An Analysis Of Joseph Edkins’ Translation Of Political Economy From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Joseph Edkins as one of the missionaries coming to China in the late Qing Dynasty published many essays and works and made great contributions to the introduction of western natural science and social science. Unfortunately, scholars did not pay much attention to his works and translation activities. The thesis aims to analyze Joseph Edkins’ translation of Political Economy from the perspective of Skopos theory. His purposes and strategies of translation were discussed in details.Firstly, the thesis introduces Joseph Edkins’ life experience and his activities in China. Reviews on other scholars’work are analyzed from the perspectives of Joseph Edkins as a translator, as a missionary and as a sinologist. The thesis also researched into other works published at the same time to analyze the social background of Joseph Edkins’ translation of Political EconomyJoseph Edkins’ purposes were analyzed in the first place through forewords published in the preface of Political Economy. His purposes were mainly to introduce western political economy, to promote the idea of freedom and equality in China, and to change Chinese society to some extent. Based on these purposes, the thesis discussed Joseph Edkins’ translation strategies from the perspective of three rules of Skopos theory. Skopos rule is the top priority while loyalty rule and coherence rule are two subordinate rules. Diction and Syntax were reviewed based on Skopos rule. Joseph Edkins followed the customs of classical Chinese and applied existing expressions and sentence patterns in order to deliver the information in the original text. As for loyalty rule, Joseph Edkins kept the chapters and sections of the original text. However, he adopted adaptation, addition and omission in his translation practices according to his purpose and abandoned loyalty rule. Coherence rule focused on cohesive devices applied in Joseph Edkins’ translation. Personal reference and conjunctions were discussed. Joseph Edkins chose to omit or replace them in his translation.Based on the analysis, the thesis proved the applicability of Skopos theory in analyzing the translation of Political Economy. Furthermore, the systematical and logical relationships among the three rules provide a profound theoretical basis for a thorough analysis. Conclusion is drawn that Skopos rule is the decisive rule in Joseph Edkins’ translation practice while the other two rules should serve Skopos rule. Purpose is the main factor in deciding which translation strategy should be adopted. The thesis, to some extent, adds something new to the research on Joseph Edkins’ translation work and hopes that it could provide some guidance for further translation studies in Joseph Edkins’ works.