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Ideology and the History of Translation in China (1895-1919)
2003 Huang sha

Introduction
Andre Lefevere, the important representative of Translation Research School believes that translation, just as literary critics, literature history and movie, is another form of rewriting and it creates a new text which reflects a kind of ideology. Therefore, translators can manipulate the text through translation and produce certain influence on the society. In this sense, translation is a kind of manipulation which means to serve the group with power. Although this theory was attacked by some other experts because of its absolutization, it still possess its effective and reasonable elements. To some extent, prevailing ideology indeed imposes some influence, directly or indirectly, on translators’ works, and this can be best exemplified by the history of translation (1895-1919) in China.
Historical Background
During the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-1895, the corruption and incompetence of Chinese government was completely exposed to imperialistic countries, whose intention was to carve up and benefit form China by all means. Confronted with the threat of foreign countries, many intellectuals realized that Chinese people not only need to study the science and technology of the western world, but also need to consult western social science and political system to save and revive their own country. Under the influence of this wide-spreading ideology, translation activities became flourished and gradually came to its new climax.
Characteristics of Translation in this Period
After going through Chinese history of translation in this period, several characteristics, most of which reflect the influence of prevalent ideology, are concluded and listed below:
(1) Generally speaking, most translators were motivated to translate certain books by this pragmatic purpose: to enlighten the people and to revive the country by introducing foreign works.
(2) Translation works covered a wide range of fields including natural science, social science and literature.
(3) Translation works spread in multiple ways. Some were published in various journals and newspapers such as “Current Issues” in Shanghai (上海时务报) and “National News” in Tianjin(天津国闻报); some were issued by books company and publishing house set up by government or individuals, such as Datong translation and book company organized by Liangqicao; many learned societies, such as ZhiXue institute in Wuchang, and Mingda institute in Changde, also considered translation as one of their tasks.
Representatives of Translators:
Famous translators who introduce western science to China
Many members of Reforming Group, who advocated saving China with the help of western political system, are in the list of most influencing translators in China. Their greatest contribution to translation cause as well as to development of China is to introduce the western science systematically in a comparatively short period of time. Scientific fields that they focused roughly fell into three categories (Ma Zuyi 371):
(1) Democratic theory of bourgeois, especially human right and equality.
(2) Theory of liberalism and pragmatism promoted during the time when capitalism was developing.
(3) Natural science and its methodology.
To be more detailed, the western works they chose covers a wide range including politics, sociology, philosophy, economics, law, education, and history. Among these fields, they put emphasis on history in order to demonstrate that reform is the inevitable trend by comparing and analyzing history of different countries. As to translation source, Kang Youwei and Liang Qicao, the leaders of Reforming Group tend to retranslate the Japanese books (Ma Zuyi 365). There are two reasons: (1) since the reform in 1896, Japanese people have translated numerals of western books which can be taken as the reference of Chinese reform; (2) Japanese, similar to Chinese, is much easier to study and to be translated into Chinese compared with other foreign languages.
Besides Japanese works, another important source is, of course, English books. Yanfu, another important figure in Reforming Group gained his reputation through translating English books. He deserves the fame not only because he translated abundant of western works which had great impact on Chinese society, but also because he was the first person in Chinese history to express his ideas about translation standard. He stated that the best translation should follow the 3- character principle: Faithfulness, Expressiveness, and Elegance. However, there arises heated debating about whether Yanfu himself has constantly adhered to this principle. Let’s turn to Yafu’s personal translating experience for more information.
According to Heling, who wrote “Translation of Yanfu”, suggested that Yanfu’s translation activities can be divided into three stages (Ma Zuyi 379). In the first period, he translated such works as Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays(天演论), Spirit of Law(法意) and System of Logic(穆勒名学). In this period, he adopted ancient Chinese and free translation and rewrote many parts of these books. Therefore many translators criticized him for his “unfaithfulness” to the original works. In the second period, he translated such works as Study of Sociology (群学肆言), Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the wealth of Nation(原富), On Liberty(群己权界说) and History of Politics(社会通诠) mainly through literal translation approach. In Heling’s opinion, those works translated in the second period is a perfect reflection of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance”. In the third period, the representative translation works of Yanfu were Logic(名学浅说) and Dr Alford Westharp（中国教育译）. When translating those works, Yanfu adopted free translation again and developed it to an extreme.
Yanfu’s translating experience suggests that in most of the cases, he chose free translation, thus many other translators like Liang Qicao and Fu Sinian criticized him for his unfaithfulness to the original works. Besides that, many modern translators argue that Yagu’s three-character principle is an entity of inner conflict, because the original work is not necessarily elegant.
It seems that all these comments are reasonable. However, if we view Yanfu’s translation approach from another angle, we will find that it is a perfect example demonstrating the impact on translation imposed by the social background and temporal ideology. In fact, Yanfu “distorted” the original work out of his intention to persuade the upper class of feudal society to reform the political system. AS wrote in his :
Yanfu’s preference of ancient Chinese also resulted from the same purpose. He totally understood that upper class, who had the final say in China, may repulse the western doctrine. In order to cater to their taste, he “decorated” the western works with ancient style appreciated by the upper class. Thanks to Yafu’s wise choice, his elegant ancient style won the favor of intellectuals and officials in the upper class, and his aim of spreading western ideas was accomplished by this means. Compared with Liang qicao, who preferred literal translation and was usually forbidden to publish his translation works, Yanfu, although bore the notorious name of “unfaithfulness”, was more successful in publishing his translation work and enlightening the elite through translation.
In a word, as Yanfu himself said, his choice of translation approach and style was “not out of his own will” (固有所不得已也 Cheng Fukang 121) but was greatly influenced by the specific social characteristics and dominant ideology.
Famous translators who introduce western literature to China
Another translator who shares the reputation with Yanfu is Linshu. Yafu, good at reasoning and logic, focuses on western social science, while Linshu, who posses a great talent for narrating, is renowned by translating novels.
In the late Qing period, the novel translating and writing activities began to prosper. As early as 1897, Yanfu and Xia suiqing published an article explaining why they decided to serialize novels in “ National News”, and for the first time, the political value of novels was expounded. In 1902, Liang qicao wrote his “On the relation between novels and politics”(论小说与群治之关系)stating that excellent political novels must be created and introduced as a means of educating Chinese people. From then on, the heyday of novel in China was approaching.
As mentioned above, Linshu was among the famous translators who introduced big amount of foreign novels to Chinese people. During his lifetime, the literary works he translated amounted to about 180 kinds. And it is matchless in Chinese translation history. His translation works such as La Dame aux Camilias(巴黎茶花女遗事)，Uncle Tom’s Cabin（黑人吁天录）, Dayid Coperfield（块肉余生记），Robinson Crusoe（鲁滨逊漂流记）were very popular among Chinese people.
Linshu’s translation speed is amazing, however, it also caused some mistakes. Another reason of inaccuracy in his translation is that Linshu knew nothing about foreign languages. His translation depended on other’s narration of the novel. His friends who knew foreign languages well narrated the novels in Chinese, then Lingshu rewrote it in a vivid style, expunging those parts not related to the plot. No doubt that free translation was the main characteristic of Lingshu. As Zheng Zhenduo commented: “Although we can not say his translation is exactly correspondent to the original work, we can not find any difference in the taste and style after reading the translation and the original work separately.”(虽然我们不能把他的译文与原文一个字一个字的对读而觉得一字不差，然而，如果一口气读了原文，再去读译文，则作者情调都可以觉得丝毫未易。)(Ma Zuyi 428). Another characteristic of his translation was the use of note, which explained the western culture and customs. It was very necessary for Chinese readers who were not familiar with the western world and at the same time it promoted culture exchange.
Lingshu’s translation activities can be generally divided into two periods. Before the revolution in1911, he devoted to translation with great enthusiasm and his works in this period were comparatively excellent. His success was closely connected to the social background in this period. Fanned by Reforming Group’s theory, he believed that literature translation could be used to educate people and finally reform and revive China. Urged by this drive, he was of course fascinated with his work. However, as a defender of old government and old culture, he was frustrated and depressed after the success of Revolution in 1911. He was no longer motivated by the ambition of saving China but was driven by the earning he could get from translation. Passion disappeared with the fading of ideal and aspire. It is natural that his translation works in this period cannot match those works in the first period. Ling shu’s translation experience proved that although he was against the historical trend and the dominant ideology after 1911, he could not avoid the impact of this trend and ideology, even though the impact was indirect and negative.
Besides translators who introduced foreign literary works to Chinese readers, other translators who introduced Chinese classics to foreign readers deserve mention. Gu Hongming and Zhang Qingtong, who spread Chinese works through correspondence with famous Russian writers, make a contribution to introducing China to the world outside.
Conclusion
In a word, China was experiencing dramatic changes between 1895 and 1919. Threat from foreign countries as well as the fragility of old political system woke up Chinese people from their illusion. The main stream of ideology under this social background was to save China by referring to western ideas. Translation, as a bridge connecting China with the world outside, played a crucial role in this historical period. Translation history in this special phase not only demonstrates the importance of translation to a society, but also proves that social-historical condition and temporal ideology more or less impose an influence on translators’ works, directly or indirectly. A translator, although with his individual characteristics, can hardly escape from the society he is born.

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Previous Entry :: Next Entry Mood: 13 Read/Post Comments (0) Share on Facebook You are sure to find more files or essays with * after your filling the GROUPNAME and PASSWORD blanks on the bottom. Wait for your comments, please send me your E-mails. <<<<< More >>>>>		2004-04-07 1:31 PM Ideology and the History of Translation in China by Huang sha Ideology and the History of Translation in China (1895-1919) 2003 Huang sha Introduction Andre Lefevere, the important representative of Translation Research School believes that translation, just as literary critics, literature history and movie, is another form of rewriting and it creates a new text which reflects a kind of ideology. Therefore, translators can manipulate the text through translation and produce certain influence on the society. In this sense, translation is a kind of manipulation which means to serve the group with power. Although this theory was attacked by some other experts because of its absolutization, it still possess its effective and reasonable elements. To some extent, prevailing ideology indeed imposes some influence, directly or indirectly, on translators’ works, and this can be best exemplified by the history of translation (1895-1919) in China. Historical Background During the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-1895, the corruption and incompetence of Chinese government was completely exposed to imperialistic countries, whose intention was to carve up and benefit form China by all means. Confronted with the threat of foreign countries, many intellectuals realized that Chinese people not only need to study the science and technology of the western world, but also need to consult western social science and political system to save and revive their own country. Under the influence of this wide-spreading ideology, translation activities became flourished and gradually came to its new climax. Characteristics of Translation in this Period After going through Chinese history of translation in this period, several characteristics, most of which reflect the influence of prevalent ideology, are concluded and listed below: (1) Generally speaking, most translators were motivated to translate certain books by this pragmatic purpose: to enlighten the people and to revive the country by introducing foreign works. (2) Translation works covered a wide range of fields including natural science, social science and literature. (3) Translation works spread in multiple ways. Some were published in various journals and newspapers such as “Current Issues” in Shanghai (上海时务报) and “National News” in Tianjin(天津国闻报); some were issued by books company and publishing house set up by government or individuals, such as Datong translation and book company organized by Liangqicao; many learned societies, such as ZhiXue institute in Wuchang, and Mingda institute in Changde, also considered translation as one of their tasks. Representatives of Translators: Famous translators who introduce western science to China Many members of Reforming Group, who advocated saving China with the help of western political system, are in the list of most influencing translators in China. Their greatest contribution to translation cause as well as to development of China is to introduce the western science systematically in a comparatively short period of time. Scientific fields that they focused roughly fell into three categories (Ma Zuyi 371): (1) Democratic theory of bourgeois, especially human right and equality. (2) Theory of liberalism and pragmatism promoted during the time when capitalism was developing. (3) Natural science and its methodology. To be more detailed, the western works they chose covers a wide range including politics, sociology, philosophy, economics, law, education, and history. Among these fields, they put emphasis on history in order to demonstrate that reform is the inevitable trend by comparing and analyzing history of different countries. As to translation source, Kang Youwei and Liang Qicao, the leaders of Reforming Group tend to retranslate the Japanese books (Ma Zuyi 365). There are two reasons: (1) since the reform in 1896, Japanese people have translated numerals of western books which can be taken as the reference of Chinese reform; (2) Japanese, similar to Chinese, is much easier to study and to be translated into Chinese compared with other foreign languages. Besides Japanese works, another important source is, of course, English books. Yanfu, another important figure in Reforming Group gained his reputation through translating English books. He deserves the fame not only because he translated abundant of western works which had great impact on Chinese society, but also because he was the first person in Chinese history to express his ideas about translation standard. He stated that the best translation should follow the 3- character principle: Faithfulness, Expressiveness, and Elegance. However, there arises heated debating about whether Yanfu himself has constantly adhered to this principle. Let’s turn to Yafu’s personal translating experience for more information. According to Heling, who wrote “Translation of Yanfu”, suggested that Yanfu’s translation activities can be divided into three stages (Ma Zuyi 379). In the first period, he translated such works as Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays(天演论), Spirit of Law(法意) and System of Logic(穆勒名学). In this period, he adopted ancient Chinese and free translation and rewrote many parts of these books. Therefore many translators criticized him for his “unfaithfulness” to the original works. In the second period, he translated such works as Study of Sociology (群学肆言), Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the wealth of Nation(原富), On Liberty(群己权界说) and History of Politics(社会通诠) mainly through literal translation approach. In Heling’s opinion, those works translated in the second period is a perfect reflection of “Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance”. In the third period, the representative translation works of Yanfu were Logic(名学浅说) and Dr Alford Westharp（中国教育译）. When translating those works, Yanfu adopted free translation again and developed it to an extreme. Yanfu’s translating experience suggests that in most of the cases, he chose free translation, thus many other translators like Liang Qicao and Fu Sinian criticized him for his unfaithfulness to the original works. Besides that, many modern translators argue that Yagu’s three-character principle is an entity of inner conflict, because the original work is not necessarily elegant. It seems that all these comments are reasonable. However, if we view Yanfu’s translation approach from another angle, we will find that it is a perfect example demonstrating the impact on translation imposed by the social background and temporal ideology. In fact, Yanfu “distorted” the original work out of his intention to persuade the upper class of feudal society to reform the political system. AS wrote in his : Yanfu’s preference of ancient Chinese also resulted from the same purpose. He totally understood that upper class, who had the final say in China, may repulse the western doctrine. In order to cater to their taste, he “decorated” the western works with ancient style appreciated by the upper class. Thanks to Yafu’s wise choice, his elegant ancient style won the favor of intellectuals and officials in the upper class, and his aim of spreading western ideas was accomplished by this means. Compared with Liang qicao, who preferred literal translation and was usually forbidden to publish his translation works, Yanfu, although bore the notorious name of “unfaithfulness”, was more successful in publishing his translation work and enlightening the elite through translation. In a word, as Yanfu himself said, his choice of translation approach and style was “not out of his own will” (固有所不得已也 Cheng Fukang 121) but was greatly influenced by the specific social characteristics and dominant ideology. Famous translators who introduce western literature to China Another translator who shares the reputation with Yanfu is Linshu. Yafu, good at reasoning and logic, focuses on western social science, while Linshu, who posses a great talent for narrating, is renowned by translating novels. In the late Qing period, the novel translating and writing activities began to prosper. As early as 1897, Yanfu and Xia suiqing published an article explaining why they decided to serialize novels in “ National News”, and for the first time, the political value of novels was expounded. In 1902, Liang qicao wrote his “On the relation between novels and politics”(论小说与群治之关系)stating that excellent political novels must be created and introduced as a means of educating Chinese people. From then on, the heyday of novel in China was approaching. As mentioned above, Linshu was among the famous translators who introduced big amount of foreign novels to Chinese people. During his lifetime, the literary works he translated amounted to about 180 kinds. And it is matchless in Chinese translation history. His translation works such as La Dame aux Camilias(巴黎茶花女遗事)，Uncle Tom’s Cabin（黑人吁天录）, Dayid Coperfield（块肉余生记），Robinson Crusoe（鲁滨逊漂流记）were very popular among Chinese people. Linshu’s translation speed is amazing, however, it also caused some mistakes. Another reason of inaccuracy in his translation is that Linshu knew nothing about foreign languages. His translation depended on other’s narration of the novel. His friends who knew foreign languages well narrated the novels in Chinese, then Lingshu rewrote it in a vivid style, expunging those parts not related to the plot. No doubt that free translation was the main characteristic of Lingshu. As Zheng Zhenduo commented: “Although we can not say his translation is exactly correspondent to the original work, we can not find any difference in the taste and style after reading the translation and the original work separately.”(虽然我们不能把他的译文与原文一个字一个字的对读而觉得一字不差，然而，如果一口气读了原文，再去读译文，则作者情调都可以觉得丝毫未易。)(Ma Zuyi 428). Another characteristic of his translation was the use of note, which explained the western culture and customs. It was very necessary for Chinese readers who were not familiar with the western world and at the same time it promoted culture exchange. Lingshu’s translation activities can be generally divided into two periods. Before the revolution in1911, he devoted to translation with great enthusiasm and his works in this period were comparatively excellent. His success was closely connected to the social background in this period. Fanned by Reforming Group’s theory, he believed that literature translation could be used to educate people and finally reform and revive China. Urged by this drive, he was of course fascinated with his work. However, as a defender of old government and old culture, he was frustrated and depressed after the success of Revolution in 1911. He was no longer motivated by the ambition of saving China but was driven by the earning he could get from translation. Passion disappeared with the fading of ideal and aspire. It is natural that his translation works in this period cannot match those works in the first period. Ling shu’s translation experience proved that although he was against the historical trend and the dominant ideology after 1911, he could not avoid the impact of this trend and ideology, even though the impact was indirect and negative. Besides translators who introduced foreign literary works to Chinese readers, other translators who introduced Chinese classics to foreign readers deserve mention. Gu Hongming and Zhang Qingtong, who spread Chinese works through correspondence with famous Russian writers, make a contribution to introducing China to the world outside. Conclusion In a word, China was experiencing dramatic changes between 1895 and 1919. Threat from foreign countries as well as the fragility of old political system woke up Chinese people from their illusion. The main stream of ideology under this social background was to save China by referring to western ideas. Translation, as a bridge connecting China with the world outside, played a crucial role in this historical period. Translation history in this special phase not only demonstrates the importance of translation to a society, but also proves that social-historical condition and temporal ideology more or less impose an influence on translators’ works, directly or indirectly. A translator, although with his individual characteristics, can hardly escape from the society he is born. 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