The Western Law: Its Import And Translation In The Late Qing Dynasty

The late Qing dynasty is a special historical time in the Chinese translation history. With the colonialist invasion into China since the late Qing dynasty, various western advanced cultures were poured into China as well, including the western legal culture which was relatively systematic and completed. Legal translation officially done by the Qing government can date back to the time when the Qing troops took over the Shanhai Pass. Legal materials were translated into the Chinese language or the Manchu language while the officially organized introduction and import of western laws was started with Lin Zexu, “the first Chinese person who opened his eyes to see the world.”According to historical events, the late Qing dynasty is divided into 4 periods in the dissertation, and then the legal import and legal translation in each period is analyzed separately. Therefore, a systematic research is done concerning the details of the legal import and legal translation in the late Qing dynasty, and the legal translation strategies and the problems existing in the legal translation is concluded from the study.Legal translation in the late Qing dynasty is greatly successful, which will contribute to the legal import and legal translation today. From the late Qing dynasty to nowadays, “Chinese legal language is filled with words of foreign origin”. This dissertation aims at providing helpful information for future legal import and translation by doing a deep study of legal import and translation in the late Qing dynasty, including its historical development, translation strategy and existing problems.