A Memetic Study Of The English Dissemination Of Cultural Symbols "ren"and "li" In The Anelects

The Analects embodies the ideas of Confucius and the essence of traditional Chineseculture. Confucianism embodied in The Analects has a positive effect on the Chinese andworld culture over two thousand years. The translation and study of The Analects have beenconducted continuously since Matteo Ricci translated The Analects into Latin in1593. Theprevious researches into the English translation of The Analects are mainly on the micro-level,for instance, about the core words, the structure of the sentences, the translating strategies andthe comparison between two or more versions. Memetics is a relatively new theory to explainthe laws of cultural evolution based on Darwin’s theory of evolution. Since the concept ofmeme was firstly proposed by Richard Dawkins(1976), the memetic theory has been widelyused to explain the phenomenon of cultural transmission. With the transmission of theChinese classics abroad, many scholars begin to conduct researches into the transmission ofthe Chinese classics, using Memetics as theory framework. However, few of scholars conductresearches into the foreign transmission of the cultural symbols in The Analects, employingmemetic theory combined with Semiotics.Based on Leege’s version, this thesis makes detailed analysis of the foreign transmissionof the cultural symbols,“Ren” and “Li”, in The Analects with memetic perspective referringto Semiotics. With qualitative analysis method, this thesis respectively gives an explorationinto foreign transmission stages of cultural symbols,“Ren” and “Li”, based on the memeticforeign dissemination schema proposed by the author. Then the explanation of why theresymbolized memes “virtue”“propriety” can be successfully perceived by Western readers ispresented. After the comprehensive analysis of the foreign transmission of cultural symbols,“Ren” and “Li”, the thesis gets the following conclusions:(1) Resymbolization accompaniesthe life cycle of the meme. That is to say, the meme has to employ the resymbolization withvariation both in form and meaning to fit the new environment. From memetic perspective,the translation is essentially the resymbolized variant of the source meme;(2) These twofeatures of the meme, emotional resonance and cultural adaptation, can make a contribution tothe successful spread of the meme in the Western cultural environment. With features ofemotional resonance and cultural adaptation, the resymbolized variants,“virtue” and“propriety” can enjoy successful transmission in the Western cultural environment.This thesis makes analysis of the mechanism of transmission of “Ren” and “Li” in theforeign environment based on memetics, which provides a new angle for the study of theforeign transmission of the cultural symbols and points out the essence of translation(resymbolization of source meme). In addition, the law of successful transmission of culturalsymbols in The Analects will give enlightenment to the spread of other Chinese Classics.