Last week, Vancouver author Yilin Wang discovered her translations of poems by Chinese revolutionary Qiu Jin. without his permission in a British Museum exhibit titled China’s Hidden Century and printed in the show’s accompanying catalog. In a series of tweetWang called the unauthorized use “copyright infringement” and demanded that the museum compensate her and issue an apology. Online, she was met with an outpouring of support, and the museum pulled her work.
But Wang alleges the museum mishandled the fallout from the incident by removing her work without her consent – removing both Wang’s English translations and Jin’s original Chinese poems from the display in an act she says , “erased us both”. In an interview with Hyperallergicthe translator described the London institution’s apology and subsequent communications as “hollow” and “condescending”.
“I strongly condemn the British Museum for its lack of good faith and lack of accountability,” Wang said. “I do not and cannot accept their apologies.”
Wang, who is now in contact with a lawyer, also lamented the museum’s compensation offers. According to Wang, the museum first offered him £150 (~$191) for his translations published in the printed catalog of 30,000 copies, then an additional £450 (~$573) for the “retrospective” use of his work. in the exhibition. In emails sent by the British Museum to Wang, which were reviewed by Hyperallergic, the institution told the translator that because the museum is an “academic and charitable organization”, most of the exhibit’s contributors “graciously agree not to charge us for the use of their work”. Additionally, although the museum initially said it would include Wang’s name alongside other translators in a thank you panel inside the exhibit, the institution revoked the offer after withdrew Wang’s job. (The museum says Wang is “fully recognized” in the catalog; the translator says there is one case where she is not.)
Wang observed that the translations were on the show for five weeks before they were taken down, and said she wished the institution had compensated her properly rather than just taking them down. She added that the museum had given her 24 hours to respond to their email asking how she wanted to proceed, leaving her little time to respond given the eight-hour time difference between the UK and Canada, before to remove the poems. She claims that despite two requests, they refused to reinstate them.
“As I had no say while my work was displayed, it feels like an insult added to the insult to receive their first email – which dishonestly misrepresents the situation – and then to be denied again all my agency and visibility when they hastily eliminated all of Qiu Jin’s poetry from the exhibition without any possibility of discussion,” Wang said.
Five days after Wang first posted on Twitter, the British Museum released on June 23 statement announcing that he had apologized to Wang, describing the incident as “unintentional human error”.
“The British Museum takes copyright clearances seriously. In all of our work, we make every effort to contact rights holders in text, images, print and digital media. This was a particularly complicated project and we recognize that we inadvertently made an error and failed to meet our usual standards,” the museum statement read.
“China’s Hidden Century was a complex exhibition to stage and we worked with over 400 people from 20 countries to produce its content and presentation, including 30 lenders and many other contributors,” the institution continued.
Wang finds this justification unconvincing. “How can they unwittingly take the translation of a poem longer than 20 lines?” she asked, adding that although the museum said it was “investigating what happened”, she had yet to receive an explanation.
Hyperallergic contacted the British Museum for comment on each of Wang’s claims, and the museum replied that it had nothing to add to its June 23 statement. China’s Hidden Century was funded in part by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, which declined to comment for this story. The Huo Family Foundation and Citi, two sponsors of the exhibition, have not yet responded to Hyperallergicask for information.
Wang said Hyperallergic that she believes that the British Museum’s repeated characterization of the incident as an error constitutes “passive language” rather than an adequate admission of responsibility on the part of the museum.
“They are forcing me to escalate this, and I will fight you to the end,” Wang wrote in a Tweeter headed to the British Museum yesterday. “May the ghost of Qiu Jin haunt you all forever.”
