A Research On The Western English Translation Of Shang Shu From The Perspective Of The History Of Sinology

Shangshu,as one of the most ancient and core Confucian classics,is the source of Chinese civilization.The national discourse and value system constructed by it contain the spiritual panorama of the Chinese nation,so it becomes one of the important media and carriers of the national core values.The substantial thoughts of politics,economy,history,culture,philosophy etc it contains are transcendent in time and space,and the profound and abundant Chinese wisdom in it is not only still beneficial to Chinese people today,but also the precious spiritual wealth that China dedicates to people all over the world.This research pays special attention to the path of academic thoughts of the English translation of Shangshu and the evolution of Sinology as well as some other relevant thoughts.Referring to relevant studies,the history of Sinology can be roughly divided into four stages:the stage of its early formation in the 17th-18th century,its establishment in the 19th century,its modernization from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th century,and the stage of its contemporary development.These stages are taken as the historical context of the translation of Shangshu.Mainly guiding by the descriptive translation theory of Gideon Toury etc,(Gideon Toury,1995;Tymoczko,1999)and employing Professor Chungying Cheng's theory of onto-hermeneutics as well as some modem translation theories such as translator behavior theory etc,the dissertation makes a comprehensive and systematic study on the historical development of the western English translation of Shangshu and describes it for the first time by applying multidisciplinary theories and methods.The dissertation falls into five chapters.The first chapter deals with the western English translation of Shangshu during the forming stage of western Sinology.Using for the first time in the field of Shangshu studies the selected English translation of Shangshu in two English renditions of Du Halde's work:The General History of China and A description of the empire of China and Chinese-Tartar published respectively in 1736 and 1738 as the representative form in 17th-18th century.Firstly,the historical context of the translation is studied:during this period,with the western Jesuits coming to China to preach,"China Craze" lasted for about a hundred years in Europe during the process of "the spread of eastern learning to the West".The early form of the English translation of Shangshu indicates Christian thoughts in its interpretation applying domesticating strategy,and it shows the enthusiasm of the west in learning the eastern culture.From the perspective of the three onto-hermeneutics levels of the interpretation theory,at the linguistic level.there are some differences between the translation and the original text,while it is fluent and natural:At the theoretical level,Christian theology and western historiography are presupposed;At the ontological level,the translator integrated Christian ideas into translation for the benefit of his missionary work,and the interpretation on the linguistic level is partially distorted,therefor it leads to some faults in interpreting the ontological truth of Shangshu.With the development of the western society,in the historical context of "spreading eastern learning to the west",the translator's religious framework and the lack of the knowledge of Chinese language and culture in the early stage of Sinology all have great influence on the translation,and it can be seen that the translator behavior is more pragmatic as a whole.The English translation of Shangshu provided initial translation experiences and documents for subsequent translations of Chinese classics,hence it promoted the forming of Western SinologyChapter two,centering around the English translation of Shangshiu during the period of the establishment of Sinology,the dissertation studies the English renditions of two British missionary sinologists W.H.Medhurst and James Legge respectively.The historical context of their translation is investigated as follows:in the 19th century,with the colonization and expansion of the western countries,the "'China Craze" in Europe dissipated and the trend of western centralism was becoming increasingly prevailed.The 19th century witnessed the establishment of Sinology in some western countries as well as the specialization of British Sinology.Then the translators' cultural backgrounds and their understanding of Shangshu are analyzed.It can be inferred that the main purpose of Medhurst's translation is to provide a reference book for the missionaries and other westerners dealing affairs in China so that they can learn some knowledge of Chinese history and language.The domesticating strategy and the literal translation were adopted to put the translation into the framework of western historiography:The English rendition of Shangshu by James Legge is analyzed as follows:in order to deconstruct the authenticity of the historical chronicle of Shangshu to erase the contradictions in the historical chronicles between China and the west so as to benefit for the Christianity,and provide the west with tools for learning Chinese culture etc,Legge mainly adopted the domesticating strategy and the literal translation,incorporating the English translation of Shangshu into western historiography and comparative religion by applying Confucian hermeneutics.British empiricism and early positivism etc in his interpretationThe characteristics of the two renditions at the three ontological levels are as follows:at the linguistic level,the interpretation is more close to the meaning and the form of the original text than those in the early stage.There are abundant annotations in their translation,and Legge's are especially rich and thick,but not objective than Medhurst's.Both renditions indicate Christian theology,and Legge's is much more distinct;At the theoretical level,Medhurst mainly presupposed theory of western historiography affirming the historical authenticity of the original,while Legge mainly presupposed theories of western historiography and comparative religion Both indicated the deconstruction of the classical value of Shangshu,and Legge even deconstructed the authenticity of the ancient history in Shangshu,so that it leads to some faults in their interpretation at the ontological truth level and a lack of interpretation of the ontological truth of the book.This chapter also discusses some factors that have influence on the translation:the translators' missionary identity,Sinology and other academic thoughts etc,and analyzes the translator behavior as well as the important role of the translation in the establishment and the specialization of SinologyThe third chapter analyzes the English translation of Shangshu from late 19th century to the first half of the twentieth Century using the British astrologer Walter Gom Old's rendition:T Shu King or the Historical Classic and the Swedish sinologist Bernhard Karlgren's The Book of Documents as the representatives.The historical context of the translation is analyzed as follows the prevailing of the w estern centralism,the rise of scientific positivism,the modernization of Sinology,the dissolution of traditional Chinese classics in China,and the decline of the oriental culture etc.It also analyzes the translators' cultural backgrounds,translation experiences and so on.Then it studies the historical thoughts of Old's translation and the thoughts of comparative linguistics and scientific positivism of Karlgren's rendition as well as the strategies and methods applied in their translation.At the linguistic level.Old's rendition is more subjective,and there are many differences between his translation and the original text,while it is fluent and easy for the common readers to read.The interpretation of Karlgren's rendition is more scientific and academic,so it is generally more accurate than other renditions,but some faults caused by neglecting the historical and cultural context of Shangshu still can be seen.Old's rendition mainly embodied the presupposition of western historiography,while Karlgren's presupposed linguistics and scientific positivism.At the ontological level of their interpretation,both paid little attention to the classical value of the original text,which resulted in great faults in their ontological interpretation.The dissertation also analyzes the translator behavior and the influence that the two renditions have on the development of Sinology etcChapter four focuses on the contemporary English translation of Shangshu:The Most Venerable Book(Shangshu)by the British sinologist Martin Palmer.The historical backgrounds mainly include the trend of globalization,the rise of China and the Renaissance of Chinese culture,the call for the return of the oriental cultural value in the West,the characteristics of practicability etc of contemporary Sinology and the rise of postmodernism.Martin Palmer's translation shows an ideological path of Western literature aiming at abandoning the heavy and complicated interpretation of Confucianism to convert the original text from an ancient political and historical classic into a collection of wonderful ancient life stories.The interpretation features of Palmer' rendition are mainly as follows:at the linguistic level,the literary form of poeticizing is mainly adopted.Though it is fluent and easy to read,Palmer's interpretation greatly deviates from the semantic contents of the source text;At the theoretical level,the western literary theory is mainly presupposed,and it negates the presupposition of Christian theological in previous renditions,and Chinese moral philosophy and other values were presupposed instead.It is indicated that the needs of the society and the contemporary readers are focused,but the interpretation of the ontological truth is obviously ignored under the influence of postmodernism and the practicability in Chinese studies.This chapter also analyzes Palmer's cultural backgrounds,translation methods and strategies as well as the translator behavior.Last chapter is based on the diachronic study of the western English translation of Shangshu It explores the relationship between the historical logic of the development of the society and the logic of academic theory,and between the change of the translation methods and the change of the cultural values of the original text.so as to deepen the understanding of the English translation of Shangshu,and explore the law of its developmentThe primary innovations of the dissertation are as follows:firstly,it is from a new perspective of Western Sinology;Secondly,it makes a systematic research and description of the history of the Western English translation of Shangshu for the first time,and it breaks through the limitations of the previous research methods by using the interdisciplinary research methods;Thirdly,some documents such as the English renditions of Du Halde's work,English newspapers of the 19th century,magazines and biographies of the English translators etc are used for the first time in the field of Shangshu studies,so some new ideas are put forward,for example,the early translation of Shangshu shows that the west admired and learned eastern culture and thoughts,and James Legge deconstructed the historical authenticity of the ancient history in Shangshu while bringing the translation into the comparative religious studies and so on.During the analysis of the English renditions of Shangshu,some constructive ideas to improve them are suggested as well,for example,authentic and complete interpretation of the ontological truth of the source text as the first task should be focused on when translating Chinese classics,and then the practical requirements should be considered as well while seeking the best method of the translation.