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 the so-called Sao style and the rhyme schemes are -u and -ang (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either):

問主

我問主兮何故。邈然逝兮不我顧。時艱難兮困苦。主自隱兮何處。 惡人橫行兮無度。窮人被逼兮無路。設詭計兮逞狂圖。欺孤寡兮陷無辜。 驕矜自慢兮。目無主宰。刼奪人財兮。逍遙法外。 飛揚跋扈兮心誇大。謂天主兮安足怕。中心兮自忖。天主兮何存。 基業兮穩固。千秋兮不淪。坐井而觀天兮。夫焉知吾主之經綸。 恃勢凌人兮。自謂安如磐石永享康寧。 彼之口中兮。惟有欺詐與呪詛。彼之舌底兮。滿貯螫毒與邪汚。 埋伏窮鄉。殺人僻巷。 耽耽虎視。窮民遭殃。 驅無辜兮入網。 謂天主兮健忘。既揜顏兮不見。我隱惡兮奚彰。 我向主兮發哀歎。舉爾手兮濟眾難。 莫容惡人兮誣神明。謂天主兮其不靈。 詎知吾主兮早見。報應兮如電。窮苦兮無告。惟主兮是靠。孤兒兮無父。惟主兮是怙。 求主痛擊群姦兮。折其臂膀。 窮究妖孽兮。降以淪喪。惟我天主兮。永古為王。與主為敵兮。靡有不亡。 主已垂聽兮。謙者之音。必賜慰藉兮。堅固其心。 伸彼冤屈兮。保彼焭獨。莫令凡人兮。擅作威福。

Transcription into Roman alphabet with the rhyme scheme and the particle xī, that is characteristic for the Sao style, highlighted:

wèn zhǔ

wǒ wèn zhǔ xī hé gù 。 miǎo rán shì xī bù wǒ gù 。 shí jiān nán xī kùn kǔ 。 zhǔ zì yǐn xī hé chǔ 。 è rén héng xíng xī wú dù 。 qióng rén bèi bī xī wú lù 。 shè guǐ jì xī chěng kuáng tú 。 qī gū guǎ xī xiàn wú gū 。 jiāo jīn zì màn xī 。 mù wú zhǔ zǎi 。 刼 duó rén cái xī 。 xiāo yáo fǎ wài 。 fēi yáng bá hù xī xīn kuā dà 。 wèi tiān zhǔ xī ān zú pà 。 zhōng xīn xī zì cǔn 。 tiān zhǔ xī hé cún 。 jī yè xī wěn gù 。 qiān qiū xī bù lún 。 zuò jǐng ér guān tiān xī 。 fū yān zhī wú zhǔ zhī jīng lún 。 shì shì líng rén xī 。 zì wèi ān rú pán shí yǒng xiǎng kāng níng 。 bǐ zhī kǒu zhōng xī 。 wéi yǒu qī zhà yǔ zhòu zǔ 。 bǐ zhī shé dǐ xī 。 mǎn zhù shì dú yǔ xié wū 。 mái fú qióng xiāng 。 shā rén pì xiàng 。 dān dān hǔ shì 。 qióng mín zāo yāng 。 qū wú gū xī rù wǎng 。 wèi tiān zhǔ xī jiàn wàng 。 jì yǎn yán xī bù jiàn 。 wǒ yǐn è xī xī zhāng 。 wǒ xiàng zhǔ xī fā āi tàn 。 jǔ ěr shǒu xī jì zhòng nán 。 mò róng è rén xī wū shén míng 。 wèi tiān zhǔ xī qí bù líng 。 jù zhī wú zhǔ xī zǎo jiàn 。 bào yīng xī rú diàn 。 qióng kǔ xī wú gào 。 wéi zhǔ xī shì kào 。 gū ér xī wú fù 。 wéi zhǔ xī shì hù 。 qiú zhǔ tòng jī qún jiān xī 。 zhē qí bì bǎng 。 qióng jiū yāo niè xī 。 jiàng yǐ lún sāng 。 wéi wǒ tiān zhǔ xī 。 yǒng gǔ wéi wáng 。 yǔ zhǔ wéi dí xī 。 mí yǒu bù wáng 。 zhǔ yǐ chuí tīng xī 。 qiān zhě zhī yīn 。 bì cì wèi jiè xī 。 jiān gù qí xīn 。 shēn bǐ yuān qū xī 。 bǎo bǐ qióng dú 。 mò líng fán rén xī 。 shàn zuò wēi fú 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.