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 7 from the 1946 edition is in pentameter and heptameter with rhyme schemes based on -an and -ai (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):
被誣
雅瑋吾天主。賴爾得平安。仇人肆誣衊。無風起波瀾。求主速營救。莫使我被害。 彼人兇如獅。吞我心方快。除主復何恃。不救吾其殆。 倘吾曾為此。有罪在雙腕。 苟以怨報德。未以德報怨。 任憑彼凌虐。雖死亦無憾。身敗不足論。名裂固所願。 我實未為此。請主奮身起。為我抗眾敵。莫容橫逆熾。 願主作裁判。高坐爾王位。眾民亦會集。環立爾周圍。 但願睿哲主。鑒察我忠義。按照爾公平。報答我純粹。 欲使惡人懼。不敢行無禮。欲使義人喜。沛然自奮勵。我主固全知。洞悉人腑肺。
主是護身盾。永保正直人。 天威何顯赫。裁判公且明。 磨刀霍霍箭在弦。人不回頭將受刑。 兵戈火箭莫不備。誰能不畏主之嗔。 惡人如妊婦。臨蓐時在即。所懷惟禍胎。所產乃妖孽。 心勞信日拙。自墜陷人窟。悖出亦悖入。自中毒人螫。 出爾竟反爾。自傷投人石。報應何昭著。絲毫無爽忒。 欲頌公平主。欲揚至尊德。
Transcription into Roman alphabet with rhymes highlighted:
bèi wū
yǎ wěi wú tiān zhǔ 。 lài ěr dé píng ān 。 chóu rén sì wū miè 。 wú fēng qǐ bō lán 。 qiú zhǔ sù yíng jiù 。 mò shǐ wǒ bèi hài 。 bǐ rén xiōng rú shī 。 tūn wǒ xīn fāng kuài 。 chú zhǔ fù hé shì 。 bù jiù wú qí dài 。 tǎng wú zēng wéi cǐ 。 yǒu zuì zài shuāng wàn 。 gǒu yǐ yuàn bào dé 。 wèi yǐ dé bào yuàn 。 rèn píng bǐ língnnüè 。 suī sǐ yì wú hàn 。 shēn bài bù zú lùn 。 míng liè gù suǒ yuàn 。 wǒ shí wèi wéi cǐ 。 qǐng zhǔ fèn shēn qǐ 。 wéi wǒ kàng zhòng dí 。 mò róng héng nì chì 。 yuàn zhǔ zuò cái pàn 。 gāo zuò ěr wáng wèi 。 zhòng mín yì huì jí 。 huán lì ěr zhōu wéi 。 dàn yuàn ruì zhé zhǔ 。 jiàn chá wǒ zhōng yì 。 àn zhào ěr gōng píng 。 bào dá wǒ chún cuì 。 yù shǐ è rén jù 。 bù gǎn xíng wú lǐ 。 yù shǐ yì rén xǐ 。 pèi rán zì fèn lì 。 wǒ zhǔ gù quán zhī 。 dòng xī rén fǔ fèi 。
zhǔ shì hù shēn dùn 。 yǒng bǎo zhèng zhí rén 。 tiān wēi hé xiǎn hè 。 cái pàn gōng qiě míng 。 mó dāo huò huò jiàn zài xián 。 rén bù huí tóu jiāng shòu xíng 。 bīng gē huǒ jiàn mò bù bèi 。 shuí néng bù wèi zhǔ zhī chēn 。 è rén rú rèn fù 。 lín rù shí zài jí 。 suǒ huái wéi huò tāi 。 suǒ chǎn nǎi yāo niè 。 xīn láo xìn rì zhuō 。 zì zhuì xiàn rén kū 。 bèi chū yì bèi rù 。 zì zhōng dú rén shì 。 chū ěr jìng fǎn ěr 。 zì shāng tóu rén shí 。 bào yīng hé zhāo zhù 。 sī háo wú shuǎng tè 。 yù sòng gōng píng zhǔ 。 yù yáng zhì zūn dé 。
With thanks to Simon Wong.