A Sociological Study Of The Influence Of Capital On W.A.P.Martin's Translation Of Elements Of International Law Into Chinese

Wanguogongfa was translated by William Alexander Parsons Martin(hereinafter W.A.P.Martin or Martin),an American missionary,from Henry Wheaton's masterpiece Elements of International Law.It was published in 1864 and marked the systematical introduction of international law into China.As it was translated in the Late Qing Dynasty when various social forces participated in the development,the translation was endowed with complicated sociality and affected by diverse social factors and social conditions.Given that few studies have investigated the translation practice of Martin's Wanguogongfa with sociological theories,this paper aims to analyze the structure of capital of Martin's Wanguogongfa and its impact on the preparation before translation,translation of content and its circulation,according to Pierre Bourdieu's concept of capital in his sociological theory.Capital of Martin's Wanguogongfa mainly consists of three basic forms: cultural capital from W.A.P.Martin and Henry Wheaton,economic capital from the Tsungli Yamen and social capital from western officials in China and Martin's membership as an American missionary.These forms of capital keep converting and accumulating,which exert effects on different phases of the translation practice.Initially,capital influences the selection of original written language,original work and original version for translation.Martin's selection of Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law was made by cultural capital of his experience and education in law as well as that of Henry Wheaton and his work,which was aimed to gain the social capital from foreign officials in China such as Robert Hart and Anson Burlingame who were supporters of the Anglo-American legal system and finally receive the economic capital from the Tsungli Yamen.Secondly,capital influences translation of terms and reconstruction of the content.The translation of terms is determined by his social capital as an American missionary and cultural capital of knowledge in Confucianism and Chinese culture.Martin made a balance between Confucian philosophy and American Christian philosophy by finding out the similarity of the two philosophies,for the purpose of obtaining the economic capital from the Tsungli Yamen and promoting American culture and philosophy as far as possible.And reconstruction of the content is made by additions and deletions.Additions are focused on interpretative descriptions of terms of international law while deletions are mainly in negative comments on China and terms' application in cases of foreign nations in addition to interpretative descriptions.Both of them are aimed to cater for the reading habits of the Tsungli Yamen and relevant officials such as Yixin as well as their political values.Finally,capital influences the application of Martin's translation of terms and the circulation of his Wanguogongfa.Not all the terms translated by Martin are preserved in modern Chinese legal language.Apart from the terms continuing to be used,some of the terms are abandoned while others are improved in expression.The application of Martin's translation of terms results from social capital and cultural capital such as terms' consistency with Chinese value and their use in later history.In terms of the circulation of the work itself,Martin's Wanguogongfa spreads mainly throughout Asia in the Late Qing Dynasty.Because of cultural capital such as that of Henry Wheaton and Elements of International Law together with,the application of Wanguogongfa in foreign affairs,Martin's Wanguogongfa was firstly introduced to Japan and other Asian nations which were in a situation similar to China at that time and then brought back to China,causing the terms of Wanguogongfa to change and update.Generally,capital exerts effects on the whole translation practice of Martin's Wanguogongfa from its preparation to circulation.In the whole process,economic capital,social capital and cultural capital keep converting and accumulating in order to gain the economic capital from the Tsungli Yamen which ensures the initial publication of Wanguogongfa and is the basis for its circulation in and after the Late Qing Dynasty.American culture and Christian philosophy can therefore be disseminated.