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 26 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):
表明心跡
殷勤求我主。一伸我貞慤。 平生惟仰主。所守寧不篤。願主測中情。鍛鍊我心靈。 慈恩常在目。聖道從容行。 未伴妄人坐。未偕奸徒立。 群小會集處。何曾敢廁足。 洗手滌餘穢。留連於閟幄。 詠我感謝意。誦主玄妙蹟。 心慕爾庭幃。榮光之所宅。 莫將我靈魂。使與罪人雜。莫將我生命。與彼同消滅。 若輩惡盈貫。受賄一何多。 吾心愛清白。應與彼殊科。 求主賜矜全。俾居安樂窩。綽綽有餘裕。會中獻雅歌。
Transcription into Roman alphabet:
biǎo míng xīn jì
yīn qín qiú wǒ zhǔ 。 yī shēn wǒ zhēn què 。 píng shēng wéi yǎng zhǔ 。 suǒ shǒu níng bù dǔ 。 yuàn zhǔ cè zhōng qíng 。 duàn liàn wǒ xīn líng 。 cí ēn cháng zài mù 。 shèng dào cóng róng xíng 。 wèi bàn wàng rén zuò 。 wèi xié jiān tú lì 。 qún xiǎo huì jí chǔ 。 hé zēng gǎn cè zú 。 xǐ shǒu dí yú huì 。 liú lián yú huī wò 。 yǒng wǒ gǎn xiè yì 。 sòng zhǔ xuán miào lì 。 xīn mù ěr tíng wéi 。 róng guāng zhī suǒ zhái 。 mò jiāng wǒ líng hún 。 shǐ yǔ zuì rén zá 。 mò jiāng wǒ shēng mìng 。 yǔ bǐ tóng xiāo miè 。 ruò bèi è yíng guàn 。 shòu huì yī hé duō 。 wú xīn ài qīng bái 。 yīng yǔ bǐ shū kē 。 qiú zhǔ cì jīn quán 。 bǐ jū ān lè wō 。 chuò chuò yǒu yú yù 。 huì zhōng xiàn yǎ gē 。
With thanks to Simon Wong.