John Wu Ching-hsiung (1899-1986) was a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, a renowned jurist who studied in Europe and the United States, and served as a professor of law at Soochow University, as a judge and the Acting President of the Shanghai Provisional Court, and as the Vice President of the Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of China, before becoming the Minister of the Republic of China to the Holy See. Wu has written extensively, not only on law but also on Chinese philosophy, and has also written his autobiography, Beyond East and West, in English. Wu was a devout Catholic and had a personal relationship with Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975). Wu began translating the the Psalms in 1938, and was encouraged by Chiang to translate the entire New Testament, which he corrected in his own handwriting. (…) John Wu Ching-hsiung’s translation of the Psalms (first draft in 1946, revised in 1975) was translated into Literary Chinese in the form of poetic rhyme, with attention paid to the style of writing. According to the content and mood of the different chapters of the original psalm, Wu chose Chinese poetic forms such as tetrameter, pentameter, heptameter [4, 5 or 7 syllables/Chinese characters per stanza], and the [less formal] Sao style, and sometimes more than two poetic forms were used in a single poem. (Source: Simon Wong)
John Wu Ching-hsiung himself talks about his celebrated and much-admired (though difficult-to-understand) translation in his aforementioned autobiography: (Click or tap here to see)
“Nothing could have been farther from my mind than to translate the Bible or any parts of it with a view to publishing it as an authorized version. I had rendered some of the Psalms into Chinese verse, but that was done as a part of my private devotion and as a literary hobby. When I was in Hongkong in 1938, I had come to know Madame H. H. Kung [Soong Ai-ling], and as she was deeply interested in the Bible, I gave her about a dozen pieces of my amateurish work just for her own enjoyment. What was my surprise when, the next time I saw her, she told me, “My sister [Soong Mei-ling] has written to say that the Generalissimo [Chiang Kai-shek] likes your translation of the Psalms very much, especially the first, the fifteenth, and the twenty-third, the Psalm of the Good Shepherd!”
“In the Autumn of 1940, when I was in Chungking, the Generalissimo invited me several times to lunch with him and expressed his appreciation of the few pieces that he had read. So I sent him some more. A few days later I received a letter from Madame Chiang [Soong Mei-ling], dated September 21, 1940, in which she said that they both liked my translation of the few Psalms I had sent them. ‘For many years,’ she wrote, ‘the Generalissimo has been wanting to have a really adequate and readable Wen-li (literary) translation of the Bible. He has never been able to find anyone who could undertake the matter.’ The letter ends up by saying that I should take up the job and that ‘the Generalissimo would gladly finance the undertaking of this work.’
“After some preliminary study of the commentaries, I started my work with the Psalms on January 6, 1943, the Feast of the Epiphany.
“I had three thousand years of Chinese literature to draw upon. The Chinese vocabulary for describing the beauties of nature is so rich that I seldom failed to find a word, a phrase, and sometimes even a whole line to fit the scene. But what makes such Psalms so unique is that they bring an intimate knowledge of the Creator to bear upon a loving observation of things of nature. I think one of the reasons why my translation is so well received by the Chinese scholars is that I have made the Psalms read like native poems written by a Chinese, who happens to be a Christian. Thus to my countrymen they are at once familiar and new — not so familiar as to be jejune, and not so new as to be bizarre. I did not publish it as a literal translation, but only as a paraphrase.
“To my greatest surprise, [my translation of the Psalms] sold like hot dogs. The popularity of that work was beyond my fondest dreams. Numberless papers and periodicals, irrespective of religion, published reviews too good to be true. I was very much tickled when I saw the opening verse of the first Psalm used as a headline on the front page of one of the non-religious dailies.”
A contemporary researcher (Lindblom 2021) mentions this about Wu’s translation: “Wu created a unique and personal work of sacred art that bears the imprint of his own admitted love and devotion, a landmark achievement comparable to Antoni Gaudi’s Basilica of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. Although its use is still somewhat limited today, it continues to attract readers for the aforementioned qualities, and continues to be used in prayers and music by those who desire beauty and an authentic Chinese-sounding text that draws from China’s ancient traditions.”
The translation of Psalm 10 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):
精神堡壘
主乃我所依。一生安且怡。 吾心白吾主。所天惟有汝。方寸無他好。懷主以為寶。 城中諸聖人。亦是我所親。同游聖教中。其樂何融融。
歸依邪魔者。愁上更添憂。祭祀含血腥。厥名亦可羞。
主是我基業。主是我歡杯。杯中酒常滿。家業永不衰。 優游田園中。俯仰稱心意。日涉漸成趣。樂斯境界美。
為我開明悟。主恩豈不富。夙夜無敢荒。惟恐忝大父。 大父常在眼。但期無失步。兢兢如臨深。幸有主佑扶。持此寬心神。 魂安魄亦舒。 所望保吾魂。莫使淪幽冥。更望聖者身。免染朽腐痕。 指我生命路。飫我瞻仰欣。吾主之右手。永為福樂源。
Transcription into Roman alphabet:
jīng shén bǎo lěi
zhǔ nǎi wǒ suǒ yī 。 yī shēng ān qiě yí 。 wú xīn bái wú zhǔ 。 suǒ tiān wéi yǒu rǔ 。 fāng cùn wú tā hǎo 。 huái zhǔ yǐ wéi bǎo 。 chéng zhōng zhū shèng rén 。 yì shì wǒ suǒ qīn 。 tóng yóu shèng jiào zhōng 。 qí lè hé róng róng 。
guī yī xié mó zhě 。 chóu shàng gēng tiān yōu 。 jì sì hán xuè xīng 。 jué míng yì kě xiū 。
zhǔ shì wǒ jī yè 。 zhǔ shì wǒ huān bēi 。 bēi zhōng jiǔ cháng mǎn 。 jiā yè yǒng bù shuāi 。 yōu yóu tián yuán zhōng 。 fǔ yǎng chēng xīn yì 。 rì shè jiàn chéng qù 。 lè sī jìng jiè měi 。
wéi wǒ kāi míng wù 。 zhǔ ēn qǐ bù fù 。 sù yè wú gǎn huāng 。 wéi kǒng tiǎn dà fù 。 dà fù cháng zài yǎn 。 dàn qī wú shī bù 。 jīng jīng rú lín shēn 。 xìng yǒu zhǔ yòu fú 。 chí cǐ kuān xīn shén 。 hún ān pò yì shū 。 suǒ wàng bǎo wú hún 。 mò shǐ lún yōu míng 。 gēng wàng shèng zhě shēn 。 miǎn rǎn xiǔ fǔ hén 。 zhǐ wǒ shēng mìng lù 。 yù wǒ zhān yǎng xīn 。 wú zhǔ zhī yòu shǒu 。 yǒng wéi fú lè yuán 。
With thanks to Simon Wong.