A translator has reached a settlement and received an apology from the British Museum months after her work was used in a temporary exhibit without her permission or credit.
Translations by Yilin Wang, a Chinese-to-English translator, writer and editor, of poetry by the Chinese revolutionary and poet Qiu Jin were used in the museum’s exhibit “China’s Hidden Century,” which runs from May 18 to Oct. 8 and focuses on life in the country during the 19th century.
“I am happy to announce that the British Museum and I have reached a settlement after they used my translations of Qiu Jin’s poetry in the ‘China’s Hidden Century’ exhibit without permission, pay, or credit for over a month, and their later action of removing both my translations and Qiu Jin’s poetry from the exhibit,” Wang wrote on her website this week.
Her translations will be reinstated with appropriate credit and compensation, she continued.
The British Museum published a news release last week that acknowledged its wrongdoing and said there isn’t a policy to address the clearance of translations specifically.
“The British Museum apologises to Yilin Wang for this oversight,” the release said. “The British Museum takes copyright permission seriously and recognises the importance of the role of translators and the value of their work, which in many cases helps to further the Museum’s research and widen public access through display.”
Wang took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in June to call out the museum, saying it didn’t contact her to use the translations. Her thread included a link to a page on her website featuring her translations of Qiu Jin’s poetry, as well as a screenshot of the museum’s guide on the exhibit online and the on-site exhibition text, showing their similarity.
“Given this exhibit description that focuses on ‘cultural creativity,’ the British Museum should really acknowledge and pay for a translator’s ‘creativity,’” she wrote…
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