Study On The Translation Of The Convention For The Lease Of Guangzhouwan

In the end of 19 th century,triggered by the defeat of China and the victory of Japan in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895,the imperialist powers eyed China covetously and some western countries such as Germany,Russia,France and England worked industriously to carve up China into spheres and areas for exploitation.In order to take advantage of this wave of curving up China,France requested in 1898 the cession of the territory of Guangzhouwan and the two countries signed the Convention in Guangzhouwan on November 16,1899 after the delimitation of the leased territory.Granted to France with a 99-year lease term,placed under the administration of French Indochina,this territory was returned to China in 1945.Unlike the four French concessions,the leased territory of Guangzhouwan was the only leased territory of France in China.The study of Guangzhouwan has enriched the study of French imperialist policy and colonialism,as well as studies of contemporary Chinese history and the diplomatic activities of the Qing government.Currently,studies around the leased territory of Guangzhouwan show great diversity,including historical,cultural,political,economic or architectural aspects,and il attracts more and more researchers.The exploitation of France in Guangzhouwan remains the subject of discussion and many studies about the Convention of 1899,from the origin of this leased territory,the delimitation and the conclusion of the convention,have been conducted.Nevertheless,scant attention has been paid to the bilingual texts of this Convention and its translation despite the importance of translation in diplomatic activities as well as in the conclusion of convention.Far from being a simple conversion of words unrelated to political and ideological conflicts,translation,or more precisely,who translates,who prevails in the translation and the choice of words and expressions play a vital role in relations with foreign countries.As a result,explore this Convention signed in 1899 from the perspective of language and translation,analyze external factors such as historical circumstances,ideological differences,and interpreters’ subjective ideas on the translation of this Convention,and find out how France has manipulated translation and took advantage of translation errors to seize more advantage in China,can promote a deeper reflection on the lease of Guangzhouwan,inspire new and objective insights on Chinese contemporary history,and emphasize the important role that translation plays in international relations and safeguarding national interests.This paper has three chapters.The first chapter attempts to comb through the historical contexts of the conclusion of the 1899 Convention in order to explore the influence of external factors on the texts and translation of the Convention.Due to the power imbalance of the two countries,France manipulated the Guangzhouwan affair from the beginning to the elaboration,translation and negotiations of this convention,and weakened China found itself in an unfavorable situation during the talks.We also described the negotiations between France and China in chronological order according to the diplomatic notes and introduced the interpreters involved in the negotiations,especially their professional skills and their commitment to this Convention.Through these analyses,we realized the passivity of the Chinese government and the imbalance between interpreters of both sides.The second chapter is a comparative analysis of the Chinese and French versions of this convention.China lost the initiative during the negotiations and this power gap between the two countries is also reflected in the lack of equivalence in the translation.The first part deals with translation errors which are classified into three categories,namely addition,deletion and modification.We focus firstly on the fact that the interpreters changed the sentence structure and even added words and phrases for the face of both parties or to expand France’s interests in China.Next,we analyzed how the interpreters removed certain parts to hide the inequality of this convention and make it more acceptable for Chinese government.We have also demonstrated several translations specific to this period and explored the historical and socio-cultural context of this kind of translation.The final chapter discusses the translation of specific terms of the Convention as well as their influence.The first analysis devoted to a specific case which is the translation of the place name Guangzhouwan and its impact on Sino-French negotiations.One of the main disputes between China and France during the conflict was the translation and interpretation of this place name.Different understandings of this place name resulted in the cession without any reluctance of the Chinese government,while France took advantage of the ambiguous translation of this place name in the diplomatic notes so as to get more land.Translating properly the place names in order to avoid ambiguity and conflicts deserves therefore our attention.The second analysis is to analyze the translation of the term "concession" and the difference between "zu jie" and "zu jie di" which were both used to refer to the leased territory of Guangzhouwan.By comparing the bilingual texts of this Convention,we found that the Chinese translation corresponding to "concession" is the same as the one corresponding to "leased territory".The translators did not distinguish between "concession" and "leased territory",and this confusion not only reflects Chinese people’s ignorance of the difference between these two kinds of territories granted to foreign countries,but also misleads future generations about the legal situation of the territory of Guangzhouwan.Furthermore,some people of our time even continue to speak of Guangzhouwan as a French concession.It’s obvious that from "zu jie" in this Convention to "zu jie di" in the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and the Convention for retrocession of the leased territory of Guangzhouwan in 1945,the change in translation reflects a historical breakthrough in the application of international law and an improvement in the knowledge of the concession and leasehold territory.In conclusion,the translation is closely related to one country’s power and interests in relations between China and foreign countries.Western countries have rewritten or manipulated the Chinese version of unequal treaties through translation,so as to expand their interests in China.The study on the translation of the Convention for the lease of Guangzhouwan from the point of view of translation history is therefore of great theoretical value and would inspire future studies on the history of Guangzhouwan and Sino-French relations..