Encounter Between Languages: The Shaping Power of Translation

Translation has been a "catalyst" that effected political and social change in different countries. Yet, by the same token, translation can also be manipulated to subvert the source text and the authority of the original author. While many studies focus on the aspect of translation that typically involves a stronger culture manipulating the text of a weaker culture, this book presents two studies that demonstrate this is not confined to any single culture, either strong or weak, nor to a certain period of time in history. By drawing examples from translations between Chinese and English/ Japanese in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, this book calls for more studies of translation from a strong culture into a weak or unstable culture. Such studies would provide further evidence for the postulate discussed herein, namely, that the shaping force of translation is an inherent feature of translation that includes but also goes beyond the strong-weak cultural paradigm.

A case in point is Liang Qichao's translation and translingual practice. The late Qing period (1893 -1911) in China was a period of profound turmoil caused by an internal political and social crisis and the external threat of Western and Japanese powers. After the failure of the Hundred Days Reform (from June 11 to September 21, 1898), many Western ways of thinking were introduced to China from Japan. Liang Qichao (February 23, 1873 - January 19, 1929) was a central figure in bringing in new ideas and Western concepts through his translations of Japanese writings. Being one of the modern Chinese pioneers who was fully committed to learning from the West, Liang's thoughts on translations.