Monday, June 30, 2008

China Stamp: 2008-16

China Stamps
Name: Murals of Qiuci (Kucha) Grottoes
Number: 2008-16
Date of Issue: 06 July 2008
Value: 4 stamps/set

Denominations:
1.20 Yuan (4-1):
Bodhisattva (菩萨)
1.20 Yuan (4-2): Heavenly King (护法天王)
1.20 Yuan (4-3): Flying Apsaras (飞天)
1.20 Yuan (4-4): Maitreya in Preaching (弥勒说法)

The Qiuci grottoes are scattered on more than 20 sites in the area of ancient Qiuci Kingdom (today's Kuche County and some of its neighboring counties in Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region).Founded in the 3rd century and ended in the 12th century, Qiuci Kingdom was one of the cradles of the Buddhist culture in China. Its grotto murals were mainly devoted to religious subjects and also included such contents as farming, hunting, dancing, and folk customs. On the basis of integrating the Oriental and Western cultures, the murals gradually formed their own artistic style. At present, there are more than 600 Qiuci grotto remains, housing nearly 10,000 square meters of murals. Kzir Grotto, a typical representative of the Qiuci grottoes, is the first Buddhist grotto in Chinese history.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

护法天王可以译为:Deva Raja,都由梵语而来,deva是天,raja是王
邮票上是四位天王,所以合起来可写作
the Four Deva Raja

Anonymous said...

你好像没有看到我的评论。
天王译成heavenly king是绝对错的,只能用
梵语的Deva Raja。

Fan Ming said...

我看了,但我也查过了,护法天王就是四大天王。四大天王在英语中的意思就是Four Heavenly Kings. 你可以参考维基百科全书。http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Heavenly_Kings
另外,邮票之显示了一位天王,也并没有说是哪位。根据邮票图案,也分不清楚是难为。所以写统称是最合适的。

Anonymous said...

维基百科全书不是万能的,是参考而不是标答。我看过里面有关中国的介绍,有些翻译令我感到十分可笑(本人从事翻译工作。)
护法天王也罢,四大天王也罢,都是中国人的叫法,中国人在翻译的时候,先是意译,意译不通才音译,比如电话最早叫德律风,是音译,但是为什么这个译法没有沿用下来?
而在印欧语里,如果碰到陌生的概念往往是用音译来表示的。
护法天王最早译自梵语,现在要将它译成英语,或法语,或俄语...,应该要回到原文,而不是从汉语直接翻译。邮票我没有见过,但deva raja指的不是某一个天王,Dhrtarastra, Virudhaka, Virupaksa, Vaisravana 都是deva raja。
邮票翻译成heavenly king 倒并无大碍,在学术文章中是不会这样译的。你可以阅读有关的学术论文,比如季老写的佛教方面的文章。
还有龟兹这个名字也是音译而来的,用汉语拼音个人认为不妥,可以用梵语的kuci。

oopsdada said...

好看,恩,我错过了...

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