The Bard's sonnets find another chance in China

So when she launched an online crowd-funding request to publish the book, she quickly got the task done in two days, thanks to her already existing fan base.

"The key is that, to Chinese readers, my translations are proper Chinese poetry. It's even judged by literature critics at home, offering the right poetic imagery that every Chinese feels familiar with and can associate with," Ye says.

Ye took years to achieve the claim she expresses lightheartedly. She resettled to a post that had nothing to do with literature and poetry she liked in 2008, and published several translation works during her leisure time.

"My passion for translation is even stronger now. Say, if you are talented in and happened to love literary translations, you'll feel life has no torture at all."

A single mother to a teenage boy, Ye spends long-hours to and from jobs via the metro everyday. During the weekend, she ponders and works on poetry translation.

"The metro is a good place. I'd always revise my stanzas at least six to seven times. When I think over the translation of one line on the metro, I don't feel the crowd around me at all."

Ye's next move is on American poet Robert Frost. She believes her book of Shakespeare sonnets is a wonderful gift for Chinese readers, and for the Bard too.

"So long lives this and this gives life to thee," Ye quotes.

"Shakespeare might be grateful to me because I lead domestic readers to rediscover him, as well as the beauty of his stanzas."