Abstract
During the last two decades of the Qing dynasty (1890s–1900s), intellectual discourse started to be actively reshaped by the Chinese educators and publishers who were disillusioned with the government’s earlier attempts at military emulation of the West. They championed and carried out translations of Western scientific works, often through the intermediary of Japanese, in response to the social and political problems of the day. The study provides an organized account of the development of translation as part of modern publishing and education, and then consider how translations were selected for the purpose of popularizing Western concepts and ideas that helped to link the Chinese experience with the rest of the world. The reading of “new works” was the means by which people acquired modern ways of seeing and knowing. The consumption of these works and the internalization of their contents allowed Chinese readers of early twentieth century to identify themselves as modern.
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Notes
- 1.
In the late Ming Dynasty, translation of Western works depended on the cooperation between Western missionaries and Chinese scholar-officials, due to their lack of foreign language competence. The most eminent missionary-translator in the Ming Dynasty was the Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), who dictated several important scientific works, such as Euclid’s Elements (Jihe yuanben), while Chinese official-scholars transcribed them in Chinese. The practice continued into the Qing Dynasty. For instance, ten foreign interpreters were enlisted in the translation projects of Jiangnan Arsenal. For more information, see Li (2006), Li (2005), and Xu (1949).
- 2.
General Catalogue of the Republican Era came out in succession between 1986 and 1995. Its Secondary and Primary School Textbooks was published by Shumu wenxian chubanshe in 1995. See Zhang (1995).
- 3.
The largest literary society in the 1900s was the Southern Society (Nanshe). For a study of literary groups in late Qing and early Republican China, see, for example, Hockx (2003).
- 4.
According to Habermas, “public sphere” is a realm of freedom of private and collective activity to be defended against state intrusion and domination. While Habermas was referring to journals and salons that contributed to the formation of a civil society in eighteenth-century Europe, the “public sphere” in late Qing and early republican China consisted mainly of journalistic discourse. See, for example, Lee (2001).
- 5.
In “Pronouncement” (Gaobai), The New Citizen’s Gazette, Issue I.
- 6.
In “Our Distinctive Features” (Benbao zhi tese), The New Citizen’s Gazette, Issue I.
- 7.
The major government translation agency devoted to the translation of textbooks was the Bureau of Book Translation and Compilation (Bianyi tushu ju) set up in 1906. It was a division of the Ministry of Education (Xuebu) established by the Qing government in 1905. In carrying out translation work, the bureau emphasized the collaboration between compilation and translation, illustration, printing and general affairs. Once a book was completed, it was submitted to the Examination and Approval Section (Shending ke) of the Ministry of Education to be examined and finalized before going out to schools. After that, feedback from the schools was collected for improvement. Typical of a government agency, the principle of “Chinese learning as the basis and Western learning for practical application” still prevalent at the time also found its way into the translation work of the bureau, which sought to maintain a reverent attitude to Confucianism while encouraging the importance of new learning, as expressed in the phrase “to acquire a wide range of new knowledge” (guangji xinzhi).
- 8.
Kurtz (2011) gives a spirited examination of the trajectory in the transmission of logic in China. One chapter is devoted to a discussion of Yan Fu.
- 9.
For more information about Kang’s and Tan’s spiritual interpretations of scientific concepts, see David Wright’s Translating Science: The Transmission of Western Chemistry into Late Imperial China, 1840–1900, pp. 368–416.
- 10.
Chen Duxiu’s essay “More Discussion of Confucianism” (Zai lun kongjiao wenti), published in January 1917.
- 11.
Taken from Lu Xun’s 1907 essay “Lessons from the History of Science” (Kexue shi jiao pian).
- 12.
See, for example, “Science and the Philosophy of Life” (Kexue yu renshengguan) (Hu 2003 (2), 195–224) and “Scientific Outlook on Life” (Kexue de renshenguan) (ibid (7), 481–90).
- 13.
Taken from Chen Duxiu’s 1915 essay “Words of Caution to the Young” (Jinggao qingnian).
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Chi, L. (2019). Modernization Through Translation: A Study of Science Translation in China (1890s–1900s). In: Han, Z., Li, D. (eds) Translation Studies in China. New Frontiers in Translation Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7592-7_4
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