As a Research and Translation Assistant of the project “Materiality and Socialist Cinema,” I translated dialogue and intertitles from socialist-era Chinese films into English, paying close attention to historical context and ideological language. For me, subtitling is a practice of negotiation between past and present, between political discourse and everyday speech, and between what can be said and what remains visible on screen.

Using VLC Media Player and TextEdit, I synchronized translations with the rhythm and performance on screen. I also collaborated closely with faculty and PhD researchers to maintain historical accuracy and stylistic clarity, particularly when translating socialist terminology and culturally specific forms of address.

One outcome of this work is the English-subtitled version of Huang Baomei (1958), translated by our team. The film was screened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts at NYU Shanghai as part of the program “Performing Gender on the Factory Floor,” where translation became integral to the film’s contemporary reception.

https://ica.shanghai.nyu.edu/program/performing-gender-on-the-factory-floor