Gu Hongming Cultural Conservatism Ideology Translation And Interpretation, "the Analects"

As a famous Chinese scholar of international reputation, Ku Hong-ming was the first Chinese who translated the Confucian Classics into western countries in the late Qing dynasty. His behavior of translating the Confucian Classics broke the monopoly of western sinologists. In the late Qing dynasty, China was in absolutely disadvantaged situation in the cultural exchange between China and West. There were two aspects: firstly, the cultural exchange between China and West was imbalanced seriously; secondly, the western Sinology developed faultily. Ku Hong-ming was different from the other Chinese scholars who proposed the eastward spread of western culture. Leading by cultural conservatism, Ku publicized the idea of"Confucian salvaging the west"perseveringly and put it into practice by spreading Confucian Classics to the west. Because of his behavior, he became the forerunner to spread the eastern learning to the west.The research belongs to the subject of the Comparative: Translation Study. As a new research field in the discipline of Comparative Literature, Translation Study attaches more importance to the communications and influences between the source language countries and the target language countries caused by translated versions. This dissertation chooses Ku Hong-ming's translation of Analects (the English title is The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius) as the subject of our study, pays special attention to cultural conservatism of the translator, the translation of the key concepts in the Analects, and the translation method of Domestication in it and attempts to reveal the detail application and the effect of Ku's translating strategy. In this process, many of Ku Hong-ming's viewpoints on cultural conservatism emerge between the lines, which make us understand Ku's apprehension and translation of Analects objectively.This dissertation is composed of three chapters. The first one starts with the translator's experience and analyzes chronologically Ku's viewpoints on cultural conservatism and the historical background of Ku's translation of Analects. The second one starts with the translation motivation and analyzes Ku's whole apprehension of Analects and the translation of the key concepts. The third one centers round the translated text itself and analyzes Ku's translating strategy and his cultural assertion of spreading Confucian Classics to the west.The conclusion of this dissertation is: Ku's behavior of translating the Confucian Classics is an inevitable choice led by cultural conservatism. Confined to the special history and cultural background in the late Qing dynasty and under the condition of the seriously imbalanced cultural exchange between China and West, Ku Hong-ming strategically used the method of Domestication which centered on target readers so as to translate and spread Confucianism effectively. It was in accordance with his translation purpose of seeking the target readers'identification with Confucianism.