A newly translated version of the classic British fantasy novel "the Lord of
the Rings" has received enthusiastic support from readers.

The Shuang-xi (雙喜) publishing house initiated a crowdfunding campaign
earlier this month for a new Chinese translation, yielding an astounding
result of over 5 million NT so far for the trilogy and "The Hobbit."

The new translator is Li Han, who boasts a graduate degree in University of
Glasgow's Medieval & Renaissance Studies.

Taiwanese readers first read the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers and
the Return of the King, all translated by Zhu Xue-heng (朱學恆) over 20 years
ago.

J. R. R. Tolkien, the trilogy's author, died in 1973, which means his works
have now become public domain books and anyone can translate them.

The publisher says language use changes all the time and for a classic work
like the Lord of the Rings, it may need to be retranslated every 10 years.

It's planning an official launch of the new set of books on March 24th.

(JL)