Lots in translation

Zhang Butian has passion for rendering scientific books into Chinese, and he uses this to make knowledge more accessible. Liu Xiangrui reports.

As a translator, Zhang Butian is one of a kind given that most of his translations are related to the history of science, an academic branch that is just finding its feet in China.

For now, extremely few translators are engaged in such work - because it's typically dull, difficult, and not very remunerative.