200 years on: Jane Austen still popular in China

"Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility". [Photo/CGTN]

One hundred years of Jane Austen in China

In 1917, the first Chinese monograph entitled “Brief Profiles of Famous Western Novelists” by Wei Yi, a Chinese translator, mentioned Jane Austen, marking the first notion of the British author in the minds of the Chinese audience.

In 1935, two Chinese versions of “Pride and Prejudice” were published, one by Peking University Press and the other by Shanghai Commercial Press.

In 1996, China joined the World Copyright Treaty, and the unauthorized trslation of modern and contemporary writers ceased while those of classic writers like Jane Austen thrived.

In 2017, a six-volume collection of Austen's literary repertoire was published by the People's Literature Publishing House, with illustrations from Hugh Thomson.

Throughout 41 years of her life, Jane Austen wrote six novels including the prestigious "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility".

Austen’s novels have in a way anticipated the evolution towards modern society, especially as they revealed marriage aspirations from a female perspective.