Translation Results Requested Through Conyac Made Public

Is it wrong, is it bourgeois reactionary thinking, to desire a safe and happy life for your family? To want to do a job well and be rewarded for it? Not at all. These are universal hopes, and throughout "The Blue Kite" we can see characters seeking them. An old mother sips her tea and states that she is beyond politics--"too old for it." And there is a poignant scene when the army brother, who has left the service because of bad eyes, goes for a last visit to his girlfriend, who is still in uniform. She advises him to forget her, because she will be where she is for a long, long time. (There is an echo here of Ha Jin's stories about romance and marriage put on hold for long years by duties to the state.)