The Translated Utopia

The late-Qing Dynasty represented one of the most dynamic periods of translation in Chinese history and witnessed the introduction of the concept of“Utopia” into China.Drawing on the approach that has developed in conceptual history and intellectual history,this thesis traces how Utopianism was translated and received in the late-Qing dynasty and investigates the variation in this process and its influence.As an imported concept from the West,Utopianism,due to its elusiveness,is of great cultural relevance when it comes to translation,which should be explored in the specific historical context.Actually in the late-Qing dynasty,the concept of“Utopia”was far from a rootless or overnight occurrence.Instead,its emergence was inexorably linked with such defining issues as evolution theory,Buddhist renaissance,socialism,and revolution in the fiction field.An ahistorical investigation of Utopianism can at best lead to vague and overgeneralized conclusions.Therefore,by always referring to the big picture of history,the thesis analyzes how Utopianism was understood,translated,interpreted and developed;how the concept of“Utopia”,when taken out of its original context and after inter-lingual travels,ended up being named“???”.An investigation of its translation in the late-Qing dynasty reveals that the foreign concept reminded the then intellectuals of such traditional Chinese notions as“Hua-xu”,“Hua-yen”,“Da-tong”,“Nowhere place”and they can't resist equating or comparing these concepts with Utopianism,thus making Utopianism partly associated with the traditional Chinese culture.Also,penetrated by Utopianism,the appropriated native intellectual resources mentioned above began a process of renewal.This interacting process not only served to continue the tradition,but to bring in the new elements as well.A foreign concept or notion can only be deeply rooted in the target culture and widely accepted by the general public through popular media.In the late-Qing dynasty,no medium could rival fiction — considered as “the top of literature” by Liang Qichao — in spreading new thought.Focusing on the translation of two Utopian novels in the late-Qing dynasty,the thesis finds that translators attempted either to absorb the Western elements into Chinese culture or vice versa and thus brought about a different Utopianism,which in turn served as a model for contemporaries to produce literature and design social blueprint.In this way,a kind of Utopianism distinct from both Western original and its Chinese counterpart came into been.This domesticated Utopianism not only reflects the inner needs of China in the late-Qing dynasty but also demonstrates the modern transformation of social ideal.