Translation has a long history in China. Down the centuries translators, interpreters, Buddhist monks, Jesuit priests, Protestant missionaries, writers, historians, linguists, and even ministers and emperors have all written about translation, and from an amazing array of perspectives. Such an exciting diversity of views, reflections and theoretical thinking about the art and business of translating is now brought together in a two-volume anthology. The first volume covers a time-frame from roughly the 5th century BCE to the twelfth century CE. It deals with translation in the civil and government context, and with the monumental project of Buddhist sutra translation. The second volume spans the 13th century CE to the Revolution of 1911, which brought an end to feudal China. It deals with the transmission of Western learning to China - a translation venture that changed the epistemological horizon and even the mindset of Chinese people. Comprising over 250 passages, most of which are translated into English for the first time here, the anthology is the first major source book to appear in English. It carries valuable primary material, allowing access into the minds of translators working in a time and space markedly different from ours, and in ways foreign or even inconceivable to us. The topics these writers discussed are familiar. But rather than a comfortable trip on well-trodden ground, the anthology invites us on an exciting journey of the imagination.
Autorentext
Martha P.Y. Cheung received her PhD in English and American Literature from the University of Kent at Canterbury. She is now Professor and Head of the Translation Programme and Director of the Centre for Translation at Hong Kong Baptist University. She has translated many works of Chinese Literature into English, including the work of Han Shaogong (Homecoming? And Other Stories, 1992), Liu Sola (Blue Sky Green Sea and Other Stories, 1993), and Hong Kong poets such as Leung Ping Kwan (Foodscape, 1997 and Travelling with a Bitter Melon, 2002). She co-edited (with Jane C.C. Lai) and translated (with Jane C.C. Lai and others) An Oxford Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Drama (1997) and co-translated (with Jane C.C. Lai) 100 Excerpts from Zen Buddhist Texts (1997). She is Editor-in-Chief (Chinese translation) of the Oxford Children's Encyclopedia (9 volumes, 2082 entries, 1998), and Editor-in-Chief (English translation) of An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica in Hong Kong (506 entries, 2004). She edited and translated (with Jane C.C. Lai and others) Hong Kong Collage: Contemporary Stories and Writing (1998). She has written articles on translation criticism, translation history, translation theory and the teaching of translation.
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PART ONE: FROM EARLIEST TIMES TO THE EASTERN HAN DYNASTY (25-220 CE)
OVERVIEW
1
Laozi (b. c. 570 BCE)
THE CONSTANT WAY (TAO)
From Chapter 1, Tao-te-ching
2
Laozi (b. c. 570 BCE)
TRUSTWORTHY WORDS ARE NOT BEAUTIFUL
From Chapter 81, Tao-te-ching
3
Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
FINE WORDS CAN HARDLY BE PART OF TRUE VIRTUE
From Verse 3, Book 1, Lunyu (The Analects)
4
Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
LEARN TO DEVELOP MORAL QUALITIES
From Verse 6, Book 1, Lunyu (The Analects)
5
Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
A LEARNED MAN
From Verse 7, Book 1, Lunyu (The Analects)
6
Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
SUBSTANCE AND ATTENTION TO FORM AND BEAUTY
From Verse 18, Book 6, Lunyu (The Analects)
7
Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
THE ABSOLUTE ESSENTIAL
From Verse 7, Book 12, Lunyu (The Analects)
8
Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
SINCERITY IS ALL-IMPORTANT
From Verse 18, Book 15, Lunyu (The Analects)
9
Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
GET YOUR MEANING ACROSS
From Verse 41, Book 15, Lunyu (The Analects)
10
Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
HE WHO IS SINCERE WILL BE TRUSTED
From Verse 6, Book 17, Lunyu (The Analects)
11
(Attributed to) Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
HOW MUCH USE CAN THERE BE IN A MINOR ART?
From "Xiaobian" (Minor Arts), Chapter 74, Da Dai liji (Elder Dai's Book of Rites)
12
(Attributed to) Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND MEANING
From "Xici zhuan shang" (Appended Statements, Part 1, Chapter 12), Zhouy (Zhou Changes)
13
(Attributed to) Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
THE MAN OF TRUE VIRTUE
From "Wenyanzhuan qianjiusan" (Sayings on Patterning [with reference to] the Third Line of Hexagram 1, Qian or Heaven), Zhouyi (Zhou Changes)
14
(Attributed to) Kongzi (Confucius) (traditionally 551-479 BCE)
LITERARY PATTERNING GIVES FORCE TO LANGUAGE
From "Xianggong Ershiwunian" (The 25th year of Duke Xiang [of Lu] [548 BCE]), in Chunqiu Zuozhuan Zhengyi (The Chronicles of Zuo)
15
(Attributed to) Zuo Qiuming (556-451? BCE)
INTERPRETERS ALSO KNOWN AS "TONGUE-MEN"
From "Zhouyu zhong" (Zhou Discourses, Part 2), in Guoyu (Discourses of the States), Volume 2
16
Mengzi (372-289 BCE)
THE RIGHT WAY IS TO READ WITH EMPATHY
From Passage 4, Chapter 9, Mengzi
17
(Attributed to) Zhuangzi (369-286 BCE)
WHAT IS VALUED IN WORDS IS NOT WHERE THE VALUE OF WORDS LIES
From "Tiandao" (The Way of Heaven), in Zhuangzi, with annotations by Wang Bi and Guo Xiang
18
(Attributed to) Zhuangzi (369-286 BCE)
ONCE YOU HAVE GOT THE IDEA, THE WORDS ARE FORGOTTEN
From "Waiwu" (External Things), in Zhuangzi, with annotations by Wang Bi and Guo Xiang
19
Xunzi (340?-245? BCE)
THE ELEGANT AND PROPER STANDARD
From "Yuelun" (A Discussion of Music), in Xunzi, Volume 14
20
Han Fei (280-233 BCE)
THE MAN OF TRUE VIRTUE CHERISHES SUBSTANCE AND FROWNS UPON PURE EMBELLISHMENT
From "Jielao" (Explaining the Laozi), in Hanfeizi, Volume 6
21
Zhou Rites
Author unknown
THE DUTIES OF GOVERNMENT INTERPRETERS IN ANCIENT TIMES
From "Xiangxu" (Interpreting-functionaries), in "Qiuguan sikou xia" (Ministry of Justice, Part 2), collected in Zhouli (Zhou Rites), Volume 10
22
Zhou Rites
Author unknown
THE TRAINING OF INTERPRETERS
From "Da xingren" (Senior Messenger), in "Qiuguan sikou xia" (Ministry of Justice, Part 2), collected in Zhouli (Zhou Rites), Volume 10
23
Lü Buwei (d. 235 BCE)
ONE WOULD HAVE NO NEED FOR XIÀNG, YÌ OR DÍDI
From "Shenshi" (Heeding the Circumstances), in Lüshi chunqiu (The Annals of Lü Buwei), Volume 17
24
Dai Sheng (fl. 74-49 BCE)
MAKING ACCESSIBLE WHAT IS IN THE MINDS OF DIFFERENT PEOPLES AND MAKING THEIR LIKINGS AND PREFERENCES UNDERSTOOD
From "Wangzhi" (Royal Institutions), in Liji (Book of Rites), Volume 4
25
(Attributed to) Fu Sheng (268-178 BCE)
AN ANCIENT RECORD OF INTERPRETING ACTIVITIES
From "Jiahe" (Luxuriant Grain), in Shangshu dazhuan (Amplification of the Book of History), Volume 4
PART TWO: THE BUDDHIST PROJECT
GENERAL REMARKS
SECTION ONE
DISCOURSE ON SUTRA TRANSLATION: INITIAL STAGE
OVERVIEW
26
(About) An Shigao (fl. second century CE)
ELOQUENT WITHOUT BEING FLOWERY, UNHEWN WITHOUT BEING COARSE
From "An Shigao zhuan" (A Biography of An Shigao), collected in Chusanzang jiji (A Collection of Records on the Emanation of the Chinese Tripitaka), Fascicle 13
27
Liu Xi (fl. 147-220 CE)
APPROXIMATE THE STANDARD LANGUAGE
From "Shi dianyi" (E…