A Cross-cultural Interpretation Of Ta Heo Translated By David Collie

"The Great Learning",one of the "Four Books",is an important Confucian classic.In the history of Sino-Western communication,many missionaries have translated Confucian classics,among them David Collie is the first Protestant missionary to finish the complete English translation of the "Four Books"(The Chinese Classical Work Commonly Called the Four Books).Published in 1828,the work has played a special role in the spread of Confucian classics and the cultural exchanges between China and the West.However,only a few studies pay attention to this work and seldom conduct detailed textual analysis to explore the different cultural traditions of China and the West.This thesis adopts the approaches of hermeneutics and comparative philosophy to analyze David Collie's translation text and paratext.By studying the translation characteristics and the translator's interpretation,the thesis explores the underlying philosophical,cultural and historical factors that affect the translation process,and reveals the differences between Chinese and Western philosophical traditions and the obstacles resulting from themThe thesis falls into three chapters.Chapter ? explains the significance of the selected topic,reviews the translation history of "the Great Learning" in the West as well as relevant studies,and introduces the theoretical framework and approaches for following analysisChapter ? is composed of four parts,focusing on the life of David Collie and his translation of the Four Books.The first part introduces the identity,experience and works of David Collie.The second part outlines the completion and development of the original,clarifies the difference between Zhu Xi's version and the ancient one in the Book of Rites,and studies the translator's choice between the two.Part three and Part four makes textual analysis,studying the translation text and paratext respectively with different approaches.Comparing the translations of Joshua Marshman,David Collie and James Legge,especially in terms of their interpretation of the "three cardinal guides" and "eight items",Chinese rhetorical devices as well as implicative expressions,Part three explores the use of Western cultural elements and highlights the position,role and characteristics of David Collie's translation in the history of Protestant missionaries'translation of Confucian classics.Part four conducts paratext analysis and reveals how the historical background,religious belief and thinking mode affect David Collie's understanding by studying his motives,confusion and doubts presented in the preface and commentsChapter ? arrives at the conclusion.The first part summarizes the characteristics of David Collie's translation based on comparison and a cross-cultural interpretation.David Collie adopts a literal translation strategy,but his translation is less flexible and accurate as compared with the other two translators,indicating that he has limited knowledge about Chinese language and culture.The vocabularies and comments in David Collie's translation involve more religious elements and present a typical Western mode of thinking,showing collisions between Western and Chinese cultural traditions in different respects.Through the paratext analysis,this thesis finds that David Collie 's interpretation of Confucian classics is affected by the rise of the West as well as his religious belief and Western mode of thinking.Based on research findings of this thesis,the second part seeks to give practical suggestions for the cultural exchange between China and the West,with a view to helping Western readers be more aware of the differences in cultural traditions and understand Chinese culture in its own context,while also enabling Chinese readers to better introduce Chinese culture to the world.