Research On The Translated Works Of Geography Published By The Commercial Press,1897-2012

Since the late-Qing dynasty,with the development of Chinese and Foreign cultural exchange,the publishing industry which translates western works has become an important part of modern ideological and cultural enlightenment activities.The translation and publication of western academic works help the Chinese people abandon parochial attitudes and understand the world with a broader perspective.The Commercial Press is a pioneer in spreading the new culture.Because of the translation of western classics and the publication of academic works,the Commercial Press has become the most famous publisher in the 20th century,and is hailed as the forerunner of the modern Chinese publishing industry.In the introduction of western learning,geography plays a leading role.Through learning world geography,the Chinese people began to break the traditional concept of world,and have the desire to learn from the west,thus raise ideological revolution of more than one century.Since its establishment in 1897,the Commercial Press has published a large number of geographical books.The translated works are an important part of geographical books.The translation activities about western geography enormously stimulate the publication of the geographical books.Because of the position of the Commercial Press and the geography in the cultural exchange,it is particularly important to research on the publishing history of the translated works of geography published by the Commercial Press.Through the analysis of the translated works of geography,we can also see one aspect of translation of western books,and make clear the status and role of the Commercial Press in the publication of the translated works.The research on the translated works of geography published by the Commercial Press is undoubtedly significant to the research of the history of the Commercial Press.In this paper,the research method of bibliography has been used.The Commercial Press book catalog(1897-1949),the Commercial Press book catalog(1949-1980)and the Commercial Press geography book catalog(1949-1990),can give great help in the data compilation.The theory and method of the history of the book have been used in the research.In addition to the theory of"academic community",the further increase the concept of "paratext" and other aspects.In addition to the use of traditional methods of bibliography,the research also used bibliometric methods.Through quantitative analyses of the translated works from the angles of the publishing year of the books,the author's nationality,the number of the printed books,the research attempts to make a microscopic historical inspection from the angle of the history of books to the publishing of translated works of geography.The research covers three different historical periods,including the late Qing,Republican and People's Republic of China.Both in the choice of subjects and the tendency of the publication country,the translated works of geography are strongly marked by the stigma of various historical periods.Thus,according to the characteristics of different historical periods and the statistical analysis of the translated works,this paper divides the translated works of geography into three different historical periods.After that,the translated works can be placed in the context of different periods,to reflect the changes in western geographic thoughts.Based on the bibliography statistics of the translated works of geography,this paper is specified from the following three aspects.Firstly,the circulation of the translated works has been discussed from three aspects of the inclusion of series,edition alteration and the marketing.From the point of view of the edition study,this paper investigates the edition of the translated works of geography,and analyzes the four situations of the edition alteration.Finally,the author discusses the reasons for the edition alteration of the translated works of geography,and concludes that the edition alteration is caused by the Commercial Press,translators and the acdemic influence of the translated works.Then,the author chooses 49 translated works as the research sample.Two indicators of the number of republish and the sales ratio have been used to evaluate the sales status of the translated works.Through the data,the author concludes that the market condition of the translated works of geography is good and the translated works have a strong academic vitality.The influence of the translated works has also been discussed.Based on the bibliography statistics of the translated works of geography,the author investigates the frequency of republications,the inclusion of series,the citation and book review.It is firmly convinced that the excellent translated works usually have high rate of republication,inclusion of series,citation and book review.Finally,the research does a case study of the high-impact translated works of geography,and summarizes the characteristics of high-impact translated works.Secondly,this paper describes the identity of the authors,translators,editors and readers.Based on the analysis of the communication among the authors,translators,editors and geographers,the relationship of the translated works of geography and the establishment of the geography community has been discussed.It is clearly that the Commercial Press is the public space of geographers.Through the joint translation of the translated works,or cooperation to compile teaching materials,geographers have academic exchanges extensively.Thus,geographers linked together,and gradually combined into a network of communication.This network promoted the establishment of the geography community.Thirdly,through quantitative analyses of the translated works from the angles of the publishing year of the books,the author's nationality,the research explored the translation activities about western geography and the development of geographic thoughts.On the one hand,the translated works reflected the development of Western geography.On the other hand,the publication of the translated works promoted the development of Chinese geography.The Commercial Press has introduced and published the outstanding books of geography in China.Through the publication of the translated works,the western geographic thoughts were introduced into China.The translation and publication of western geography books,which is the academic acceptance of western geographic thought,has played an important role in the development of China's modern geography.