Children's Literature Translation Of The Late Qing Dynasty And The Chinese Children's Literature Was Born

It is generally believed that children's literature,which sprang from the late Qing Dynasty,did not become an independent literary category until the May Fourth Movement in 1919.However,it remains highly controversial to define its cornerstone. The present dissertation,on the theoretical basis of translation studies and researches on children's literature conducted by foreign scholars,suggests that although children's literature became an independent category in the May Fourth Movement,it was in the late Qing Dynasty that it gained its identity as a relatively independent subdivision of Chinese literature.It can be pointed out that translation triggered the creation of children's literature in China.When numerous literary works were translated into Chinese towards the end of the 19th century,adult readers began to be cultivate their consciousness of the identity of children's literature,which finally brought about the creative Chinese work《无猫国》(A Country Without A Cat) in 1908,the mark of the birth of Chinese children's literature.Accordingly,the present dissertation will elaborate the significance of it in the following chapters.Chapter one is a general review of different definitions of children's literature. What should be emphasized here is that "child" is a highly historical construct.It was not until the second half of the 18th century that Europeans began to regard children as independent individuals.Such a modern concept of children paved the way for the creation of children's literature that originated from Hans Anderson's fairy tales.The modern western concept was also introduced into China through translation around the beginning of the 20th century when China was beginning to learn from the West and implement reforms in education and other social sectors.The exotic conception aroused particular interests on the education of children and their aesthetic needs—all of this became precondition for the birth of children's literature in China.Chapter two discusses the origin and evolution of the conception of Children's literature,with a special focus on the role of translation in this process.Around the 20th century,many Chinese writers and translators accepted the modern concept of children's literature,paid more attention to children's aesthetic needs and began to collect the traditional Chinese folk fair tales.In their creation and translation,they showed great interests in both literariness of the works and attached importance to the define qualities of the works,i.e.,the suitability for the children's psychiatric needs and the educational function of the texts.Therefore,fair tales, ballads and poetry for the children were introduce and formed a special type of literary commodity finally,among which most were indeed the translated works from foreign countries.Through the great efforts of such famous writers,translators,editors and researchers as Liang Qichao,Huang Zunxian,Lin Shu,Sun Yu-xiu,Xu Nian-ci,Bao Tian-xiao and Zhou Zuo-ren,China began to be more and more familiar with Anderson and Grimm Brothers' fairy tales,Veme's science fictions,Defoe's Robinson Crusoe,Arabian Nights etc..Also,the fairy tales with Chinese characteristics were created by domestic writers.In translation,imitation and creation emerged the Chinese children's literature.On the one hand the pragmatic aim to educate the children and to enlighten and cultivate the so-called "future generation of Chinese" through literature blurred people's awareness of the identity of children;on the other another trend of non-political children's literature which focused on children's own aesthetical needs also appeared.Such was proposed by Xu Nian-ci,Zeng Zhi-wen,Sun Yu-xiu and Zhou Zuo-ren.Many literary works for the children and relevant comments were published by the Chinese magazines and newspapers and many translated literary works of this kind were embodied by course books for elementary and secondary school children in late Qing Dynasty—all these were sufficient enough to show the adults' ongoing recognition of both the children's identity and children's literature.Chapter three focuses on the role of Fairy Tale series in the development of Chinese children's tales.Fairy Tale series is the most influential fruit of the children's literature in the late Qing Dynasty and its《无猫国》(A Country Without A Cat),a creative Chinese adaption of WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT,marked the birth of children's literature in China,which boomed the so-called "zeal for the new discovery of chidren" and "the fever of children's literature" in the May Fourth Movement when the name of children's literature was formally set.In conclusion,the introduction and translation of children's literature into China in the late Qing Dynasty and the related and consequential development in the Chinese children's literature promoted the further evolution of the latter in the 20th century.The review of such a historical process and the discussion of the significant role of the translation of the children's literature in the late Qing Dynasty will also provide a paramount view of the history of children's literature throughout the 20th century.