| The Bible translation into Chinese has been one of the crucial branches of the worldwide Bible translation. Two stages, the missionaries’domination and the Chinese translators’independent translation, marked the Chinese Bible translation from 1819 to 1949. The Chinese translators took shifts of role from helper to associate then to independent translator. From 1908 when Yan Fu attempted to translate the Mark to 1949, four complete versions of the New Testament were done by Chinese independent translators, namely Wang Xuanchen’s version in 1933, Zhu Baohui’s version in 1936, Lv Zhenzhong’s version in 1946, and Wu Jingxiong’s version in 1949. Wang Xuanchen was the virtual turn in role shift of Chinese Bible translators from helper to independent translator.The social dimension of translating as an activity is where translation studies and sociology overlap. Symbolic capital, one concept of Bourdieu’s sociological theories as an intangible and symbolic capital form, is a means by which the legitimization of capital and power struggle is staged in a more subtle way. The Chinese translators’ participation and their independence in the Bible translation enables capital conversions and power struggle to become more complicated, and the complication is displayed in the translators’behavior and their biblical translations. From the perspective of sociological theories, the theory of symbolic capital in particular, the research examines the Chinese independent Bible translators’role and behavior, by means of diachronic studies, comparative studies and case study.The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One is an introduction to the research background, purpose, significance and methodology, followed by the organization of the thesis. Chapter Two makes an investigation of 70 MA and PhD graduation papers issued in the.past 15 years in Chinese universities, and points out the prospects of further research. Chapter Three, based on a review of symbolic capital theory and related concepts, illustrates insights into the Chinese Bible translation studies. Chapter Four makes a survey of the Chinese translators’ role shifts in Chinese Bible translation on the basis of diachronic description of the Chinese Bible translation history since the 19th century. The role of Chinese Bible translators (1908-1949) is defined from the symbolic capital perspective. Chapter Five is a case study of Wang’s translational behavior from the perspective of sociological theories, followed by an analysis of his version of the New Testament. Chapter Six concludes the research, summarizing the findings and limitations of the research. Suggestions are offered for further studies in the area.With an assumption that the Bible translation in China is a field, this research results in three findings. Firstly, it is an inevitable result of capital conversions and power struggles in the field that the Chinese translators took the place of the missionaries and played an independent role in Chinese Bible translation. Secondly, in this field, the Chinese independent translators as the new intermediate culture intellectuals with dual identity of Christian and traditional Chinese men of letter, exerted efforts to enable their translation to serve for constructing localized Christian discourses and for building up symbolic power in a clear and objective way of expression. Lastly, the Chinese independent Bible translators’willpower to obtain symbolic power of Christian languages and occupying the symbolic capital by representing the Bible was illustrated in their behavior. In other words, in order to fight for symbolic capital they were truth-seeking in representing the biblical intention while attaining utility in conveying Christian devotion and constructing a faith system. It is the involvement of Chinese independent translators in the Bible translation in the first half of the 20th century as a historical trend that the value of the Bible as a great work of humanity and worldwide range of Bible translation is substantially defined. |
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