Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne, YR Chao and China

Poor Winnie the Pooh is getting blocked in China – you’ve read the story I’m sure and yes, Xi Jinping does look like Winnie a bit and probably hogs all the honey too. What is the official honey for state banquets?

However, nice chance to remember Yuen Ren Chao (1892-1982) a great Chinese scholar, teacher and translator. Chao knew everyone it seems – he was Bertrand Russell’s translator when the philosopher visited China in 1920. In 1925 he translated AA Milne’s (that’s the man who created Winnie the Pooh) one-act play The Camberley Triangle. Sadly it’s rather forgotten – both in the original and in translation. Wouldn’t it be lovely if he’d also translated Winnie the Pooh, but he didn’t. Instead Chao opted to translate Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.