| This paper aims to study the Chinese mission schools established byProtestants before the Westernization Movement and its role in the career oftranslating and editing in the late Qing Dynasty. Chinese modern publishingindustry budded and developed with the capitalist’s cultural invasion in 19thcentury. Through establishing mission schools, setting up the publishingagencies, founding the press, translating and editing books, the westernmissionaries in China tried to expand western culture whose core wasChristianity.As an important part of the movement of“West Learning Spreading to theEastâ€, these activities of translating and editing in the Chinese mission schoolsby Protestants before the Westernization Movement, led the Chinese moderntranslation project, trained the first group of intellects who mastered thewestern knowledge systemically and talents of translating and editing whowere well up in foreign languages in China. When brought in westerneducational system, introduced into advanced machinery and equipment ofprinting, reformed the publishing philosophy, these schools firstly carried outcross-cultural communication, set up a bridge for the intercourse of Chineseand western culture. Besides, its creationary publishing caused Chinesemodern publishing industry.On the other hand, the Chinese translation of western books enrichedChina’s knowledge, offered the western knowledge source to advancedChinese people in 19thcentury who opened their eyes and looked at the world.Understanding western modern ideology, they gradually accepted theChristianism, science and democracy. Thereby, they began to think about theway of saving the nation with a new ideation. What’s more, the version ofwestern language about Chinese classics opened a window for occidentalpeople to see the real Chinese Empire, restructured image about Chinese in occidental people’s eyes in certain ways, contributed to carrying Chineseculture forward objectively. |
