A Late Qing Dynasty In Japan Liberalism, In The Students' Horizons

The aim of this dissertation is to present the difference between The Constitution of Liberty which was translated by Ma Jun-wu and Mill's On Liberty which is the original work of Ma's book by collating the two editions carefully.According to my research, although Ma could translate most substance in Mill's book correctly, such as individual liberty, social order, etc, his translation still had many objections and misunderstandings by contrast with the original work. The reasons which caused this result are complicated. Firstly, it should be attributed to the traditional effects and absent humanism which is mostly from the western countries. Secondly, the disturbed condition at that time and the energetic activity to translate foreign classic that the Chinese students studying in Japan were paying all their attentions to do then are also the important causes to affect the translating course.Finally, I compare The Constitution of Liberty translated by Ma Jun-wu and Qun Ji Quan Jie Lun translated by Yan fu which are all the Chinese editions of Mill's On Liberty, and explore the difference between them, such as the style of writing, the attitude to violent revolution, etc. However, both of them didn't get the precise understanding to the exact logic and argumentation in Mill's book, this kind of phenomena has also something to do with the tough situation in late Qing dynasty.