A New Discussion On The Translation Of Social Interpretation

Yan Fu(1854-1921), was one of the most influential ideologue in modern China. He was the first man in modern China to find out the similarities and differences, strong and weak points of the two cultures. At the same time he was the most famous translator in the late Qing Dynasty. He sought to make European works of political and social sciences accessible to the Chinese people. After One-Hundred-Day Reform, Yan Fu began to put most of his energy into translation. His translations have made a profound influence on the Chinese intellectuals. Yan Fu’s translations included Thomas Huxley’s Evolution and Ethic(《天演论》),Adam Smith’s inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations (《原富》),Herbert Spencer’s The Study of Sociology(《群学肄言》),John Stuart Mill’s On liberty(《群己权界论》),Edward Jenks’A Short History of Politics(《社会通诠》),Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws(《法意》),John Stuart Mill’s A System of Logic(《穆勒名学》),William Stanley Jevons’s Primer of Logic(《名学浅说》).A History of Politics was written by an English scholar named Edward Jenks. The book was not academic, but just for the common readers. However, the book was chosen by Yan Fu at a special moment and greatly influenced Chinese intellectuals. A History of Politics had three translations in China. Yan Fu’s version was published in 1904, with the title She Hui Tong Quan(社会通诠).Among the three translations, Yan Fu’s version was the most famous and popular. A History of Politics described the law of development of human society. It was to give the Chinese a new way to view the world and the Chinese situation. Yan Fu believed that human society can be roughly divided into three types:the savage, the patriarchal, and the military (or political). The development of a society must obey the universal law of evolution, going from a lower stage to a higher one. In his opinion, China’ future development direction was to out of the patriarchal society and entered military society.The thesis is composed of five chapters. In chapter One, we mainly discuss this question:A History of Politics is what kind of work? Is a book on sociology, or political science book? In chapter Two, we will focus on why Yan Fu translated the book title A History of Politics into She Hui Tong Quan? Yan Fu is how to understand the concept of "politics" and "Society". In chapter three, we inquire into the motivation of Yan Fu’s choice of A History of Politics. In chapter four, we will focus on the nationalism and the construction of the modern state. The last chapter is the author’s point of view, mainly reflect on the Yan Fu’s A Short History of Politics(《社会通诠》)and the nationalism. Yan Fu who is a giant thinker, his idea is profound and complex.