A Study Of Liang Qichao As A Translator

Liang Qichao was a renowned thinker, political activist and litterateur in modern Chinese history. Academically, he was an encyclopedic master who was well versed in such diverse fields as philosophy, politics, economics, history, literature, religion, art and language. With many works to his credit, Liang was esteemed as the "grand scholar" by the Chinese academic circles. The study on Liang Qichao has long been the focus of the academic world. However, the study on his translation, to the writer of the present thesis, is far from sufficient and fruitful compared with the study on him in other aspects. Actually, as an important translation critic and translation historian in modern Chinese history, Liang had a profound understanding of the function of translation. He had put forth a multitude of insightful views on different issues of translation theories. His translation activities as well as translation thoughts have exerted considerable influence on the development of modern Chinese translation undertakings.Based on a broad collection of materials about Liang Qichao's translation activities and a conscientious study of his exposition on translation, the present thesis is intended to sort out and make a comprehensive and systematic description of Liang Qichao's translation activities as well as his translation thoughts. Meanwhile, by taking into account the historical background of Liang's time, it also analyzes the underlying factors that determined the whole of Liang's translation activities and translation thoughts. Hopefully, the efforts of this thesis will be of help to a better understanding of Liang's translation activities, translation thoughts and his contribution to the Chinese translation undertakings.The thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One, the introductory part, gives an overview of the development and current situation of translator studies. It also introduces the translation career of Liang Qichao and offers a literature review of the study on Liang as a translator.Chapter Two gives a comprehensive description of Liang Qichao's translation activities. It is made up of three parts. The first part introduces Liang's translations and discusses his intentions for translating and the characteristics of his translations. The second part deals with Liang's efforts in disseminating Western thoughts, which includeestablishing newspapers, periodicals and publishing houses as well as translating and introducing Western theories. The third part is an account of Liang's research on the Chinese translation history. It includes his research on the history of Chinese Buddhist scripture translation and Chinese science and technology translation.Chapter Three sorts put Liang Qichao's thoughts on translation and summarizes them in five aspects, which are dwelt upon in five parts: Liang's recognition of the importance of translation;Liang's views on the three important issues of translation he raised, namely, the choice of the original works, the unification of terms in translation and the training of translators;Liang's opinion on the style of translation;Liang's advocacy of the translation of political novels and Liang's proposition on the translation of Western books via Japanese. The underlying reasons for these thoughts as well as the influence and significance of them are analyzed.Chapter Four is the concluding part of the whole thesis. It sums up the previous chapters and concludes that all of Liang Qichao's translation activities and translation thoughts were closely related with the historical background of his time. As Liang was more a political activist and patriotic intellectual than a translator, all of his translation activities and translation thoughts were at the service of his political needs. With a clear and definite purpose, that is, to save the Chinese nation and to enlighten the Chinese people, his translation activities were conducted and his translation thoughts were formulated. Liang Qichao is an important and influential translator in modern Chinese history. His contribution to the Chinese translation undertakings, which is by no means negligible, should never be underestimated.