Twentieth-Century Chinese Translation Theory

Past attempts at writing a history of Chinese translation theory have been bedeviled by a chronological approach, which often forces the writer to provide no more than a list of important theories and theorists over the centuries. Or they have stretched out to almost every aspect related to translation in China, so that the historical/political backdrop that had an influence on translation theorizing turns out to be more important than the theories themselves. In the present book, the author hopes to devote exclusive attention to the ideas themselves. The approach adopted centers around eight key issues that engaged the attention of theorists through the course of the twentieth century, in the hope that a historical account will be presented that is not time-bound. On the basis of 38 articles translated into English by teachers and scholars of translation, the author has written four essays discussing the Chinese characteristics of this body of theory. Separately they focus on the impressionistic, the modern, the postcolonial, and the poststructuralist approaches deployed by leading Chinese theorists from 1901 to 1998. It is hoped that publication of this book will make possible cross-cultural dialogue with translation academics in the West, although the general reader will find much firsthand information on Chinese thinking about translation.

Red Chan, University of Warwick, UK, in The Translator Vol. 11:2 (2005):
This new book by Leo Chan is an important and much needed work which will help bridge the gap between different contexts of translation theorizing across the globe. It will be particularly useful for those interested in comparative studies of East-West translation studies. [...] The book breaks new ground by injecting valuable Chinese theories of translation into the domain of English scholarship in translation theories will benefit greatly from this anthology. Chinese scholars and students can also use it as a practical sample of translating translation theories from Chinese.