Translingual Commensurability and Reciprocal Translatability -- Foreign Terms and Their Cultural Nuances in the Chinese

Context

Abstract

As an important branch of Comparative Literature, contemporary Translation Studies refer to a multicultural research of translation as a translingual communication practice in terms of cultural insight. From 1970s to 1990s, a large number of scholars in tradition of comparative literature, natural science, philosophy and so on have edged in the field of translation and, therefore, initiated a great revolution of paradigmatic transfer in translation studies. Thus translation has been much more than a question of Linguistic endeavors. Generally people have believed that all languages can be translated reciprocally. But it seems impossible to translate languages transparently and to transmit different cultures transparently by means of language. Furthermore, terms in certain cultural background are corresponding to certain history, religions and so on. From this consideration then arise the following questions: How can Chinese and other

languages be translated reciprocally in the process of history? At the beginning of 20 th century

some key words have been introduced to Chinese context, such as “ individualism”,

“liberalism”, “conservatism”, “experience”, “humanism”. The terms chosen to be introduced

to China had been rebuilt in the new context and therefore, had much influence on

constructing Chinese paradigm of culture.

The study has selected some key terms that appeared frequently in the journals at that time,

attempting to analyze the exegesis of these words in both western and Chinese contexts. In

addition, the course of translation and application of these terms have been discussed in order

to study the shaping influences and cultural makings in Chinese context.

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1. Introduction

The birth of Translation Studies was one of the most important events happened in the last century. It is neither “theories of translation” nor “science of translation”. The emphasis, therefore, has been made principally on culture, history, religion and some other historical case studies.

The evolution of translation studies has not accomplished by one step. Of all the contributions ever made that merit scholarly consideration one is the formalist poetics of Russia and the relevant researches conducted by students of Belgium, Holland and Czechoslovakia. The Dutchman James Holmes, one of the pioneers, first coined the term Translation Studies in The Name and Nature of Translation Studies1 in 1978. Several years later, Andre Lefevere published his article discussing the variety between hermeneutic and neopositivistic schools and claiming that the study must be made on the basis of evolution of meta-science.2

Others who have made relative researches in the field include Raymond van den Broeck from Holland, Itamar Even-Zohar and Gideon Toury from Israel and Jose Lambert from Belgium. From 1980s onward, the once-theoretical translation researchers have begun their conversations with other sciences. Colonialism, bilingual cultures, questions of gender and so on have ascended to the stage. What matters most in this respect is none other than the theoretical construction of a new paradigm by translingual researches, though, unfortunately, the endeavor looms now in China only a silhouette.

The Chinese people had begun their translation activity as early as in the Han Dynasty but the Chinese translators have attached importance only to the skills while ignoring the process. With the introduction of the translation studies into this country, some Chinese scholars, such as Gao Mingkai, Liu He, have begun to concern themselves with the importation of some key terms. The new concepts were introduced into Chinese culture in one way or another and have yielded remarkable impact on reconstructing the Chinese paradigm of culture in the course of translation.

As Andre Lefevere3 says in his books, the most important characteristic of the endeavor is comparability. Therefore, a wider academic view has been produced. For example, Barbara Godar in Canada has proposed the concepts of “difference” or “non-equivalence” in Female Literature; Maria Tymoczko, an Irish litterateur, put emphasis on translation in traditional oral literature. The great

1 Holmes, James S. 1972. The name and nature of translation studies. Amsterdam: Translation Studies Section, Department of General Studies.2 Lefevere, Andee. 1978. Translation: the focus of the growth of literary knowledge, in James S. Holmes, Jose Lambert, and Raymond van den Broeck (eds) Literature and Translation. Leuven, Belgum: Acco.3 Bassnett, Sussan & Andre Lefevere(eds.). 1990. Translation, History and Culture. London:Pinter.

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changes have followed the international academic trends, developing the useful and discarding the useless of the close traditional paradigms.

Students of various fields, including philosophy and linguistics, have been in pursuit of Translingual Commensurability but sought in vain. A good example is the existence of bilingual dictionaries where the commensurability between the two languages has been built up in a very short time. Problems appear when we deal with diverse cultures and languages in terms of certain traditional patterns and turn out to be sharper while we travel between the West and the Orient. It seems that the key point is not the possibility of translation between different languages, but the practical purpose and demand. It is impossible to transmit different cultures transparently by means of language. Furthermore, the commensurability of words in different languages is constructed by certain people according to certain historical and geographical circumstances. Actually, the commensurability between different languages has been made artificially with certain purpose.

According to Gao Mingkai and Liu Zhengyan,4 a confluence of new terms had come into Chinese at the turn of the 20 th century, and most of these new terms had come into classical Chinese and colloquialism via the route of Japanese. For example, the Japanese employed Chinese character 革 命 (kakumei)for revolution. Then the word was re-introduced into Chinese with the form of 革命 , though the meaning of the same form had, however, undergone a radical change over the long duration of cultural transformation. The importation of those new terms did bring about a great change among the Chinese people and eventually had caused the birth of modern Chinese literature5 .

Semantic translation interrupted the ancient meanings of these terms for historical reasons. We cannot comprehend their deep connotations without considering the intermediary terms. Translation has undergone a gradual process of the reconstruction in the place where those conflicts happen, where the source language and the target language encounter vis-à-vis, until new meanings of those terms set down new roots in the target language for perpetual attempt at the convergence or the divergence of diverse cultures.6

II 个 人 主 义 and Individualism ： Their Shaping

Influences and Cultural Makings

4 高名凯，刘正琰（1958），《现代汉语外来词研究》，文字改革出版社，北京。5 刘禾（2000），跨文化研究的语言问题，《语言与翻译的政治》，许宝强，袁伟选编，中央编译出版社出版，北京，page 224。6 刘禾（1999），《语际书写：现代思想史写作批判纲要》，上海三联书店，上海。page36。

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China is a country with long history. However, its thoughts and culture had only twice been at the height of its splendor in history: the Warring States Period and the May 4th Movement of 1919. These two famous cultural explosions were both attached to humanity, especially to individualism. There was always some relationship between the discovery of individuals and the prosperity of cultures. Even in the west, only until in 19th century had the concept of individuals and the relative theories raised the head. However, the Chinese term 个 人 主 义(individualism) is still a word of much controversy.

Exegetic Examination of Individualism in Western Cultures

The history of the west is a course of secularization. Individualism, which was conceived by Christianity and ancient philosophy of Greece and Rome, was fully developed for the first time in Renaissance and thereby, has gradually grown into the Western Culture known to all.

However, the western cultures have never been detached from religion. After the Reformation a lot of religious sects came forth, which has resulted in the emergence of freedom of conscience, one main part of the concept of Individualism. As a theory, individualism, beyond all doubt, was born simultaneously with social equality. Emmerson once pointed out that one of the characters of that era was the recognition of the new importance of individuals.

It is said this term appeared in French Revolution for the first time. At that time it was used to express the character of human living in 19 th century ---- they were short of ideality and common belief; they floated in the society without a root; they were in cruel competition; all these reflected a status of anarchy.

In 1730s, Tocqueville7 wrote that individualism was a novel term. He said that in the glossary of our forebears there was only egoism. Although Tocqueville was not a supporter of individualism, he differentiated these two concepts clearly at least. In his opinion, egoism was a kind of strong, exaggerated self-esteem to the utmost while individualism was a mature and calm emotion.

Then this term got positive intension in American social practice. Early European immigrants carried the new thoughts born in the religious revolution with them to the new continent. There, those ideological genes developed rapidly to the direction of democracy. In the newly discovered continent where no evidence of feudalism can be found individualism turned out to be an important

7 Alexis de Tocqueville. 1945. Democracy in America. New York: Knopf and Random House. Vol. II.

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part of American characteristics and national idea. Thereafter, individualism, in the migration from Europe to America, had

accomplished the transformation from negative to positive, from initial to mature and, from theoretical to practical.

Exegetic Examination and Application of 个 人 主 义 in Chinese Context

Individualism(usually translated as 个 人 主 义 or 个 位 主 义 in Chinese) was once a totally strange notion to Chinese people. Chinese people, for thousands years, had been accustomed to “people”, not single person. People have been apt to act under the influence of others, no matter how I think. Most people had thought it natural to submit to a higher class. However, some scholars have claimed that some individual ideas can be found in Chinese culture, although whether they are the same with those in the western origin is yet a problem.

Confucius proposed the conception of Self( 己 ), but attached to self-cultivation. His disciples focused much on integrity, personality and responsibility and believed that one must have the virtue of life( 德 ) in order to be a real man, not for showing to others but for the self. The Confucian gentlemen( 君 子 ) set a very important self in their hearts. In contrast to the western theory, Confucians are doomed not to develop into complete individualism. First of all, the Confucian self is a rigorous moral concept, not a political or legal concept. The purpose is to keep the social stability instead of giving rights to the individuals. Secondly, Confucius thought rules were necessary for everybody without any exception. “ 七 十 而 从 心 所 欲 ， 不 逾 矩 ” , by this he emphasized that even the people free to do anything should obey the rules. The largest barrier was the hierarchy of that time. It required all kinds of sacrifice of individuals.

Some oversea scholars dedicated much to the study including Tu Wei-ming. Tu wrote a lot about humanism and most of the works relied on the presupposition that the concept of 己 in Confucianism was totally equal to self. He believed it was unnecessary to consider too much about the factor of translation alternation.8

He adduced a lot of things to prove the idea. However, he ignored the different exegesis of the two words.

Confucians did not supply a good cradle for individualism. Taoism, another school of thought, was friendlier to individualism. Taoists sought for the harmony between human and nature and they acted after the self or the personality. The

8 Tu, Wei-ming. 1997. Humanity and Self-cultivation: Essays on Confucian Thought. Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press.

Tu, Wei-ming. 1985. Confucian Thought: Selfhood as Creative Transformation. Albany: State University of New York Press.

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focus of Taoists is not the social characteristics of human but the natural ones. At the same time Taoists did not want to be involved into the society but escaped from the society without making any achievements so they could not shoulder the mission of being a political theory in respect that it could never establish a serious social system to guarantee personal freedom since they were never concerned about legal problems.

Fa School (or Legalism, a certain theoretical genre established by Han Feizi in Warring states Period) should not be neglected. In the eyes of Legalists, people were merely tools with no personality. What concerned Legalists most was how to make people submit to the monarch completely so that they would take any measure to strengthen the power of state, without thinking about the liberty and rights of people. Therefore, Legalism could only lead to hierarchy instead of individualism.

Buddhism found many disciples in China. Generally speaking, Buddhism is always a silent religion. There are some concepts about self and they care much for everyone. Yet it was the worldview of Buddhists that denied the individual inclination of Buddhism. Buddhists believe anicca( 无 常 ) and anatta( 无我 ). Salvation to them is to break away from the self in this world and to achieve the real self in another world. As a result Buddhists could not understand the self-expression proposed by individualists.

The Two Terms and Reciprocal translatability: A Comparative Study

The real western individualism was introduced into China at the end of 19 th

century. Although it was translated into Chinese as a useful thought originated from the west, it got special meaning in the Chinese context. After the first Chinese interpretation was given in a Chinese-English dictionary the later translators have applied the acceptation in dictionaries. Thus, any relation between the English term and its Chinese counterpart was the product of historical reason. The so-called translatability is just based on the relationship established during translation in the history.

个 人 主 义 , like many other newly imported terms, was created by Japanese scholars when translating individualism coming from the West. It was introduced into China in the exchange of 19th and 20th century and then soon aroused a hot discussion on self-awareness.

Several translations were given to the word individual such as 个 人 、个 位 and 个 体 . These words sometimes could be exchanged with 我 、 自我 and 己 . The confusion of these words reflects the complication of

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translingual practice. The collision between China and the western countries had constructed a new concept of individualism. In other words, some national characteristics had been embedded in individualism and the two concepts in different cultural contexts interact reciprocally.

An article in Oriental magazine said, “We Chinese people know nothing about individualism so the society appears a mass of vague.”9 The author Jiayi felt a crisis of China’s poverty. Coincidently, Russell’s opinion in The Problem of China was that individualism had been dead in the west but still alive in China. What Russell worried about was the post-war situation of Europe. Two authors with different cultural background both felt a crisis about their homelands and reckoned on oriental culture. Their similar positions and different views have predicated that the application in historical and political practice instead of the definition is the real meaning of a word.

Individualism was sometimes compared to Individuality. As Jiang Menglin said, Individualism was relative to the society or the state while Individuality was related to education.10 Here the author also cared about the fate of Chinese people.

Many important movements had happened at the beginning of the last century, among them the New Culture Movement, May 4th Movement and Communistic Movement were the most famous. Discussion on the translation and appliance of individualism at that time was rather attractive. The hottest issues were published in Oriental Magazine( 《 东 方 杂 志 》 ), New Youth( 《 新 青 年 》 ), Renaissance ( 《 新 潮 》 ) and so on.

At first, the issue of individualism was a part of National-state Theory proposed by Liang Qichao, Huang Zunxian and Yan Fu. But Oriental Magazine originated the focus on reconstruction of human. In 1914 Du Yaquan, the editor in chief wrote an essay to claim that the bypast revolutions had not touched the revolution of individuals and a real revolution should begin with single person. Individualism, in his point of view, was a reprint of Confucianism.

Discussions made great efforts on other magazines, too. In 1915 one of Gao Yihan’s article in Youth Magazine11 （ later developing into the famous New Youth） made a criticism on National Thoughts. He followed the idea similar to Du Yaquan. Furthermore, he brought forward the concept of people, which was composed of large numbers of individuals. He adopted 小 己 (small self) to take place of individual. 小 己 implies the existence of some 大 己

9 刘禾（1999），《语际书写——现代思想史写作批判纲要》，上海：上海三联书店，page 40-41.10 蒋梦麟（1998），个性主义与个人主义，《自由主义的先声：北大传统与近代中国》，刘军宁主编，北京：中国人事出版社，page 516-517。11 高一涵，国家非人生之归宿论，《青年杂志》1915年第 4期。

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(greater self). Individual was more closely attached to nation. Since New Youth was one of the leading warriors in the New Culture

Movement, more and more people were attracted by the importance of the discourse of individualism. This could be an explanation of the anti-traditional declination of the New Culture Movement and the Literary Revolution then. Those pioneers, such as Li Dazhao, Hushi and Zhou Zuoren, all agreed that humanism with the kernel of individualism should be the ictus of literature. New form of literature had been introduced into China. Then a good many nice novels written in first person came forth. In the past, most Chinese stories were told by a third person that was not a part of the stories. In a story written by I, the hero became more relative with the real world because I can expand the self infinitely.

By the study above we can probably have a nodding acquaintance with the development of individualism. Altogether, individualism is a term of much variance.

Shaping Influences of 个 人 主 义 in Chinese Context

Recently a new point of view has been proposed that some scholars, after studying the history of that time, have thought that the individualism at that time was not the true one and it was Nationalism sprouting in the May 4th Movement that resulted in the failure of Enlightenment of which the kernel was Individualism. Actually, there is never an authentic theory for us to believe. It was during the translation or mistranslation of the out-runners that Individualism got its practical meaning in Chinese context and therefore influenced much on Chinese cultural history.

Lu Xun once wrote that the term individual had been introduced into China for several years yet people had thought the word the same as egoism12 . In order to keep the original meaning, Lu Xun introduced the European tradition of this term, talking about Fr.Nietzsche, J.Rousseau, Henrik Ibsen and the others who pursued Individualism. As far as he was concerned, all these are representatives for individual dignity. At the same time, the differences between these idealists were ignored, occasionally or by design, no one can tell. Lu Xun claimed that some people in his own time distorted western culture in the name of development and individuality had been deprived. He tried to transfer information to people that Individualism was the real essence of the western cultures.

Writers for many pioneer magazines advocated much the foreign thoughts and considered the western thoughts the only medicine for Chinese problems. The

12 鲁迅（1951），文化偏至论，《坟》，北京：人民文学出版社，page 43-44.

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journals established a special role for Individualism in China’s history. Translation and introduction of this term aroused people’s pursuing liberty. Today, when we recall the famous May 4th in 1919, the first thing come to our minds may be Democracy, Science, and also Patriotism. However, it is clear that only after realizing the existence of individualism can one seek for Democracy, Science and Patriotism perseveringly with all one’s heart. When the essence of Individualism had been known, it was applied as an instrument resisting old Chinese tradition. The intellectuals caring so much for China’s future just took up the concept and value of western Individualism and made it the most powerful weapon for reforming Chinese culture. What they really wanted was to make a thorough break with the historical tradition and get nirvana like a phoenix.

After all, the independence of individuals was misunderstood from the early beginning any way, as Lin Yusheng had pointed out.13 Individualism was materialized as an instrument for self-preaching, fighting with old tradition and utopian construction. Hayek said that this kind of individualism was apt to change into fanatical collectivism and therefore, would depress personal freedom and rights extremely. This idea was proved true by the experience of Chinese people in the Revolution of Culture.

Journals including New Youth dedicated much to discovering and advocating Individualism in China. Unfortunately, emancipation of individuality, so welcome at the beginning of the last century, was devoured by collectivism by and by. In fact, even New Youth had turned to collectivism after 1919. Whatever happened, this key word from western culture has been influencing Chinese people so much.

III. 自 由 主 义 and Liberalism14 ：Their Shaping Influences and Cultural Makings

自 由 主 义 （ Liberalism ） was another thing important to China. When we talked about Individualism we can never put Liberalism on one side.

Exegetic Examination of Liberalism in Western Cultures

The term liberalism was derived from Spanish term Liberales. It was used as the

13 林毓生(1988)，《中国传统的创造性转化》，北京三联书店，page 162、163。 14 In this chapter, the concepts of Liberty and Freedom are some time consistent. However that does not mean the confusion of the two concepts is taken for granted. The differentia was mentioned by Amartya Sen in his Development as Freedom (Alfred A Knope，New York，September 1999, page 57) . This study does not concern about the distinction between Liberty and Freedom because of the limit of space and writer’s ability.

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name of a Spanish political party in earlier 19 th century. The establisher tried to express that their party was neither conservative nor radical. From then on, this word became a popular pronoun of a genre of bourgeois thoughts in western countries.

The connotation of liberalism is changing from time to time because Liberalists always deal with problems pragmatically. However, no one can deny that individual liberty is the kernel of the theory. Liberalists approve to develop individual characters. All the acts of a state, politically, economically and socially, should happen for the purpose of vindicating individual liberty. Liberals are champions for concerns about civil liberties and human rights abuses.

Liberal first appeared in English early in the 19th century. Then it had been heard in French, from 1750, with something similar to the political sense we have been attached to. Earlier 18th-century uses, in both English and French, appear just to mean “ample, generous, or free”, a meaning the word still bears.

In the second half of the 19th century, there appeared modern liberalism, i.e., reform or welfare liberalism. This new version of liberalism developed a lot especially in Great Britain. To a certain degree its evolution may be traced in the development of the social ideas and theories of John Stuard Mill (1806-1873), as he emerged from the shadow of his father – James Mill, and the Locke-Bentham tradition in British public life and social analysis. The fully matured Mill is plausibly seen as the first fully formed modern liberal.

At any rate, liberalism has experienced two great phases: first, when it mostly consisted of ideas, only gradually and in the face of much opposition being implemented; then second, when not previously seen complexities occasioned in part by that implementation, and in part by advances in social knowledge, led to a rethinking of the first version. The first or classical phase of liberalism appears self-consciously in the mid-eighteen century in France and Britain, from sparks held then and since to have been ignited by John Locke. The second stage – reform, welfare, or perfectionist liberalism – first appeared fully self-consciously in the work of T. H. Green, but was embryonic and half articulated in the earlier writings of John Stuard Mill. The former began at 17th century and lasted for more than two centuries. And the latter, also called as new liberalism, last from the end of 19th century till now.

Exegetic Interpretation of 自 由 主 义 in Chinese Context

Liberty is a term with abroad and profound connotation. This term was translated into Chinese by the word 自 由 or 自 繇 that have been existing in Chinese

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context for thousand years, but we Chinese have been accustomed to associating liberty with debouch and reckless. Yan Fu, one of the earliest scholars that introduced liberty in China, found it important to give a proper definition to this term. He thought that the special meaning of 自 由 in Chinese context was far from the original meaning with neither commendatory nor derogatory sense. Since an individual was in the society he had to consider the rights of other people and the limit of other people lest there would be confrontations 15 .

In Chinese history, the Spring and Autumn Periods was the first free era for thoughts and ideas. Laotzi, the first one that can be called a master of ideas, criticized government a lot. Hu Shi believed him a man of liberty16 because he helped people strive for civil rights. Zhuangzi, another Taoist lived the Warring States Period full of warfare. His thoughts were inclined to be negative yet his story of Kun(鲲 ) showed his longing for liberty. In the same prose Zhuangzi said that Liezi could fill away with fair wind, agile and brisk, “ 泠 然 善 也 ” , but depended on some outside force, i.e. “ 犹 有 所 待 者 也 ” .17 Taoists pursued a kind of freedom of heart. However, it is clear that the liberty was not the same as what we are talking about today.

Buddhism is one of the basic factors of Chinese philosophy. Although it was first transferred from India it has become a local product of Chinese culture in the new land. The last and best product of traditional Buddhism of China is Zen(禅 ). Buddhists have always believed that suffering is inseparable from existence but the extinction of the worldly desire and the inward self will culminate in a state of spiritual enlightenment beyond both suffering and existence. Zenists have attempted to a state of freedom and purification of heart by meditation. They pursue to exceeding empty(空 ) and naught( 无 ) of time and space, and then a real liberty is attained. Compared to western existentialism Zen has a similarity in the aspect of the way the problems are tabled and solved. Existentialism has been fighting spiritual crisis of modern capitalism for liberty. Zen, on the other hand, has proposed a way to regress human nature. For these reasons Zen has provoked resonance to some western idealists.

The Two Terms and Reciprocal translatability: A Comparative Study

Liberalism is a flourishing tree, with the root in humanism of Renaissance and the

15 严复（1996），《群己权界论》译凡例，《中国科学翻译史料》，黎唯秋主编，中国科学技术大学出版社，151页。

16 胡适（1998），自由主义，《自由主义的先声：北大传统与近代中国》，刘军宁主编，中国人事出版社，北京，65-71页。17 见《庄子·逍遥游》。

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branches growing in the development of market economy, civil community and constitution countries. After it was introduced into China as a new tide of ideas arguments has never stopped.

Yan Fu is said to be the first introducer in Chinese history to the theory of liberalism. It was he that let Spencer Herbert heard and he again, made the theory of liberalism noticed. When translated On Liberty of J. S. Mill, Yan Fu used the title of “ 群 己 权 界 论 ” which means division between public rights and individual rights. Obviously he regarded the division as the most important key word of liberty. He admitted that problems were produced when concepts in

other cultural context were translated into Chinese.18 He distinguished 无 待 from 自 在 by translating 无 待 in Taoism as self-existence and 自 在of Buddhism as persistence, or eternity, or conservation. He also mentioned the liberty of speech and religion in his article. The translator attempted to inspire the temporary Chinese people in the abyss of suffering by recommending a new theory.

Liang Qichao(1873 – 1929), a reformist pioneer in Modern Times, added fuels to the fire of liberalism. Liang created the concepts of 公 德 (social morality) and 私 德 (private morality)19 . He believed that the private morality in China had degenerated so much. One of the reasons was the disadvantage of autocracy. Outstanding people did appear in the history but their ambition drained away bit by bit depressed by the improper system.20 As far as Liang was concerned, constitutionalism gave enough liberty to people. Liang also made a comparison between liberty and obedience. Obedience, hated by most people, was absolutely necessary to Liang. He said that people in the West never neglected obedience while pursuing liberty because they understood deeply that real liberty relied much on obedience or obligation.21

Another pioneer of liberalism in China, Hu Shi devoted himself much to the introduction of liberalism. He realized the differentia between Chinese “ 自由 ” and western liberty. He said that liberty in Europe contained the meaning of liberation, which means that people should be freed from certain

18 严复（1996），《群己权界论》译凡例，《中国科学翻译史料》，黎唯秋主编，中国科学技术大学出版社，151页。19 刘军宁主编（1998），《自由主义的先声：北大传统与近代中国》，中国人事出版社，北京，470- 498页。20 梁启超（1998），论私德，《自由主义的先声：北大传统与近代中国》，刘军宁主编，中国人事出版社，北京，477页。21 梁启超（1998），服从释义，《自由主义的先声：北大传统与近代中国》，刘军宁主编，中国人事出版社，北京，499页。 “恶夫假自由以济其私者，其弊更甚于恶法。恣睢暴乱，毒自由以毒天下，其败坏将不可收拾也。”

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external forces and then obtain self-determination, while Chinese people had paid too much attention to self, which had resulted in several endings: reclusion and the dream of immortal. As for Hu Shi, oriental liberal movements had never found the way of democratic construction because of the ignorance of the essentiality of political liberty and tolerance. It was democratic politics that could guarantee civic liberty22.

If Yan Fu’s translation of On Liberty could be regarded as the beginning Chinese liberalism has a history more than one hundred years. After the selection and processing, liberalism in China stressed much on politics and culture while economic liberty was ignored. Thereupon, economic sense never played a proper role in the history of Chinese liberalism while Economic liberty is not only a purpose but also an instrument for approaching political liberty. In fact, modern economy of the West has been amplified on the basis of economic freedom. After the victory of Sino-Japanese War, new tide of liberalism was up from 1943 when Kuomintang advocated giving rights to citizen and tried to rearrange China’s postwar political order. However, China’s social and political resources were not suitable for the growth of liberalism. It was not long before the civil war of China broke out. Rupture between Kuomintang and Communist Party resulted in the failure of liberalism. After the liberation, socialism commenced to play a main role in the stage. At the beginning of People’s Republic of China the planned economy took place of all the other economy modes. Then came the Revolution of Culture when those Red Guards did anything they wanted. No social order existed. No civil right was guaranteed. Fortunately, Democracy became the hottest topic again in 1980s as people began to rethink the Revolution of Culture. Thanks to the confirmation of market economy, the issue finally turned to liberty and liberalism again in 1990s.

Shaping Influences of 自 由 主 义 in Chinese Context

Millennium came in a free atmosphere. Liberalism glows extraordinary splendor all over the world, so does it in China. Trends of liberalism has encountered some suppress but it has allured large numbers of intellectuals.

Strictly speaking, Yan Fu and Liang Qichao were pioneers of liberalism instead of real liberalists. Only after the May 4th Period when most intellectuals accepted values of individualism and liberalism did Chinese liberalists present themselves on the stage. However, at the beginning of last century liberalism was in somewhat disorder even in the West, let alone in China. Then Chinese pioneers

22 胡适（1998），自由主义，参见《自由主义的先声：北大传统与近代中国》，刘军宁主编，中国人事出版社，北京，65-71页。

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imported the revised thoughts and had little knowledge of those classic works by John Locke, David Hume and Adam Smith. In other words, liberalism in China was born with confusion. At last, it turned to either neo-conservatism or radicalism in the complicated situation. That has indicated the inborn deficiency of China’s liberalism.

China’s liberal thoughts were mainly imported from Britain and America. Actually, there are great differences between the two origins. Chinese intellectuals absorbed the new thoughts and modified them according to different local environments. American thoughts of John Dewey were advocated by Hu Shi. After the revision three gifts had remained: pragmatism methodology, gradual social reform and amplification of Democracy.

Most important exotic thoughts were from Britain because of Harold Laski, a famous member of Fabian with many loyal apostles in China. His followers organized a small party similar to the Fabian Society in late 1920s, translating plenty of works of Lasky and other Fabians. Laski had reserved the essential principles of liberalism and attempted to make them accordant with socialist justice and equality, therefore, had found support in China. Social Democracy became the main melody of Chinese liberalism. Apparently, Chinese intellectuals welcomed the Fabian ideas and the coming socialism.

Several kinds of the thoughts appeared but didn’t impress the whole society until 1940s, when liberalists were born in China. Most liberalists were intellectuals in academia with steady income and usually an experience abroad. They concerned themselves with state affairs yet was devoted to their scholarship attainments. So they advocated principles of liberalism by giving lectures, writing articles and so on. Most of them remained independent, refusing to be involved into any political party directly. Then some active ones decided to take further actions and planned to establish political groups or parties to propel liberalism movement. These characters had no settled profession, traveling from this university to that one and part of their time was devoted to political activity. Their endeavor at last led to the establishment of China’s Democratic Federation, meaning that liberalism in China was organized formally.

Affected by Chinese tradition, domestic liberalists today still stick to politics and cultures without considering economy; and liberalism seems to be separated from Chinese common people. It always belongs to the intellectuals in the tower of ivory. Without the economic connotation and the support of free market, liberalism would abort and the society would be lacking in liberty, equality, justice and competition. But in China, little economic influence had been exerted. At first, the influences of Confucius require us not to talk about profit; secondly, not

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enough scholars know Economics; and the third, even free market has its own defects. Fortunately, having witnessed the consequences of South-east Asia crisis, Chinese people began to take measures to develop economy, using the principles of liberalism, consciously or unconsciously. Since we have found the entrance to market economy, the gate to liberalism will never be closed again.

IV. More Key Terms and Their Cultural Makings in Chinese Context

In the above chapters comparative studies of Individualism and 个 人 主 义 ，Liberalism and 自 由 主 义 are made. However, there are more foreign words that have affected Chinese people so much. More key terms will be studied in the following sections.

保 守 主 义 and Conservatism

The conception of 保 守 主 义 （ conservatism） has been introduced into China for a long time. Since it was confronted by the Chinese people for the first time it reminded us of fogyism, rigidity and inflexibility. It has been a commonsense in China that those conservatives always seem to be opposite to the progressives. This potential antinomy set us into a dead angle in the study of unscrambling culture and history.

The term conservatism first appeared in the field of politics. Although the term was applied to other fields such as literature, philosophy and arts, it was mainly used to describe political phenomena in the West. It is said that Chateaubriand originated the term conservatism in the year 1818. Then the term came into the controversies of European politics. In 1830 a writer in the Quarterly Review made the term popular among Englishmen. At about the same time, the descriptive label began to be generally used in Latin-American politics, and it was not long before parties with this name went into political stage. For example, the so-called Conservative parties were established in England in 1835, in Germany and France in 1848.

A hurricane swept over Europe when the famous French Revolution came. As French liberal idea was heard in England, Englishmen had to take a consideration whether they had something worth saving. It was Edmund Burke who declared that English society had some virtues that were worthy of preservation. His works are the doctrinal source of modern conservatism.

In American conservatism had much in common with the British case.

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Before the Civil War, for example, Southern agrarians looked on the South as the conservative balance wheel of the United States, for they believed that the evils of industrialism would destroy the whole American tradition. But when the year came to 1865 conservatism in America had changed its idea, committing to the preservation of the Union, to the maintenance of constitutional tradition, and to the development of an industrial and commercial society. Thus the case showed that conservatism is a dynamic philosophy.

In Chinese, Conservatism is translated as 保 守 主 义 . 保 守 is a word existing in Chinese for a long time but in ancient time it was always used as two characters separately, i.e. 保 and 守 . By and by these two characters were joined together. It sometimes reminds people of ossification. A lot of people thought a Conservative party opponent to those pursuing evolution, however, “conservatism, like any other social philosophy, must be in part a theory of change and is rather a philosophy of social evolution”23 .

Early in On National Characters24 Liang Qichao discussed different national characters of several countries. He said that British had attached much importance to experiences and practice so that they had preferred considering the result afterwards to planning beforehand remaining both conservatism( 保 守之 性 ) and enterprising( 进 取 之 性 ) simultaneously. Here the term almost remains its original meaning from Britain.

Usually, conservatism is put with liberalism shoulder to shoulder. Both liberalism and conservatism over a century ago had changed profoundly in the modern history. Before 1950s, political struggle in Great Britain had been focused between the Conservatives or Tories against the Whigs; later between the Conservatives and the Liberals; and then between the inevitably resurgent conservatism and the newer Labor party. In this change of position, “the Liberal has found that his emergent position is with the conservative against the newer issue and the deeper challenge to the social order.”25

Once Chinese people resisted all that concern with conservatism. Anything related to 旧 (old) were destroyed including the elites of old tradition. Fortunately, Chinese intellectuals have now been freed from the romantic agitation, inclining to reality and calmness. Once again, conservatism has been put on the table. New conservatives respects present orders and authority as well as old ones. The difference is that new conservatives propose to be open to the world and change the state of Totalitarian.

23 Wilsom, Francis Graham. 1951. The Case for Conservatism: Three Lectures Delivered at The University of Washington. Washington: University of Washington Press.24 梁启超（1996），说国风上，《清文观止》，岳麓书社，长沙，741页。25 Wilsom, Francis Graham. 1951. The Case for Conservatism: Three Lectures Delivered at The University of Washington. Washington: University of Washington Press.

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经 验 and Experience

Chinese people make a stress on experience. That is why old people are respected by the society for their living experience. But experience as a philosophy concept is regarded as a transplanted term. 经 验 was not a key word in Chinese traditional philosophy.

It is said that 经 验 was borrowed from Japanese 经 验 (keiken) which is the translation of the English term,26 meaning knowledge or skills learned from practice. The first occurrence of 经 验 as a philosophical term was made by Hu Shi, who used this term to explain Pragmatism of America. From Hu Shi to Deng Xiaoping, this key term has been gradually penetrated into Chinese mainstream ideology. The Chinese are familiar with Deng’s theory of “truth must be verified by the standard of practice”( 实 践 是 检 验 真 理 的 标 准 ). Here practice( 实 践 ) and verify( 检 验 ) are both closely connected to experience.

In the early time 经 and 验 are two separate characters, although sometimes used together. Actually, it is for the two characters’ radiate connotation in Chinese culture that the Japanese had chosen them to introduce the western concept. At first the original meaning of 经 is the longitude on a spinning-machine27 and hence leads to extensive connotation. The definition amplifies on rules, obligations, principles, and customs of things. Therefore, it also means activity, beginning, proceeding, course and experience and other suchlike intention, which make possible the reciprocal translatability. In Chinese saying

“ 少 不 经 事 ” (the young have less experience) and “经 一 事 ， 长一 智 ” (experience adds one’s wisdom) the stressed monosyllabic character bears the meaning of later 经 验 most similarly. Later it was employed as the

title of some ancient literatures such as 《 水 经 》 (Scripture on Waters),

《 茶 经 》 (Scripture on Tea) 《 本 草 经 》 (Scripture on Chinese

Herbs). All these are experiences in various fields. Besides, Chinese term 不 经 being adapted as the identification of what cannot be experienced. The Chinese always call what is not accordant with practice 荒 诞 不 经 . Here 不 经 can be looked as a negative judgment of practice. Like empiricists, ancient Chinese didn’t believe those they had not seen.

26 高名凯，刘正琰（1984），《汉语外来词词典》，上海辞书出版社，163页。 27 《说文解字》：“经，织纵系也，从系经声。”

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验 is the second part of 经 验 , originally meaning the name of a kind of horse.28 Later on it is applied to mean verification and evidence. Things can be verified and clarified with evidence are believable. This is the similarity between 经 and 验 . In fact, some Chinese writers had already taken use of the combined term before Japanese brought it into Chinese. Tracks can be also found in some ancient philosophical works. For example, Han Feizi made a special stress on the verifying truth by the practical effects.29 His theory is even profounder than other simple empiricists.

Hu Shi introduced American Pragmatism into China by the use of 经 验主 义 which focused on experience while Lu Xun didn’t think a lot about the tradition of empirics. Lu deemed that an experienced man refers to the conservative backward-looking force. The same concept acquires various connotations in respect of different political position.

Anthropology indicates that the tradition of respecting the old began with the existence of primeval tribes in which a respectable old man would be elected as chief. This tradition of respecting the old has remained in China and filial piety became the kernel of Confucianism. Filial piety indicates two things: worship of ancient experience and respect for age. From this aspect, Confucian empiric idea has more negative influences than positive ones on the Chinese culture in the course of modernization and reconstruction. During the May 4 th Movement the slogan of “Beat Down Confucius” showed that the aggressive intellectuals struggled in traditional empiricism and demanded for a new standpoint. Today we have learnt how to accept traditional heritage critically.

人 文 主 义 and Humanism

At the beginning of 20th century, an argument on the lost of humane spirit(人 文精 神 ) was aroused in domestic cultural field. The heated discussion reflected that Chinese intellectuals had felt the lost of traditions and morality in the tide of commodity resulted from reforms and open door policy. This is the tendency of history.

However, a large amount people are confused by 人 文 精 神 and 人文 主 义 . The two terms looked likely, but they have different origin. Most domestic scholars accept that in Chinese the term 人 文 comes from Book of

28 《说文》：“ 验，马名。”The left component of the Chinese character shows it is relative to a horse(马). 29 《韩非子。八经》：“行参以谋多，揆伍以责失。……言会从端，必揆之以地，谋之以天，验之以物，参之以人。四征者符，乃可以观矣。”见冯契（1983），《中国古代哲学的逻辑发展》，上海人民出版社，上海，336页。Feng said that all the advantages of geography, weather, physics and human relationship should be considered to check up truth. If all these factors are considered, the truth is verified.

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Changes(《 易 经 》 ) which suggests people to feel the change of time by looking at chronometer and to understand the whole world by study knowledge of

human(观 乎 天 文 以 察 时 变 ， 观 乎 人 文 以 化 成 天 下 ).30

At the same time, humanism in the western cultures had been a success of liberalism in Renaissance. The purpose of humanism is to resume the humanity of ancient Greece. Although there is superposition between the two concepts the focus is not the same.

Humanism has a number of meanings, and because most writers and lecturers have not clarified which meaning they had intended to use, those trying to explain humanism are apt to be a source of confusion. Fortunately, each meaning of the word constitutes a different type of humanism – the various types are easily defined and separated by the use of appropriate adjectives. For example, Renaissance Humanism is the spirit of learning that developed at the end of the Middle Ages with the revival of classical letters and a renewed confidence in the ability of human beings to determine for themselves truth and falsehood. Cultural Humanism is the rational and empirical tradition that originated largely in ancient Greece and Rome, evolved throughout European history, and now constitutes a basic part of the Western approach to science, political theory, ethics, and law. Philosophical Humanism is any outlook or way of life centered on human need and interest. Christian Humanism is defined by Webster’s Third New International Dictionary as “a philosophy advocating the self-fulfillment of man within the framework of Christian principles.” This more human-oriented faith is largely a product of the Renaissance and is a part of what made up Renaissance Humanism. Modern Humanism, also called Naturalistic Humanism, Scientific Humanism, Ethical Humanism and Democratic Humanism is defined by one of its leading proponents, Corliss Lamont, as “a naturalistic philosophy that rejects all supernaturalism and relies primarily upon reason and science, democracy and human compassion.”.

Early in 1920s, Chinese scholars have been concerned much with humanism. Even some conservatives spent many efforts to translate and recommend works of Irving Babbit on humanism.31 Humanism was once both a slogan for unity and an object of criticism. The key of humanism is human being, which has been studied by Confucius with great concentration, but Confucius was not a humanist in a modern sense.

Left-wing legacy with strong atmosphere of humanism had become an

30 董乐山（1997），西方人文主义与中国人文精神, 《文化的误读》(学术随笔论丛), 中国社会科学出版社，北京，122-123页。31 吴忒及胡先骕均为《学衡》杂志的供稿人。

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object of criticism. It turned out to be a forbidden zone in the field of culture before 1976 when the great leader passed away. Thereafter, humanism came back to life. A new trend of Humanism in the name of Marxism came into form. Concepts of human and humanity were used to reconstruct new ideology.

In 1994 there had been a discussion of humanism in China. Most sayings were recorded in the magazine Reading( 《 读 书 》 ). However, some foreigners believed that the claims from Chinese scholars have only predicated that the intellectuals were not satisfied with extreme commercialism.

Humanism has had a long march and at last attained some height. It appears to be an omnipotent term in the 20th century. Chinese intellectuals attempted to probe into the history of western humanism and find some valuable constitutes for reference. At the same time the connotation of the term has become narrower. That is why it had been used as a weapon against modern industrialism and commercialism.

5. Conclusive Statement

Translators reiterate the story of Babel, trying to explain the puzzle of communication. In fact the story itself has shown the long history of the Bible’s translation and symbolized human’s dream of complete intercommunication. More and more people doubted the commensurability of different languages. Derrida made a deconstruction of the story of Babel and concluded that no real commensurability was in existence.32

Early in the Han Dynasty, a lot of load-shifts from mid-Asia, Arab and north-Asia appeared in Chinese. Later on, some important translation of sutra added a lot Sanskrit words to Chinese. Between 19 th century and 20th century new words from foreign languages sprang out like asparagus. Modern thoughts of China began with importation of some western ideas. Obviously these translations had significant influences on Chinese history.

Yan Fu let a lot of novel thoughts known to Chinese people. His endeavor helped to change a whole generation. After him, Chinese intellectuals realized that only the stronger one could survive in the cruel competition of nature as well as the competition of human society. They were inspired to look for a new way to save the country. Most writers at that time had been bent on translation. In the literal field Lin Zhu( 林 纾 ) “translated” a lot of foreign novels into Chinese. Even Lu Xun translated a plenty of foreign works in Russian and Japanese. Therefore, translation works had brought forth a lot of key words.

32 Derrida, Jacques. 1985. Des tours de babel. trans. Joseph F. Graham. in J. F. Graham( ed.) Difference in Translation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp 165- 208.

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Then here come the problems of new terms and the reconstruction of lexis. Large amounts of semantic translation flowed into Chinese context and get a variation both in meaning and the role they play. For example, Chinese term 文化 originated from Japanese bunka so the commensurability of 文 化 and English term culture(French culture and German die Kultur) was made by means of Japanese. Ancient meaning of the Chinese term is the opposite of conquering by force, meaning achievements in culture and education. Obviously the ancient meaning has been interrupted by certain occurrence. However, the relationship among the three languages (English-Japanese-Chinese) is not the only thing that involved in the course of translation. By touching the new terms Chinese people who were eager for new Weltanschauung and new future, got more acquainted with the outside world. The citizens of Central Kingdom at last touched the new world around their land.

Encounter of two languages has resulted in encounter of various cultures and brought into a lot of new thoughts. The choices of the translators depended on the requirement of that time. Some terms were chosen for affinity. Some were chosen to arouse attraction. The chosen terms had indicated their idea inclination and their expectation. Those adapted terms were recreated rather than translated in target language. In the course of recreation these key terms have played a great role in Chinese cultural history.

Translingual practice is no longer a linguistic problem. When one language tangles with another, scholars who have dealt with cross-cultural study need all kinds of concepts and then, they have made some. By studying the translation of these force-words we can get a better comprehension of the reconstruction of Chinese cultural paradigm. The study is not only on translation of the key terms but also on translation of different culture.

The terms mentioned above had been widely discussed at that time by a lot of well-known journals so that they could be regarded as some typical key terms influencing Chinese Culture so much. By analyzing the course of translation and the attitudes of the translators the study has proved that the importation of the key terms has been purposive and selective. The translators had intentionally or accidentally chosen the most powerful words. Sometimes, they even recreated the terms for their adaptation. Thereinafter, the shaping influences and cultural construction of the key words are quite important in Chinese context. Through the research of some key terms, I do hope that the paper has given out a clearer insight of the translation of some key terms although only five terms have been studied. On the other hand, it has also presented a new approach to the study of Chinese paradigm of culture.

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