Christian Fardel and His Love for China's Ancient Navigation Culture

By Han Xiaoling

The French version ofShipbuilding History of Ancient Chinamade its debut in the Hubei Pavilion at the 26thBeijing International Book Fair (BIBF) in August 2019. It was published by L'Ancre de Marine, a French publishing house who obtained copyright from the Wuhan University of Technology Press (WUTP).

The 90-year-old Professor Xi Longfei, the author of the book and a prominent Chinese shipbuilding historian, didn't show up to the ceremony but expressed his message via a video talk. He said excitedly, “The publishing of the book will further promote international academic exchanges and introduce China's ancient shipbuilding culture to more readers in the world.”

Christian Fardel, the French translator of the book, told us with a big smile, “Tomorrow is my 66th birthday. This book is a wonderful present for myself.”

Christian Fardel presents the book Histoire Des Navires Dans La Chine Ancienne to Wuhan University of Technology Press. (Photo by Han Xiaoling)冯克礼向武汉理工大学出版社赠书。（韩晓玲 摄）

Marveled by Zheng He's Expeditions

One year ago at the 25th BIBF, when Fardel was looking for books about China's ancient shipbuilding, someone introduced him to the booth of WUTP.

Fardel was once a seaman and pilot himself, and was very keen on navigation culture. With a love for Chinese culture, he came to China to learn Chinese. He was impressed by the story of Zheng He's great ocean voyages when he heard it for the first time in China. When he learned more about the techniques of ancient shipbuilding and navigation history in China, he was amazed to find that many Westerners, just like him, only knew Columbus and Magellan, and had no idea about the Chinese mariner Zheng He. He wanted to do something to change the situation.

今年8月，《中国古船图说》法文版在第26届北京国际图书博览会湖北展馆亮相。该书由武汉理工大学出版社输出版权，法国海之锚出版社出版。

该书作者、90岁高龄的著名造船史专家席龙飞教授未能来到现场，通过视频表达激动心情：“法文版的出版发行，有助于推动国际学术交流，让中国古代船文化在海外得到传播。”

作为该书译者，法国友人冯克礼欣慰地告诉记者：“明天是我66岁的生日，这本书就是最好的礼物。”

被郑和下西洋的故事吸引

一年前，在第25届北京图博会上，冯克礼多方寻找中国古船方面的图书。经人推荐，他来到武汉理工大学出版社的展位。

冯克礼当过远洋海员，也当过飞行员，对航海文化很感兴趣。喜爱中国文化的他来华学习汉语时，第一次听说了郑和下西洋的故事，非常震惊。随着对中国古代造船技术和航海历史了解越多，他就越发吃惊：许多西方人和他一样，只知道航海家哥伦布、麦哲伦，不知道中国航海家郑和。他希望能做点什么，来改变这种状况。

当冯克礼看到武汉理工大学出版社出版的中英双语版《中国古船图说》，顿时被深深吸引。《中国古船图说》以船为文化载体，介绍中国古代造船技术和航海文化，再现了中国古代东渡日本、远使高丽、七下西洋等航海文明史上的壮举，充分展示了中华民族悠久的船舶制造文化和航海文明。

冯克礼随后专程赴武汉理工大学，与席龙飞教授见面，并参观了该校古船博物馆，所见所闻让他很受震撼。

冯克礼下定决心，要把《中国古船图说》介绍到西方，让更多人了解中国航海文化。为此，他联系了法方出版社，自己则不计报酬地成为法文版译者。

中国古船“远航”法国

对于《中国古船图说》法文版，冯克礼与海之锚出版社负责人设计为中法双语对照，还邀请席龙飞教授手书中文序言。因为在浪漫的法国人眼里，中文很美很神秘。《中国古船图说》责任编辑陈军东配合冯克礼，展开了繁重的翻译工作。全书有40多万字、100多个古代地名、40种古籍名称、60多处引文，陈军东对每个地点、每句古诗、每个细节都用英文进行仔细解释，冯克礼再从英文翻译成法文。

那段时间，冯克礼每天工作18个小时，陈军东也全力配合。

5月，《中国古船图说》法文版在法国面世。冯克礼与海之锚出版社通过电视台、互联网、社交媒体、大会发言等途径，积极推介这本书。

次月在法国鲁昂帆船节上，该书被摆放在图书展台的醒目位置，冯克礼还在条幅上用中文写下“您送给您爸爸一本书吧”。他颇为得意地告诉记者，当时读者只要买3本书，他就赠送一张这样的手书中文条幅，很受欢迎。

越来越多的法国读者知道了《中国古船图说》，热情地表达着喜爱之情：“这本书带着我又旅行了一次。”“我将把这本书介绍给更多的人。”“它看起来非常有趣。”“这是一个很棒的项目。这个话题很有趣，还没有被探索过。”“我迫不及待地想收到这本漂亮的书。我对中国及其古老的船只很感兴趣。”

He was attracted to the bilingual version ofShipbuilding History of Ancient China (Chinese and English)at the booth of WUTP. In it, the shipbuilding techniques and navigation culture of ancient China were vividly elaborated, and the milestones in China's navigation history were narrated with great detail, including the expeditions to Japan during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), to ancient Korea in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and Zheng He's seven expeditionary voyages across the Indian Ocean in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Such expeditions described in the book, as a carrier of culture, provided an overview of the time-honored history of China's shipbuilding culture and navigation.

Fardel then paid a visit to Wuhan University of Technology where he met Professor Xi Longfei and toured the ancient ship museum located on campus. He was shocked by what he saw and heard.

Fardel then made up his mind to introduce the book to more Westerners and help them understand Chinese navigation culture. He contacted a French publishing house and began to translate the book voluntarily.

Debut in France

As Chinese is a beautiful and mysterious language in the eyes of a Frenchmen, Fardel and the president of the L'Ancre de Marine decided that they'd like to publish a Chinese-French version. Professor Xi Longfei was invited to write the Chinese preface. Chen Jundong, editor-in-chief of the English version, assisted Fardel in the translation. There are over 400,000 Chinese characters in total, including more than 100 ancient place names, 40 ancient book titles, and over 60 quotations. Chen Jundong provided detailed notes on every place, poem and every quotation in English to facilitate Fardel's French translation.

Fardel worked nearly 18 hours a day during the translation, and Chen Jundong provided all the necessary help.

The French version of the book was finally released in France in May of 2019. Fardel and the L'Ancre de Marine promoted the book through such channels as TV, internet, social media, and seminars.

In the L'Armada Festival held in June of 2019, the book was well-placed at the book exhibition booth. On the top of the booth hung a slogan banner in Chinese “Buy a book for your dad,” written by Fardel.

More and more French readers got to know the book and gave positive comments. They said: “It brings me to China again.” “I will introduce it to more friends around me.” “It was an interesting book.” “A fantastic book. An interesting topic that has not been explored.” “I can't wait to get this beautiful book. I am so interested in China and its ancient ships.”

A Lover of Chinese Culture

Fardel's daughter once studied in China, and when she came back home, he was deeply impressed by his daughter's stories about China.

Therefore, he decided to spend two years learning Chinese in China at the age of sixty. For it, he even gave up the opportunity of becoming a pilot coach in the US. “I've mastered 4 languages before coming to China. I thought it would be an easy task to learn Chinese.” Fardel said. He didn't expect it would be so difficult, but he loved Chinese and Chinese culture.

He showed the pictures in his phone to us. There were nautical charts of Zheng He's expeditions, pictures of Fardel promoting the book in France, and Chinese paintings he drew. He also made a detailed comparison diagram through which he hoped Westerners would better understand that China had advanced shipbuilding techniques and a splendid navigation culture long ago.

Fardel brought a ship journal published in France recently to the BIBF. He was excited to find one article about Zheng He's expeditions in it, with detailed illustrations and graphics.

Fardel said that he would remain committed to the promotion of Chinese culture around the world for the rest of his life.

Hao Zhensheng, President of China Redactological Society, highly appreciated the Frenchversion of Shipbuilding History of Ancient China, commenting that, “Chinese culture does need to go out and get into foreigners' hearts.” (Translation: Li Li)

花甲之年致力推广中国文化

冯克礼的女儿曾在中国留学，回国后讲述留学见闻，深深打动了他。

于是，他在花甲之年来到中国，用两年时间学习汉语。一扇新的文化窗口在他眼前开启，他还为此放弃了去美国当飞行教练的机会。“来中国之前，我会4种语言，以为学汉语也会比较容易。”冯克礼笑言，没想到学汉语非常难，但是他喜欢汉语，喜欢中国文化。

他向记者展示了手机相册，其中既有郑和下西洋航海图，也有他在法国推介《中国古船图说》的照片，还有他学画的中国画。他还专门制作了长长的对比示意图，希望让西方人能直观地了解到：中国在很早很早以前，就有高超的造船技术和辉煌的航海文化。

此次前来北京图博会，冯克礼带来了法国前不久出版的一期船舶杂志，其中一篇文章以较大篇幅，图文并茂地介绍了郑和下西洋的故事。这让他非常惊喜。

冯克礼高兴地说，自己将继续推动中国文化在海外传播。

中国编辑学会会长郝振省得知《中国古船图说》法文版出版前后的故事后，为之点赞，深有感触地说：“中国文化不仅要‘走出去’，更要‘走进去’。”