On The Yishu Translation Strategy In The First Chinese Version Of Yung Wing’s Autobiography My Life In China And America From The Perspective Of Patronage

Yung Wing was a famous Chinese educator,diplomat and social activist.His English autobiography,My Life in China and America,is a critical first-hand historical source for studying the development of modern China.My Life in China and America’s first Chinese translation,entitled “Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji,” serialized in The Short Story Magazine in eight issues in 1915.The first offprint edition was published by The Commercial Press in December of the same year.Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji is a typical translated work of “yishu,” demonstrating its distinctive translation features in the text.This study takes Lefevere’s concept “patronage” as the theoretical framework and takes The Short Story Magazine’s first serialized edition of Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji as the study object,using literature review,history studies,close reading and case studies as research methods,analyzes the components of the patronage system and examines the influence of the patronage on Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji through the examples of the translation paratexts and the text.This study holds that the economic component of the patronage of Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji originated from The Commercial Press,while The Commercial Press,The Short Story Magazine,and Yun Tieqiao contributed to the status component.Yun Tieqiao,the editor-in-chief of The Short Story Magazine,accepted the translation,which means he provided the translator with a “position” and thus being a patron of Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji.However,Yun Tieqiao also served as a professional to influence the poetics of the translation within the literary system.Therefore,he was the factual patron of Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji,manipulating the ideology and poetics of the translation,which is apparent in both the translation paratexts and the text.Yun Tieqiao’s admiration for classical Chinese influenced the poetic style of Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji and its translation methods under the yishu translation strategy.This study furthers the feasibility and applicability of translation history studies from the perspective of patronage in the Chinese context,contributes “Chinese experience” to the studies on translation patronage through the analysis of a specific case,and sheds new light on the existing studies of Xi Xue Dong Jian Ji.