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Article published In:
Babel
Vol. 63:3 (2017) ► pp.303–321

A macroscopic perspective on translation of knowledge in China

| Southeast University

The translation, dissemination and reception of knowledge has served as an excellent indicator of changing ideologies and the major catalyst for institutional changes, language reforms and social transformation in China. However, English representations of the Chinese tradition of translation (e.g. Hung 2005; Hung and Pollard 2009) have not incorporated research findings from Chinese studies (e.g. Cohen 1995; Amelung, Kurtz and Lackner 2001; Elman 2005) and tend to provide unsubstantiated generalizations and hasty conclusions. This article uses a combination of “cultural tool” (Even-Zohar 2005) and “culture planning” (Even-Zohar 2008) as a frame of reference to provide a macroscopic perspective on knowledge translation in different Chinese historical periods as “a means of planning” (Toury 2002: 166) to promote religious agendas, modernize traditional Chinese natural studies, Westernize educational and academic systems, facilitate modernization of the state or participate in global knowledge production.

Keywords: translation, knowledge, China, cultural tool, culture planning
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Western learning and translation (early 1600s – mid 1900s)
    • 2.1From the early 1600s to the late 1700s
    • 2.2From the 1840s to the mid-1900s
  • 3.Knowledge translation from 1978 onwards
    • 3.1From 1978 to 1989
    • 3.2From the 1990s onwards
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.63.3.01jun
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