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 9 from the 1946 edition is in heptameter (the 1946 edition did not have verse numbers either and underlined proper names):

神與人

我欲一心頌雅瑋。縷述眞神一切妙。 歡忭鼓舞主懷中。心歌腹詠至尊號。 吾敵已潰退。紛紛仆主前。 公義已見伸。睿斷洵無愆。 主已懲萬邦。消滅諸悖逆。塗抹不肖名。終古歸沈寂。 敵國城邑已荒蕪。樓臺亭閣悉成墟。繁華事散逐輕塵。欲尋遺跡蕩無存。 恆存惟有天主國。雅瑋皇座永不移。 審判世界與萬民。聰明正直豈有私。 困苦無告蒙哀矜。主是窮民避難城。 又為聖徒之保障。何曾孤負有心人。 西溫居民當絃歌。暢向億兆宣神蹟。 無辜之血主常恤。冤屈之人必得直。
雅瑋憐我苦。拯吾出兇門。 我在西溫門前立。中心感主發頌聲。
敵人掘穽自陷身。敵人布網自絆足。 雅瑋靈隲實昭著。陰謀詭計徒自辱。 世上忘主眾不肖。終須相將沈幽冥。 窮人豈能長被遺。鮮民之望終有成。 寧容人類勝眞宰。願主興起鞫頑民。 務使世間傲慢子。自知僅屬血氣倫。

Transcription into Roman alphabet:

shén yǔ rén

wǒ yù yī xīn sòng yǎ wěi 。 Lǚ shù zhēn shén yī qiē miào 。 huān biàn gǔ wǔ zhǔ huái zhōng 。 xīn gē fù yǒng zhì zūn hào 。 wú dí yǐ kuì tuì 。 fēn fēn pū zhǔ qián 。 gōng yì yǐ jiàn shēn 。 ruì duàn xún wú qiān 。 zhǔ yǐ chěng wàn bāng 。 xiāo miè zhū bèi nì 。 tú mǒ bù xiāo míng 。 zhōng gǔ guī shěn jì 。 dí guó chéng yì yǐ huāng wú 。 lóu tái tíng gé xī chéng xū 。 fán huá shì sàn zhú qīng chén 。 yù xún yí jì dàng wú cún 。 héng cún wéi yǒu tiān zhǔ guó 。 yǎ wěi huáng zuò yǒng bù yí 。 shěn pàn shì jiè yǔ wàn mín 。 cōng míng zhèng zhí qǐ yǒu sī 。 kùn kǔ wú gào mēng āi jīn 。 zhǔ shì qióng mín bì nán chéng 。 yòu wéi shèng tú zhī bǎo zhàng 。 hé zēng gū fù yǒu xīn rén 。 xī wēn jū mín dāng xián gē 。 chàng xiàng yì zhào xuān shén lì 。 wú gū zhī xuè zhǔ cháng xù 。 yuān qū zhī rén bì dé zhí 。
yǎ wěi lián wǒ kǔ 。 zhěng wú chū xiōng mén 。 wǒ zài xī wēn mén qián lì 。 zhōng xīn gǎn zhǔ fā sòng shēng 。
dí rén jué jǐng zì xiàn shēn 。 dí rén bù wǎng zì bàn zú 。 yǎ wěi líng cí shí zhāo zhù 。 yīn móu guǐ jì tú zì rǔ 。 shì shàng wàng zhǔ zhòng bù xiāo 。 zhōng xū xiāng jiāng shěn yōu míng 。 qióng rén qǐ néng cháng bèi yí 。 xiān mín zhī wàng zhōng yǒu chéng 。 níng róng rén lèi shèng zhēn zǎi 。 yuàn zhǔ xīng qǐ jú wán mín 。 wù shǐ shì jiān ào màn zǐ 。 zì zhī jǐn shǔ xuè qì lún 。

With thanks to Simon Wong.