Literature will help West know China better

Wang Luoyong, the first Chinese mainland actor on Broadway, captured the hearts of many Chinese by reading a letter by political strategist and essayist Zhuge Liang (181-234) to the emperor of Shuhan during the Three Kingdoms (220-280) period in the new season of Growling Tiger and Roaring Dragon.

The letter has been recited by generations of students, and we would never have experienced that the text, written in classical Chinese, could be so beautifully rendered and recited in another language. As the rendering of the letter shows, China has a dazzling literary heritage that could enrich the repository of world literature.

However, China's literary influence in the world is disappointing. As a guest lecturer in world literature classes, I often asked how many people have read or heard of Journey to the West, a Chinese classic written by Wu Chengen during the Ming Dynasty (1369-1644). Usually nobody raised hands.