The Chivalrous Burglar of a Thousand Faces: Arsène Lupin and Sun Liaohong’s Legends of Lu Ping

Abstract

During the late Qing and early Republican era, translated detective novels were popular, and to a certain extent, inspired Chinese writers to create their own detective novels. This paper examines the Chinese translations and transculturation of the Arsène Lupin stories during the early twentieth century. In particular, this paper focuses on Sun Liaohong (1897-1958), a famous novelist and translator, and the legendary adventures of his original character, “chivalrous burglar Lu Ping”(xiadao Lu Ping 俠盜魯平), whom Sun called “the Oriental Arsène Lupin”. Through comparison and examination, this paper aims to demonstrate how Sun’s translation and body of work represent a dialogue between Chinese and western literary traditions and cultural values, and further illustrates the cultural connotations of Arsène Lupin’s extraordinary adventures in modern China.