Piriot’s Chinese Translation Of The Bible

The Bible is one of the world’s most popular books, the translation of which has a long history in China. The earliest and the most complete Chinese version of the Bible is Gu Xin Sheng Jing, which is also one of the earliest Chinese Mandarin Bibles. This thirty-seven volume book has more than1,400,000words and was accomplished during Jiaqing Period of the Qing dynasty, translated from the so-called "Sixto-Clementine Bible",which including the entire Biblewhth the exception of Song of songs and most of the prophetic books, based on SUerome’s VulgataThis Bible is nearly complete and had a great influence on all later Chinese translations, thus, it is really a pity that until now was almost ignored and hardly mentioned. In China, the research on Chinese Bible usually focuses on the Bible of Joshua Marshman and Robert Morrison, or in recent years on the eight verses works of the Nestorian tradition,no mention the great influence of Gu Xin Sheng Jing on the contemporary Catholic translation, the Studium Biblicum Version. Yet the earlier works of Poirot are ignored.Until now there is no research on the Bible is from the way of Parallel Text and Translation Methodalthough this method has a long history in China.also in the research of the Buddhist Scripture,which using this method more and more recently and made great achievements. On the basis of this, we really should focus on this aspect and draw lessons from the Buddhist Scripture research to make basis reference and then get credible results. It is impossible to study in a scientific way the development of Christianity in China if we ignore those early translations of the Bible. Those translations are a basic source for the history of Chinese theology and they represent the foundation for a history of Chinese Christianity. My dissertation makes up this part and covers a blind spot by exploring this fundamental part offering a solid scientific inquiry to go back to the origin. My research used a "Parallel Text and Translation Method",which comparing translations has a long history in China, and a significant meaning in the academic world. Moreover, this research method is much used on the Buddhist Scriptures. Especially in recent years the researchers focus on this comparative analysis of the Chinese Buddhist classics, the Sanskrit, and the Tibetan versions, with great results. Following this method way, the researchers of the Bible can use the "Parallel Text and Translation Method" to expand the breadth and depth of Scripture study from the solid base of words-analysis and open up new areas of research. My dissertation starts from four Gospels according to the "Sixto-Clementine Bible", based on StJerome’s Vulgata and compares them with two Chinese versions of the Bible:Poirot’s and a contemporary one. In this way I can use the original data for the exploration of the writer s strategy in translation, Furthermore, I sum up the basic way of Jesuit’s missionary strategy and their translation method, in order to reproduce the historical sources of the Chinese Bible. The first chapter makes a review of previous research results and introduces the significance of methodology, that is the use of the "Parallel Text and Translation Method", starting from the China collate history, the second chapter introduces He Qingtai and the version of Gu Xin Sheng Jing, as well as the "Sixto-Clementine Bible" Latin one; The third chapter is about translation strategies, both in Western Bible translation history and Matteo Ricci’s strategy, then I introduce the background of He Qingtai’s translation; in the fourth chapter, on the basis of exploring, discusses four aspects of translation:new words, theological vocabulary, foreign words and the history of the concepts.Gu Xin Sheng Jing is the earliest Chinese vernacular Bible, and has a the deep value in Chinese Bible translation history, cultural history, history of language and other aspects, so it is worth in-depth study. Because of the limited time and ability, my work compares only the four Gospels according to the Gu Xin Sheng Jing, the "Sixto-Clementine Bible" and a contemporary Catholic translation, the Studium Biblicum Version, opening the door for futher and deeper studies in this basis.