Research On The Engraving Activities Of Jiangnan Machinery Manufacture Bureau Translation Hall

In the late Qing Dynasty,China suffered the colonialist aggression of the West,and the concept of Central Kingdom held by the Qing Dynasty began to be broken by the foreign advanced weapons.People realized that was a huge gap between China and the foreign countries.With the entrance of western culture,the westernizationists opened Jiangnan Machinery Manufacture Bureau Translation Hall.The move is intended to learn from the West and promote the self strength and prosperity.Jiangnan Machinery Manufacture Bureau Translation Hall is an official translation and publishing agency of the late Qing Dynasty and it is outstanding in this field.The Engraving Activities of Jiangnan Machinery Manufacture Bureau Translation Hall is the printing and publishing activities which is organized by Jiangnan Machinery Manufacture Bureau Translation Hall between 1968 and 1912.Examined by the bibliographies and the existing books,Jiangnan Machinery Manufacture Bureau Translation Hall engraved hundreds of books.Most of them are western books,including many subjects such as strategic,mineralogy,technology,astronomy,mathematics and so on.In addition,it also engraved a handful of non-western books.Most of the books are printed by block printing,while a few are printed on copper plates or printed by movable type.At present,the study of Jiangnan Machinery Manufacture Bureau Translation Hall mainly focuses on its translated book,its translator and its history,and there are a few studies on its engraving activities.Although the predecessors' research focuses more on the translation activities,some errors still occurred.And in the past,too little research was done on the non-western books carved by the Translation Hall,the study is still to be completed.On the basis of historical materials and predecessors' research,this article attempts to explore many aspects: its beginning and end,the funds and the marketing campaigns,its reasons and purpose of engraving activities,its engraving staff,the original and the bibliographic research,the features of its engraving activities,the evaluations and the influence of its engraving activities.The full text consists of an introduction,a four-chapter body,and the conclusion.And the introduction describes the reason for this choice,the current research status and the new points of this research.The main body of the thesis consists of four parts.The first chapter is the beginning and the end of Jiangnan Machinery Manufacture Bureau Translation Hall and the sources and distribution of its funds.This chapter mainly introduces the establishment,development and decline of the translation hall.There are also the sources and distribution of its funds.The second chapter is about the origin of its engraving activities.This chapter mainly analyzes the motivations and the purposes of its engraving activities.There are also the staff composition,the salary of engraving staff and the staff turnover situation.The main contents of chapter 3 are its originals and the bibliographic research.The first section mainly introduces the source and the selection of its originals.In the second section,the author listed the predecessor bibliographies and historical materials firstly,and then the author corrected and supplemented the records recorded in these bibliographies and historical materials.The fourth chapter is about the features of its engraving activities and the influence of its engraving activities.The first section of this chapter analyzes and demonstrates the features of its engraving activities in terms of both content and form.The second sections discuss the the importance of its engraving activities.The conclusion part summarizes the main views of the full text.