Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:12:57.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Western Impact on China Through Translation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Tsuen-hsuin Tsien
Tsuen-hsuin Tsien
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Get access

Extract

Translation is not only a science or an art, but also a practical tool of international communication in the world-wide exchange of ideas. The importance of translation has been heightened by the increasing contacts among nations of widely divergent cultures. In the Western world, translation is considered more frequently from the linguistic than the cultural point of view, for the West has a common pattern of culture underlying its linguistic variety. The problem of communication between the East and the West is more difficult in that there are not only language barriers but also divergent cultural patterns.

The translation of Western works into Chinese began near the end of the sixteenth century. Moved by religious enthusiasm, the Jesuits initiated the process and the Protestant missionaries followed. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, translation programs have been a characteristic part of Chinese governmental activity directed toward modernization and, consequently, both the subject matter translated and the languages from which they were translated indicate trends in modern Chinese thought as well as changing governmental policies. Moreover, the motivation of translation and the shifts in intellectual interests are reflected in the character and quantity of translations produced at different times.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , May 1954 , pp. 305 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1954

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Hulme, Edward Wynham, Statistical Bibliography in Relation to the Growth of Modem Civilization (London: Grafton, 1923)Google Scholar.

2 “Translation” is here defined as a rendering of foreign material into Chinese language without change of its original idea. A compilation on V/estern subjects is not considered a translation, except for those earlier missionary writings as tabulated in tables I and II, of which the originals cannot be completely identified. Material in the following tables represents separate titles of books only; translated articles in periodicals are not included.

3 Bernard, Henri, Matteo Ricci's Scientific Contributions to China, trs. by Werner, Chalmers (Peiping: Henri Vetch, 1935), 68Google Scholar.

4 Verhaeren, Hubert, “The Ancient Library of Pei-t'ang,” Quarterly Bulletin of Chinese Bibliography, new series, 1 (1940), 124Google Scholar.

5 Lamelle, Edmund, “La propagande du P. Nicolas Trigault en faveur des missions de Chine (1616),” Archivum Historicum Societatis Jesu, 9 (1940), 71–5Google Scholar.

6 The Chinese characters for names of Ming and Ch'ing scholars mentioned in this article can be found in Hummel, Arthur W., ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (Washington, 1944), 2 volsGoogle Scholar.

7 Hao, Fang, Hsü kuang ch'i (Biography of Hsü Kuang-ch'i). (Chungking: Victory Press, 1944), 90–1Google Scholar.

8 Yüan, Ch'en, “Ching yang wang cheng chüan” (Biography of Wang Cheng) Bulletin of the National Library of Peiping, 8(1934), 6.12–15Google Scholar.

9 Ssu k'u ch'üan shu tsung mu (Annotated bibliography of the complete library of the four treasuries) (Shanghai, 1930), 107/6a.

10 Shih, Fan, Ming chi hsi yang ch'uan ju chih i hsüeh (Western medicine introduced to China at the end of the Ming dynasty) (Shanghai: Society of Chinese Medical History, 1943)Google Scholar. 2/1a.

11 , Lo Ch'ang-p'ei, “Yeh su hui shih tsai yin y¨n hsüeh shang ti kung hsien” (Jesuit contribution to Chinese phonology), Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, (1929) 1 : 3.Google Scholar

12 Fan Shih, op. cit., 3/1a–3a.

13 Vethaeren, Hubert, “Wang Cheng so i ch'i ch'i t'u shuo” (On the translation of the Illustrated Description of Mechanical Contrivances by Wang Cheng), Bulletin of the Institutum S. Thomae, 2 (1947) 1, 26–36Google Scholar.

14 Wylie, Alexander, Notes on Chinese Literature (Shanghai, 1922), 111Google Scholar.

15 Cf. Fuchs, Walter, Der Jesuiten-Atlas der Kang-hsi-Zeit (Peking, 1943)Google Scholar.

16 Latourette, Kenneth Scott, A History of Christian Missions in China (New York: Macmillan, 1929), 226Google Scholar.

17 One scholar commented: “Religious (Christian) books are all superficial and unworthy to be studied; the style of translation is especially bad.” Cf. Chao Wei-hsi , Hsi hsueh shu mu ta wen (A bibliography of Western studies), (Kweiyang, 1901), Preface, 1a.

18 A report of the Committee appointed to take charge of the preparation of the series of school and text books by Williamson, Alexander on July-15, 1878, published in the Chinese Recorder, 9 (1878), 307–9Google Scholar.

19 Wylie, Memorials, op. cit., 6: Milne, William, A Retrospect of the First Ten Years of the Protestant Mission to China (Malaaca, 1820), 83.Google Scholar

20 Wylie, Memorials, op. cit., 30.

21 Thomas, James, “Biographical Sketch of Alexander Wylie,” in Chinese Researches, by Alexander Wylie (Shanghai, 1897), 7–8Google Scholar.

22 ch'i-ch'ao, Liang, Hsi hsüeh shu mu piao (Bibliography and critical notes on Western studies), (Shanghai, 1896), 1, 4b–6aGoogle Scholar.

23 McIntosh, Gilbert, The Mission Press in China (Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1895), 35–58Google Scholar.

24 ibid., 38.

25 Shou-ch'ing, Yang, Chung kuo ch'u pan chieh chien shih . (A short history of the Chinese press), (Shanghai: Yung Hsiang Press, 1946), 17Google Scholar.

26 Gamier, Albert J., A Maker of Modem China (London: Garey Press, 1945), 77Google Scholar.

27 Wu, K. T., “The Development of Typography in China during the nineteenth century,” Library Quarterly, 22 (1952), 288–301CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 The numbers of translations relating to religious subjects listed in Tables III and IV are obviously too small. Many may have been omitted by compilers who shared the antagonistic attitude of Chinese literati toward Christianity.

29 Hsi-t'ung, Chang, “The Earliest Phase of the Introduction of Western Political Science into China,” Yenching Journal of Social Studies, 5 (1950), 14–15Google Scholar.

30 Cf. Biggerstaff, Knight, “The T'ung Wen Kuan,” Chinese Social and Political Science Review, 18 (1934), 307–40Google Scholar.

31 The school began in 1879 to publish a calendar, called T'ung wen kuan t'i ming lu (Calendar of Tungwen College), which appeared every few years.

32 The fourth issue of the calendar, for 1888? contains a list in English, including translations of Wheaton's Elements of International Law, Wooley's International Law, Bluntschli's Droit international codifie, Fawcett's Political Economy, the Code Napoléon, De Marten's Guide Diplomatique, the Penal Code of Singapore, Tyler's Universal History, a History of Russia, Loomis's Practical Astronomy, Malguti's Chemistry, and other compilations on natural history, chemical analysis, mathematical physics, human anatomy, etc.

33 I hsüeh kuan k'ai pan chang ch'eng (Announcement of the Translation School), (Peking, 1903), 18Google Scholar.

34 Kuei-fen, Feng, Hsien chih fang kao (Collected works of Feng Kuei-fen), (1876), 10/18–20Google Scholar.

35 The translations made by Fryer have been kept in the East Asiatic Library of the University of California. The writer is indebted to Dr. Richard G. Irwin for the detailed information concerning the Fryer collection as described in his unpublished paper entitled “John Fryer's Legacy of Chinese Writings.”

36 Fryer, John, “An Account of the Department for the Translation of Foreign Books at the Kiangnan Arsenal,” North-China Herald, 24 (January 29, 1880)Google Scholar; also published in Chinese in Ko chih hui pien (Chinese scientific and Industrial Magazine), third year, nos. 5–8 (1880).

37 These include 66 on natural science, 38 on military science, 35 on engineering and manufacture, 11 on medicine, 7 on agriculture, and 21 on history and institutions. A complete list was included in Yün-kung, Wei, Chiang nan chih tsao chü chi (An account of the Kiangnan Arsenal), (Shanghai, 1905). 2/15–22Google Scholar.

38 Ch'ang-shou, Chou, “I k'an k'o hsüeh shu chi k'ao lüeh” (A history of translation of scientific works), in Chang chü sheng hsien sheng ch'i sheng jih chi nien lun wen chi (Essays dedicated to Chang Chü-sheng on his seventieth birthday), (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937), 425–8.Google Scholar

39 I shu kung hui pao (Weekly Edition), No. 1 (1897), various paging.

40 Yang Shou-chüng, op. cit., 20—21.

41 Ch'i-ch'ao, Liang first mentioned Mo-k'o-shih (Marx) in Hsin min ts'ung pao, No. 18 (1902), 22Google Scholar. A more detailed discussion was included in the translations of several Japanese works, including Hayazō's, FukuiContemporary Socialism (Shanghai: Kuang Chih Shu Chu, 1903)Google Scholar, translated by Chao Pi-chen A complete translation of the Communist Manifesto by Ch'en Wang-tao [ appeared in 1920.

42 Ch'i-ch'ao, Liang, “Lun i shu” (On translation), Yin ping shih ho chih (Collected works of Liang Ch'i-ch'ao), (Shanghai: Chung Hua Book Company, 1936), 1, 64–76Google Scholar.

43 Published terminologies include those of chemistry, pharmacy and pharmacology, astronomy, physics, mineralogy, meterology, geology, anatomy, bacteriology and immunology, pathology, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, general psychology, sociology, economics, education, statistics, etc. See Chung hua nien chien (Chinese Yearbook), 1948 (Nanking, 1948), 2Google Scholar. 1773.

44 Kuo li pien i kuan kung tso kai k'uang (Report of the National Institute of Compilation and Translation), (Nanking, 1946)Google Scholar.

45 Ch'ü-ch'ang, Wang, Yen chi tao nien p'u (An annalistic biography of Yen Fu), (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1936), 29–78Google Scholar.

46 ibid., 35.

47 These include 99 by English authors, 20 by American, 33 by French, 7 by Russian, 2 by Swiss, one each by Belgian, Spanish, Norwegian, Greek, and Japanese, and five by authors of unknown nationalities. See A Ying , Wan ch'ing hsiao shuo shih (History of Chinese Novels in the late Ch'ing dynasty), (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937), 277–80Google Scholar.

48 ibid., 283–4.

49 Schyne, Joseph, 1500 Modern Chinese Novels and Plays (Peiping, 1948), 59–60Google Scholar. This work gives the Chinese characters for names of modern writers.

50 Hsin-ch'eng, Shu, Chin tai chung kuo liu hsüeb shih (History of Chinese students studying abroad in modern times), (Shanghai: Chung Hua Book Company, 1933), 46Google Scholar.

51 Chih-tung, Chang, Chang wen hsiang kung ch'uan chi (Collected works of Chang Chih-tung), (1928), 203/15aGoogle Scholar.

52 Fan i t'ung pao . (Bulletin of translation), 3:5 (1951) 9.

53 Ibid., 10

54 Franke, Wolfgang and Schau-dien, Dschang, Titelverzeichnis Chinesischer übersetzungen Deutscher Werke (Peking: Deutschland-Institut, 1942)Google Scholar.

55 Chia-lo, Yang, T'u sbu nien Men (Chinese book annual), 1933 issue, Chapter 6, 1–444Google Scholar.

56 Shu-t'ang, Pi, Catalogo di opere in Chinese tradotte dall' Italiano o riguardanti I'Italia i Saggio di bibliografia (Peking: Centro Culturale Italiano, 1941)Google Scholar.

57 Keisū, Saneto, Nippon bunka no shina e no eikyō (Cultural influence of Japan on China), (Tokyo, 1940), 8–9Google Scholar.

58 These works include 98 on philosophy and religion (4 percent), 697 on social sciences (32 percent), 257 on history and geography (11 percent), 267 on natural sciences (12 percent), 396 on applied sciences (18 percent), 288 on literature (13 percent), and 201 on miscellaneous subjects (10 percent).

59 Franke, op. cit., 16.

60 Kuang-tz'u, Chiang, I hsiang yü ku kuo (Strange lands and mother country: collected essays), (Shanghai: Hsien Tai Book Company, 1930), 131Google Scholar.

61 Ch'i-ch'ao, Liang, “I yin cheng chih hsiao shuo hsü” (1898) (On translation and publication of political fiction), Yin ping shih buo chi, 2. 34–5Google Scholar; “Hsiao shuo yü ch'un chih chih kuan hsi” (1902) (Fiction and democracy), ibid., 4.6–9.

62 Hsun, Lu, No han (Cheers on the sidelines), (Shanghai, 1926), ivGoogle Scholar.