The dissemination of Li Bai's poetry in the German-speaking world has been meticulously traced. From its introduction to Europe by Jesuit missionaries in the 18th century, to its entry into the German literary system via French intermediaries in the mid-19th century, which sparked a "craze for imitating Li Bai," albeit often based on misreadings. Following World War I, the rise of Sinology in German-speaking regions saw sinologists begin translating Li Bai's poetry directly from Chinese, with Erwin von Zach and Günther Debon making particularly notable contributions. In the 21st century, Wolfgang Kubin has made significant contributions to the German translation and study of Li Bai's poetry through his unique scholarly approach. His newly published 2024 translation, *"Den Himmel zur Decke, die Erde zum Kissen – Li Bai"* (Heaven as the Quilt, Earth as the Pillow – Li Bai), provides a new textual reference for Li Bai studies in the German-speaking world.

I. Layout and Features of the Translation

Wolfgang Kubin's translation of Li Bai's poetry is a hardcover edition of 233 pages, containing 45 poems that cover various poetic forms and themes. It features a bilingual German-Chinese layout, with pinyin annotations for the Chinese text. The translated poems are all previously unpublished new renditions, categorized thematically into "Wine, Women, Song." The opening and closing poems hold special significance. The introduction explains the categorization criteria, reflecting an understanding of the thematic structure of Li Bai's poetry.

II. Prose-Style Translation

This section delves into the prose-style translation strategy employed by the German sinologist Wolfgang Kubin in translating Li Bai's poetry and its practical effects. It first contrasts the traditional verse-style translation with the modern prose-style translation, two mainstream strategies for translating poetry, noting that verse-style translation focuses on reproducing the formal elements of the original poem, while prose-style translation emphasizes conveying semantic content, the imagery system, and emotional depth. Influenced by Ezra Pound's prose-style translation strategy in *Cathay*, Kubin believes poetry translation should prioritize conveying imagery. Furthermore, recognizing his own difficulty in surpassing Debon, a representative of verse-style translation in German sinology, Kubin chose a prose-style strategy for retranslating Li Bai's poetry, adopting free prose poetry as the target text form. Additionally, Kubin's translation is inspired by von Zach's word-for-word literal translation approach, but Kubin aims for "innovation" in his translation. He seeks to recreate the imagery of Li Bai's poetry through three main methods: rhythmic symmetry, unconventional word choice, and skillful conciseness, thereby imbuing prose-style translation with new meaning.

In specific translation practice, Kubin uses *"You Ren Hui Su"* (Staying Overnight with Friends) and *"Chang Gan Xing"* (The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter) (Part 1) as examples to demonstrate his prose-style translation strategy. In translating *"You Ren Hui Su,"* Kubin reconstructs the poem's musicality through rhythmic symmetry, employs unconventional word choices to recreate Li Bai's unique historical linguistic style, and implements skillful conciseness to maintain the original poem's emotional density and tension. For instance, he translates "清谈" as "ein reines Gespräch," uses "blank" rather than the common "leer" for "空山," condenses the title "友人会宿" to "Über Nacht mit Freunden," and renders the final line "天地即衾枕" as "den Himmel zur Decke, die Erde zum Kissen," using a noun structure instead of a copula to highlight the tension of juxtaposed images. In comparison, von Zach's translation appears more verbose and plain in literary quality but holds significant value in semantic accuracy and philological foundation.

In translating *"Chang Gan Xing"* (Part 1), Kubin similarly employs unrhymed verse, focusing on restoring the original poem's narrative rhythm. He replicates the sense of temporal progression through parallel structures, uses archaic and historically marked vocabulary to create poetic distance, and recreates the classical charm of Li Bai's poetic language. Simultaneously, he skillfully condenses the poem through techniques like omitting conjunctions, juxtaposing images, and employing syntactic breaks to reproduce the core imagery and emotions of the original. Kubin references Debon's translation in some word choices but differs in his handling of person and place names, showcasing a unique translation style. Debon's translation uses the second person to construct a direct dialogue, strengthening the sense of intimacy between the lyrical subject and the addressee, while Kubin's third-person strategy creates narrative distance, unfolding the tale along a temporal thread. Regarding place name translation, Kubin transforms "长风沙" into "miles," a distance unit familiar to German readers, reflecting a functional equivalence and reader-oriented approach. In contrast, Debon preserves the original imagery's windy, sandy意境 to convey the heroine's emotional drive. Both strategies have their merits, each achieving literary recreation and aesthetic transmission in translation.

III. Commentary

Kubin's translation of Li Bai's poetry includes detailed commentary for each poem, employing modern hermeneutic methods for interpretation from multidimensional perspectives such as aesthetics, sinology, and literary theory. This commentary approach is pioneering in German sinology and is closely related to Kubin's academic background and translation philosophy. Having studied theology and philosophy in his early years and influenced by Heidegger, Kubin advocates a hermeneutics-oriented view of translation. He believes the core value of translation lies in its commentary. Although this view is controversial, commentary indeed provides the translator with interpretive space to explain cultural specifics, social norms, historical context, clarify translation strategies and challenges, and discuss scholarly disagreements. Kubin's commentary tends to portray Li Bai as a poet engaged in metaphysical questioning of life's essence, downplaying the specific historical and cultural context of the poetic imagery and refining it into symbols of universal human experience. However, the commentary can be overly lengthy and digressive, potentially diverting readers from the poem itself and its main thrust, posing challenges for non-specialist readers in comprehension.

IV. Conclusion

By translating Li Bai's poetry in prose style and employing various poetic strategies to reconstruct imagery and emotion, Wolfgang Kubin breaks through traditional paradigms, offering a new method for translating classical Chinese poetry into foreign languages. The accompanying commentary enhances the work's intellectual value and accessibility, promoting the canonization of Li Bai's poetry in the German-speaking world. The scholarly tradition of German sinologists facilitates deep dialogue between Chinese and German civilizations, enabling Li Bai's poetry to gain wider acceptance and dissemination within the German linguistic context.