Colonial Elites and the Pursuit of Sinology: Literary Translation of <i>Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society</i> in Hong Kong(1847-1859)

YI Yongyi

doi:10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236107

Volume 6 Issue 1

Mar. 2023

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YI Yongyi. Colonial Elites and the Pursuit of Sinology: Literary Translation of Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong Kong(1847-1859)[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2023, 6(1): 134-156. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236107

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YI Yongyi. Colonial Elites and the Pursuit of Sinology: Literary Translation of Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong Kong(1847-1859)[J]. International Comparative Literature, 2023, 6(1): 134-156. doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236107

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Colonial Elites and the Pursuit of Sinology: Literary Translation of Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in Hong Kong(1847-1859)

doi: 10.19857/j.cnki.ICL.20236107

YI Yongyi^,

Wenzhou University

Received Date: 2022-12-25
Accepted Date: 2023-02-08

Abstract

Abstract

The China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and its Transactions in Hong Kong's early days have been neglected for a long time,but they are the earliest academic attempts of British Sinology in China. The society was sponsored by the colonial government,and was chaired by the Governors of Hong Kong. It was initiated with the support of the second governor,sinologist John Francis Davis,and then declined after the departure of the fourth governor,translator John Bowring. The Transaction of the branch reflects the institutional exploration of British Sinology in China for the first time,in which literary translation is a pragmatic tradition that reflects the practical needs of British Sinology. The colonial official status of the three translators inevitably affected their different motives and strategies for translation. The literary re-translation of Daxue by the Chief Magistrate,Charles Batten Hillier,focuses on the cultural diversion strategy of social governance. With the strategy of knowledge archaeology,the Chinese Secretary of the Chief Superintendent,Walter Henry Medhurst,Jr.,translated the Chinese verse on the porcelain from an ancient Egyptian tomb,and participated in the discussion of this topic in the Sinology circle at that time. The Governor of Hong Kong,John Bowring,translated Lin Zexu's poems of exile into English with a liberal and pluralistic strategy,comprehensively introduced the great Chinese statesman and writer to the British by way of combining poetry and history,striving to achieve cultural communication through literary translation and correct Britain's national prejudice against China. By investigating the three literary translation cases involved in the Transaction,it can be seen that the translators of the colonial elite are not only intended to serve colonial governance and participate in Sinology dialogue and imperial intelligence,but also to objectively promote Hong Kong's colonial Sinology into the imperial academic network of the Royal Asiatic Society. In brief,the institutionalization of the knowledge production of literary translation published in the Society's periodical,combined with the translation strategies and Sinology pursuits of the colonial elite,led to a historical understanding of the spread of Chinese literature.
- Hong Kong,
- China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society,
- Colonial Sinology,
- Literary Translation,
- pragmatism

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References(53)

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