Analysis Of The Connotation Of The Keywords In James Legge's The Analects Of Confucius

The Analects of Confucius is the crystallization of Confucianism.The Analects of Confucius has been the core of traditional culture.It plays an important role for thousands of years of Chinese ideology and culture.In the 16 th century,the western missionaries came to China.For the sake of the mission,most of them studied Chinese classics.The Analects of Confucius which was the core of Chinese ideology and culture was favored by western missionaries.And the translation work of The Analects of Confucius began.The earliest translation of The Analects of Confucius was finished by Matteo Ricci.After Matteo Ricci died,The Analects of Confucius translation was silence for a long time.In the early 19 th century,Morrison,Gutzlaff,Medhurst and other missionaries came to China,they learned from the experience and lesson in previous missionary work,and the new era of translation of The Analects of Confucius started.James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius is produced in such a historical background.Due to rigorous academic attitude and faithful to the original translation concept of James Legge,his version of The Analects of Confucius,since its launch,has been regarded as the standard version.But James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius has been criticized.For example,Ku Humming criticizes the language and ideological connotations of James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius are not satisfied.It is not only the reason of James Legge but also the age James Legge lived lead to the archaic and abstruse language style.In fact,under the condition that some Chinese words have no equivalent English vocabulary,the ideological connotation of James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius is very close to the ideas of the original connotation.From translations of “Junzi”,“Ren”,and “Li” in James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius,we can see the merit of James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius,and its value and significance in the process of The Analects of Confucius spread abroad.There are five chapters in this thesis.The first chapter is about James Legge and his version of The Analects of Confucius.In this part,James Legge's life experience,especially the experience related to its translation of The Analects of Confucius and the evaluation of James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius will be introduced.Chapter second,three,four will introduce the translations of “Junzi”,“Ren”,and “Li” in James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius respectively.The original connotation of the three keywords will be analyzed in the first segment.The translation ways of the three keywords and the connotation of the three keywords in James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius will be analyzed in the second segment.The compare between translations of the three keywords in James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius and Waley's,Ku Humming's will be in the third segment.And the connotation of the three keywords in James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius will be analyzed deeply from the compare.The fifth chapter is conclusion.Culture value of James Legge's version of The Analects of Confucius,its role and significance in the spread of The Analects of Confucius will be analyzed in this part.