On The Translation Of Lun Yu From The Perspective Of Fusion Of Horizons

Lun Yu is one of the most important works of Chinese classics. It intensively embodies Chinese Confucianism and plays an extremely important role in Chinese cultures. Since the early 1600s when missionaries first translated Confucian classics into Europe, Lun Yu's translation has reached up to 30 versions. These versions are at the beginning mainly accomplished by missionaries, and then joined by sinologists with the increasing influence of Confucius and Confucianism in the world. At the early 19th century, more and more Chinese scholars launched to translate Lun Yu, motivated by the idea to better convey the Chinese Confucianism. These different understandings and interpretations of Lun Yu bring different meanings to Lun Yu. At the meantime, these different translations means totally different to the people of the time.James Legge, a missionary, came to China in 19th century. He dedicated most of his lifetime on the translating of Chinese classics. His translation of Lun Yu has been attracting attentions since its publication; while, Ku Hung-Ming, a Chinese who received his education in European countries, spared no efforts in introducing Chinese cultures into the west after he came back China. His translation has been a hot topic in the study of Lun Yu. The two translation versions differ from each other in its meanings and significance to their time. Fusion of horizons in philosophical hermeneutics is employed in this thesis to explain why the two versions are different from each other by analyzing Legge's and Ku Hung-Ming's horizons respectively, and further discussions about the different meanings of two versions are also presented. Legge was an missionary as well as a sinologist, which constitutes his unique personal horizons. Ku Hung-Ming was well learned about both European and Chinese cultures by that his horizons were shaped. Besides, he was a guarder of traditional Chinese cultures. Therefore, by fusion of horizons between the text and the two translators, Legge's translation was impressed by the image of Christianity while Ku's translation was interpreted by European cultures.It is naturally concluded, with the contrastive analysis, that it is bound to produce multiple translation versions of Lun Yu and what's more, it is necessary to have different interpretations and translations of Lun Yu. By fusion of horizons, both the understanding of the text and the meaning generating of the translated text are determined. Therefore, Lun Yu must be revived and developed in its continuing translation and interpretation.