Chinese stories

扭蛋  - those twist-open eggs you can buy from coin operated vending machines with little toys inside

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Yea, it may be interesting and you could get your name in a book, but there are a few things to be wary of when doing academic translation in China. The first is that academic bureaucracy is frustratingly slow (and this goes for academics anywhere), and that means lots of people are involved and the money is very slow in coming. I had mentioned in a previous post that I thought it was a good idea to let the author review the translation before publication: I still think this is a good idea in principle, but in practice it can be a real headache. It means the pace of the project is placed in the hands of the author or authors, and they may have more pressing matters to worry about, or some emergency might come up.  

The second is that in China (and elsewhere too), unfortunately some professors tend to have sticky fingers when it comes to money, and drag their feet when it comes to payday. This is especially the case when it comes to professors and their students (i.e. the students work for free), and foreigners who will be leaving the country soon (won’t be around to complain or do anything about it). It doesn’t matter what university it is, these people exist in the very top schools in China. This is probably also a byproduct of low teacher salaries and academic bureaucracy that means money must pass through many hands when it comes to large projects.

So I would suggest that you have a clear paper trail of all the agreements made (it’s best to sign a contract, but email agreements are ok as well), try to agree to a rigid timetable, and have a lot of patience. I would say try to get them to front a portion of the payment before you begin the project, but I think the chances of that happening in such an environment are slim. Luckily the person I was dealing with was upfront with me about all the politics going on behind the scenes, and it really helps to work with someone you can trust I think. At this point I’m just crossing my fingers that my name will appear somewhere in the book if it ever makes it to print…

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