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What's the best translation to 「要看两千年的中国，去西安；要看一千年的中国，去北京；要看一百年的中国，去上海；要看十年的中国，去深圳」？

My version is

To find two thousand years of China, go to Xi'an; To find one thousand years of China, go to Beijing; To find one hundred year of China, go to Shanghai; To find ten years of China, go to Shenzhen.

My second version is

To have a taste of two thousand years of China, visit Xi'an; One thousand years of China, Beijing; One hundred years of China, Shanghai; And ten years of China, Shenzhen.

Can someone make a better translation?

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  • 1
    Why do you translate 看 as 'find' but not 'see'?
    – Tang Ho ♦
    Dec 20, 2018 at 20:01
  • You can probably replace find with find out about.
    – zyy
    Dec 20, 2018 at 21:57
  • 2
    "Find" seems more abstract and less restricted to the sense of visually and physically observing, which is closer to what "see" is more appropriate for. I think what this sentence intends to mean essentially is that you could also experience instead of just see such different things in the three different cities.
    – WordyCraft
    Dec 20, 2018 at 21:58
  • 1
    Personally I would put it as "...China of...years instead of "...years of China".
    – Rethliopuks
    Feb 10, 2019 at 13:35
  • If you write the complete translation in an answer, I'll consider accepting it as the answer.
    – WordyCraft
    Mar 21, 2019 at 19:30

3 Answers 3

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要看两千年的中国，去西安；
Wanna taste the flavour of China 2000 years ago? Go to Xi An!
要看一千年的中国，去北京；
Wanna taste the flavour of China 1000 years ago? Go to Beijing!
要看一百年的中国，去上海；
Wanna taste the flavour of China 100 years ago? Go to Shanghai!
要看十年的中国，去深圳
Wanna taste the flavour of China 10 years ago? Go to Shen Zhen!

The Chinese is not native, I would say. Is it a back translation from some English language tourist stuff?

Shanghai is rockin' and rollin', has not stopped at 100 years ago!

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  • Your are right, the Chinese does not sound native.
    – zyy
    Dec 21, 2018 at 14:48
  • 3
    I think the sentences do not mean these cities are in their ancient form, it just means how long those cities have been founded!
    – zyy
    Dec 21, 2018 at 14:50
  • It sounds like a construction you'd use in English. Not for tourism, but to mock the lack of culture/history in Shenzhen. The other cities are just a setup for the punchline.
    – Ben Jackson
    Dec 21, 2018 at 16:17
  • The "ago" part seems to restrict what you call "flavor" one could get from each city to a specific time point in the past. However, I think the more precise idea should be more about the overall and entire time range dating back from current era to that time point in the past. So, any other alternative to "ago"? "Your translation is more suitable if the original is 要看n年前的中国，去X。"
    – WordyCraft
    Dec 29, 2018 at 3:02
  • If you have taken a train to Shanghai you will hear the exact sentences broadcasted in the train(minus the Shenzhen part). I believe it started in the early 2000s.
    – Wang Dingwei
    Dec 30, 2018 at 3:16
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To see how China looks like two thousand years ago, you'd visit Xi'an. To see the look of China one thousand years ago, you'd visit Beijing. To see the look of China one hundred years ago, visit Shanghai. To see the look of China 10 years ago, Visit Shenzhen.

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-1

Answering my own question, with the best version among all submissions, "To have a taste of two thousand years of China, visit Xi'an; One thousand years of China, Beijing; One hundred years of China, Shanghai; And ten years of China, Shenzhen."

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