November 14th (AMSP/CGTN) – – For nearly two decades, many Peruvians have relied on journalist and sinologist Patricia Castro Obando to learn about China.
The former war correspondent lived, studied and worked there from 2003 until last year. Now, she’s using her knowledge and experience to launch an anthology of poetry featuring dozens of women from ancient China. She spoke to CGTN’s The Vibe from the Peruvian capital Lima.
From war correspondent to academic and expert on China, Patricia Castro Obando – a Peruvian of Chinese descent – has led a storied life.
At Juan Viente Tres, one of Lima’s principal Chinese-Peruvian schools, she shares her love of poetry and Chinese culture through a new book.
” This book that we’ve prepared with the translator Wang Shishen is about the poetry of Chinese women in ancient times, but a particular kind of women, women transgressors, women writing poetry in the dynastic era. This book communicates all their feelings and chores. The life and feelings of these women who dared to write poetry and publish it in a patriarchal and Confucian China, ” Patricia Castro Obando told CGTN.
Her book, ‘Amar El Amor’ – ‘To Love Love’ – offers insight into what it was like to be a woman in Imperial China, between 221 BCE and 1911 AD.
” The women who wrote poetry in China, in what we call Imperial China, are educated women, that is, women of the court. Basically it was the educated women who could talk about different matters. There’s also another group of women: the Taoist and Buddhist women who became nuns because they used to belong to the nobility, but then when the emperor changed, they were replaced. Finally, we even have peasant women, who learned how to write Chinese, ” she explained.
In the joint effort with translator Wang Shishen, Castro Obando chose the work of thirty-eight female poets. It’s the first time a book of Chinese literature has been translated directly into Spanish in Peru. Castro Obando believes newer generations are keeping Chinese culture alive. ” It seems to me that it’s generated a lot of interest and above all, it’s aroused a lot of curiosity from the public who want to read the voices of women writing in imperial China. We’re very pleased, especially, to be here at Juan Veinte Tres school, the hotbed of Chinese culture. Here in this space, we’ve been able to present the book to fourth and fifth grade students, which for us is very important because they’re also the transmitters of Chinese culture, ” Castro Obando epressed her belief.
Having lived for 20 years in China, Castro Obando has gained insight into the relationship between the two countries.
The book was partly funded by the Chinese government and Lima’s Pontifical Catholic University. For Castro Obando, it helps to strengthen the bridge between China and Peru. ” I believe this bridge should never be broken. On the contrary, we want more Peruvians in China, and more Chinese in Peru so that we can continue strengthening our relations and, above all, understand each other on a cultural level. I believe China’s roots help us to understand our own identity, ” she said.
Many of the authors were writing in secret without knowing their work would ever be published.
” I think the most important thing that we’ve tried to project in this book has been the voices of transgressive women, that is, women who speak and tell us about their way of understanding the world. That’s extremely important, not only in imperial China but also in the world today, ” Patricia Castro Obando, Co-Author of Amar El Amor, disclosed.
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