| Emil Krebs (1867-1930) is a German diplomat who actives on the stage of Chinese modern history. He served as an embassy counselor of the German Foreign Ministry of the Royal Beijing Embassy. He worked in China for as long as 24 years and personally experienced China’s unprecedented changes. Outside of work, he participated in the translation of the book "Yan Ying Ju" (Chinese shadow play) for the love of Chinese traditional culture, which made a great contribution to the oversea spreading of Chinese shadow play. "Yan Ying Ju" is a script collection of Beijing shadow play during Qing Dynasty, the name of which translated in German is Chinesische Schattenspiele. This book is also the first German version of Chinese shadow play’s script. The publication of "Yan Ying Ju" and its German version pushed forward the spread of Chinese shadow play in Germany and even in Europe, and also opened the western scholars’door of Chinese shadow play’s research.This paper consists of four chapters.Chapter One gives a textual research of Emil Krebs’life with the first-hand materials in Germany. Through the introduction of his life, more attention will be put on the investigation of his diplomatic and translation activities. From his participation in historical events, his diplomatic skills and the role he has been played in some historical events can be observed and analyzed.In Chapter Two "Yan Ying Ju" and its Germany version are the research subjects. Firstly, the basic situation of the spread of Chinese shadow play in Germany before the translation of "Yan Ying Ju" will be sorted out. Secondly, this chapter will give a more detailed introduce of the background, the composing and publishing process of the book "Yan Ying Ju" and its German version. After this, the script will be analyzed, and then a brief discussion of its influence and significance will be given.Chapter Three will analyze Emil Krebs’translation of the book "Yan Ying Ju", and investigate his translation strategies. Firstly, this chapter will explore his translation activities from a macro perspective, from which we can see his translation is faithful to the original one both in form and content. And then, a concrete example of his translation will be given and analyzed. From this microscopic angle we can see what translation strategies he has taken in the translation of the cultural phenomenon in "Yan Ying Ju". Generally speaking, he prefers to adopt foreignization method to transfer the cultural phenomenon in "Yan Ying Ju". This also reflects his translation purpose which is to let the German readers know more about Chinese shadow play and the local customs behind it.Chapter Four is the epilogue and will summarize the key findings and value of this paper.The appendix contains Emil Krebs’chronology, the catalogues of both "Yan Ying Ju" and its German version.The systematical study of Emil Krebs is still lack in China. No one has yet to study him as a subject and it hard to find some articles or researches talking about him. As for "Yan Ying Ju" and its Germany version, someone refers to them but just simply or has some wrong ideas and doesn’t enter the text to carry on the thorough research. Therefore, this paper will use the original files and related materials collected in Germany as far as possible, and show his life story more comprehensively. Emil Krebs’translation and compilation of "Yan Ying Ju" and its German version will be marshaled and researched systematically, and this will also leave plenty of documentation for later researchers. |
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