A Comparative Study On The Translation During The Westernization Movement In China And The Meiji Restoration In Japan

The 1860s saw the western powers’acceleration of expansion for the purpose of having more goods markets and raw materials markets. China and Japan, under the double pressure of problems at home and abroad, have launched self-help movements respectively, namely, the Westernization Movement and the Meiji restoration and started to step on the path of learning from the west, hoping to solve the serious crisis facing the countries through the introduction of advanced western capitalist culture. Whether in China or in Japan, this historical period is a peak of learning from the west. During the process, translation undoubtedly has played a role of bridge. In a sense, this period of the western introduction is also a process of translation. Occurring in the same historical period, the Westernization Movement and the Meiji restoration have a significant influence on the modernization drive of their countries. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan became an Asian power which can be comparable to the European and American countries. While the failure of China’s westernization movement made China lag behind Japan in the process of modernization. Finally the competition of learning from the west ended up with China’s failure in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.As translation has played an important role in this competition, this article attempts to compare the translations of the Meiji restoration and the Westernization Movement and analyze the differences and similarities of the translation as well as the deep reasons behind these differences, discussing the role translation has played in the Westernization Movement and the Meiji restoration.Studies have found out that as a result of different starting point of translation, different guiding policies and different cultural traditions between the two countries, the translations in the Westernization Movement and the Meiji restoration are not the same. The translation of the Meiji Restoration surpasses that of the Westernization Movement in quantity, category and readers’acceptance. During the Westernization movement period, the translation was mainly done by the Peking Tungwen College, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and Guang Xuehui under the leadership of the Westernization Group knowing ittle of the west. Under the guidance of "Chinese Body and Western Usage", the westernization movement payed attention to the actual effect of translation. Translated books mostly belong to the category of natural science related to industry and are mostly limited to the upper class. The books translated in Japan were more abundant and the translated versions were promoted to the civilian. In addition, this article also probes into the impact of translation on the society. By contrast, this paper finds out that the systematic, scientific and comprehensive translation activities contributed to the success of the Meiji restoration reforms and China’s unilateral way of translation eventually contributed to the failure of the reform. Finally, this paper puts forward suggestions that in the new era when China implements the policy of bring in and going out, we should learn from the lessons of history to take a scientific way of translation.