Protestant Missionaries' Translation And Interpretation Of Chinese Confucianism

In the translation history of Chinese classics,the important roles played by Protestant Missionaries could not be ignored.Their interpretation of Chinese classics has laid the foundation of modern Sinology.What's more,their special identity as Christian missionaries and their purpose of translating have made their works worthy of research.The Chinese Recorder,an English publication in China sponsored by Protestant Missionaries,has the longest duration and represented the major ideology of Protestant Missionaries.Hundreds of Confucian-related articles in this magazine are the subjects of our study,which can be divided into two categories:introductory articles of Confucianism and translations of Confucian classics.With the principles of Gadamer's Hermeneutic theory of prejudice,fusion of horizon and effective history,this thesis attempts to conduct a comparative and descriptive study synchronically and diachronically on both two categories of articles in The Chinese Recorder,aiming to analyze how Protestant Missionaries'prejudices which was shaped by their Christian tradition and the social environment affected their translation and introduction of Chinese Confucian classics and Confucianism and how they made efforts to achieve the fusion of horizons with Confucianism.First,the introductory articles of Confucianism in The Chinese Recorder are analyzed by means of statistics and content analysis.With the principle of effective history,a case study is given on Confucian thoughts of Heaven and Man's nature at birth,the two most popular topics discussed by Protestant Missionaries.It is concluded that,affected by their prejudice which was shaped by Christian belief and the social environment of their time,Protestant Missionaries' standpoint and interpretation of Confucianism has been changing:from contradicting Confucianism with Christianity to fusing the two systems together,then to putting aside Christianity and interpreting Confucianism in a more objective way.Second,translations on Confucian classics in The Chinese Recorder are analyzed with the principle of prejudice and fusion of horizons.From the aspects of background of the interpreter,the translation purpose and strategies,a comparative study is given synchronically on Ernst Faber's Canon of Filial Piety,an English version remaining unknown,as well as A.B.Hutchinson's The Family Saying of Confucius.It was found that the influence of prejudice on interpretation is comprehensive.Ernst Faber 's prejudice on Christianity has promoted his strategy of literal translation.His erudite knowledge of Confucianism promoted his faithful translation of Canon of Filial Piety.hile Hutchinson's prejudice has developed his strategy of sense to sense translation,his insufficient knowledge of Confucianism has caused some inaccuracies in his translation.The fifth chapter concludes the findings,limitations of this thesis,and suggestions for further studies are offered in this part.Based on The Chinese Recorder,this thesis has given a systematic research on Protestant Missionaries' interpretation of Chinese Confucianism from 1860s to 1940s,mainly on how their interpretation was affected by their prejudice in different historic time from the perspective of Hermeneutics.This thesis is an application of Gadamer's Hermeneutics to the study of translation and is meaningful to rethinking our translation of Chinese classics abroad.In addition,some results of this thesis such as the amounts,standpoint and degree of Protestant Missionaries' interpretation of Confucianism could be a supplement of studies in the field of translation history of Chinese classics and the history of Sinology.