The Late Qing Period In Japanese History Books In The Chinese Translation And Dissemination

Translating Japanese history books into Chinese in late Qing Dynasty is the component parts ofChinese-Japanese documentary communication in the modern times, and is also one of the concretemanifestations of Chinese-Japanese cultural communication in the modern times. Japanese historybooks embody the west cultural thought that Japanese scholars achieve mastery through acomprehensive study of the subject. The translation makes west politics,history,etc ideas be introducedinto China. The author thinks that this translation in China is another manifestation of "west culture intothe east" in late Qing Dynasty.There are three focal points in this paper:First, the situation of translation of Japanese history books in China. By studying these situationssuch as translated Japanese history books to Chinese,translator,organization and the region related totranslating activities, the author thinks that there are three characters in translating activities of Japanesehistory books in China:(1) There exists instability of time in the translating activities from Japanese history books toChinese;(2) There exists unbalance of deferent regions in the translating activities from Japanese historybooks to Chinese;(3) Chinese translators have particular emphasis in translating activities from Japanese historybooks to Chinese.Meanwhile, the author thinks that the activity translating Japanese history books into Chinese inthe first 20th century originates from the Chinese making various preliminaries:(1) The establishment one by another of Japanese schools;(2) The dispatch of students studying in Japan;(3) The emergence in large numbers of the new style translation and publishing organization;(4) The introduction to Japanese books from man of insight;(5) The advocacy of "history revolution".Second, the society value of the Japanese history books translated into Chinese. The maininfluence in late Qing Dynasty of the translated Japanese history books in China is enlightening thethought of Chinese, and make the Chinese know the necessity of saving, political reform, evenrevolution. By studying the influence of translated books about conquered nation history, independenthistory and revolution history, we obtain the following conclusions:(1) The translation to Japanese conquered nation history books further arouses the crisisconsciousness of Chinese;(2) The translation to Japanese independent history books inspires the independent spirit ofChinese;(3) The translation to Japanese revolutionary history books deepens the Chinese recognition ofrevolution.Third, the academic value of translated Japanese history books. Translated Japanese history bookshave introduced advanced idea, content and style for the field of Chinese history. In history idea,Chinese absorb the ideas such as civilized idea, national history idea, evolutional history ideaembodying the west history thoughts introduced by Japanese history books. In the relating content ofhistory books, new style history books edited by Chinese scholar base on the content of Japanese historybooks;In the edited history style, Chinese historian inherited the new style used in Japanese historybooks---chapter-section style. Moreover, influenced by Japanese history books to certain degree,Chinese historians divide the history into several periods and use the methods of epoch of west calendar.The translation and propagation of Japanese history books reflects the late Qing dynasty Chinesesociety revolution. In politics, the main purpose that Chinese translates Japanese history books is for thesaving activities in late Qing dynasty. In culture, Japanese history books promote the development ofChinese-Japanese culture communication. In learning, the translated Japanese history books promotethe history revolution of China.