Japan and Korea (and elsewhere). In our time, media adaptations have taken center stage, and a different cluster, that of TV adaptations of Kamio Yoko’s Boys over Flowers (1992-), exemplifies the clockwise, linear movement of adapted texts from Taiwan to China, and then to Korea. The two scenarios can be explicated with preference to the strategies of localization, recontextualization, and reinterpretation that are deployed, although localizing moves are primary. In particular, localization problematizes our understanding of the relationship of adaptations to the evolution of East Asianness. If biological adaptation is at the core of Darwinian evolution theories, according to which organisms undergo mutations in order to better survive, then textual adaptation means giving a text an “afterlife,” using changes to enhance accommodation to a new environment – in this case, a geographically close environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Adaptation
• East Asia
• transculturation
• literary adaptation
• media adaptation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. As for Water Margin and Journey to the West, they were also adapted in great numbers. In particular, Kyokutei Bakin’s (1767–1848) Eight Dog Warriors and Santō Kyōden’s (1761–1816) Loyal Retainers’ Water Margin were adaptations of the former leading to the development of yomikon fiction in Japan (see Chan 2020, 151–159). Detailed stocktaking of the Korean adaptations of both novels can be found in Min (2010) and Song (2011).

2. Ōki Yasushi and Ōtsuka Hidetaka have compiled an extensive list of “Peony Lantern” adaptations in Japan from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century (Ōki and Hidetaka 1987, 135–138). A Korean adaptation of the tale is the aforementioned Kim Sisŭp’s “Account of a chŏp’o game at Manbok Temple” (Manboksa chŏp’o ki). In Vietnam, there is Nguyễn Dữ’s (16^th century) “The Kapok Tree” (Mộc Miên Thụ Truyền) in his Strange Tales Casually Recorded (Truyền Kì Mạn Lục) (see Nguyen 2005, 355–356). Both of these predate Asai’s version, although Asai’s is apparently closer to the Chinese original.

3. The dates given for the drama series discussed in this article are those of the first aired episodes.

4. Often TV adaptations spread beyond East Asia to Southeast Asia, though rarely to the west, proving once again the force of proximity. The Prince Who Turns into a Frog cycle is comprised of Korean (Majimak chumeun nawa hamkke), Taiwanese (Wangzi bian qingwa), Indonesian (Aku bukan untukmu), Chinese (Aiqing shuixing le and Wangji ni, jide aiqing) and Thai (Rạk thī̀ ca hı̂ nāy kb) versions. There is also a licensed version of Boys over Flowers in Thailand—F4 Thailand: Boys over Flowers (Hạwci rạk sī̀ dwngdāw, 2021–22).

5. There are insightful studies of how imported TV dramas can gain popularity when they appeal to local tastes. Lisa Leung (2008) explains the success of the Korean drama Dae Jang Geum in Greater China with reference to the “acknowledgement of Chinese culture in the Korean culture” and Irene Yang (2008) analyzes the gentrification through which Korean TV dramas are reconfigured as Taiwan’s romantic love genre.

6. https://namu.wiki/w/sim-yasikdang.

7. See: http://m.news.cn/ent/2017–06/14/c_1121138504.htm.

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Notes on contributors

Leo Tak-Hung Chan

Leo Tak-hung Chan is Junwu Distinguished Professor, Guangxi University. His articles have appeared in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Comparative Literature Studies, Translation Studies, TTR, The Translator, Babel, META, Across Languages and Cultures, Linguistica Antverpiensia, among others. His major scholarly publications include: History Retold: Premodern Chinese Texts in Western Translation (co-edited; Brill, 2022), Western Theory in East Asian Contexts: Translation and Transtextual Rewriting (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020), Readers, Reading and Reception of Translated Fiction in Chinese: Novel Encounters (St. Jerome, 2010), Twentieth-Century Chinese Translation Theory: Modes, Issues and Debates (John Benjamins, 2004), One into Many: Translation and the Dissemination of Classical Chinese Literature (edited; Rodopi Editions, 2003), and The Discourse on Foxes and Ghosts (University of Hawaii Press, 1998).