During the 1970s, he was also working on the translation of the over thousand page picaresque novel "Shui Hu zhuan". The Swedish title is "Berättelser från träskmarkerna" (Tales from the swamps) and the work appeared in four volumes between 1976 and 1979. He also translated the five volumes of "Xī Yóu Jì" ("Journey to the West", with the Swedish title "Färden till västern"), a 16th century story of how in the 7th century the pilgrim Xuanzang brings the holy writings of Buddhism from India to China. During the 1970s and 1980s, Malmqvist’s research turned chiefly to classical Chinese philology, syntax and semantics.