A History of the Chinese Translation
1.1 The earliest translation in China
The convincing historical record of the earliest translation activities in China can be found in the Zhou Dynasty(周代) about 3000 years ago.
In the books《周礼》and 《礼记》，the record of the title of the translator is kept. The title of the earliest translator is called 象胥。
1.2 Translation in the Han Dynasty
Generally speaking, translation in Han Dynasty is mainly focused on that of Buddhist sutras.
Ma Zuyi‘s Division of Sutra Translation in China
According to Ma Zuyi, from the Han Dynasties to the Western Jin(A.D.148-316) is a period of starting the translation of the Buddhist scriptures. In fact, the enormous introduction of the Buddhist scriptures into China began in the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D.148) and the earliest translators are 安清and支娄迦谶. Besides, there are other translators such as 安玄, 严佛调, 朱士行，支谦，康僧会and 竺法护.
Characteristics of the translation in this time（公元148-316）:
A. Translation of the Buddhist scriptures is done for the purpose of meeting the needs of the then society. Although the then society simply regarded Buddhism as a kind of superstition, some preachers or missionaries took great interest in introducing it to the Chinese people. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the class contradictions became sharper and as a result there broke out an enormous peasants uprising of Huangjin. During this period of time Buddhism spread more quickly than ever as it could be used by different people for different purposes.
B.―质朴‖和―文丽‖两派争论。
这场争论，大概是发生在初译《法句经》的224年。在中国翻译史上关于信达雅的问题已被提出。质派用以支持自己论点的，不仅有佛经，而且有玄学依为经典的《老子》和《周易》，尤其是有玄学的―言不尽意。的课题。这场争论，―质派虽然在理论上获得胜利，但实际结果，却是由文派最后成书。(见任继愈―中国佛教史》第一卷．)。(转引自马租毅《中国翻译简史》p.24) C.Popularize Buddhism with the help of 玄学.主要代表人物有竺法护。
D. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Western Jin Dynasty, translation is usually done by interpret
ers, i.e. a foreign monk recited the scriptures, an interpreter interpreted them(叫传言或度语),and another person or several people took notes and put them into Chinese. The quality of the translation is dependent on the interpreter‘s work.
E. So far as the translation methods are concerned, the monks did translation with much admiration of the scriptures at the beginning of the introduction of the translation and they did it by literal translation as they lacked much knowledge about linguistics and other related disciplinary subjects.
1.3. Translation Between Han Dynasty and the End of Sui Dynasty
Translation in this period greatly meets the needs of the society as both the ruling class and the working people need religion which greatly promotes translation. In the then China, there are many wars and so much suffering among the working people. To many people, Buddhist scriptures can help them spiritually.
Important translators of this phase:
释道安（314-385
道安的―五失本‖ ―三不易‖之说pc133
释道安说：―不依国主，则法事难立‖ 。
鸠摩罗什（Kumarajiva，350-410）。
罗什在逍遥园译场（Translation Forum）开始译经，姚使沙门八百余人受制于罗什麾下，译经74部，384卷，现存只有39部，313卷。他通过近四百卷佛教典籍的传译和阐发，第一次把印度佛学按本来面目介绍过来，对六朝佛学的繁荣以及隋唐佛教诸宗的形成，都起了重要作用。 罗什译经过程是：先由罗什口译成汉语，讲出义旨，并拿旧译本来对照，经过详细讨论，
写成初稿，还要以―论‖证―经‖，再作修改。全书完成再经过总勘，确实首尾通畅，才作定本。其翻译特点是：1）译文质量高；2）侧重意译；3）文体难译（天竺辞体华美，译成汉语则美全失）；4）反对―格义‖译法（即以中国的玄学唯心主义的立场去理解佛经，因此常借用玄学名词来译佛学概念，―先旧格义，于理多违‖；创立佛教专用名词）；5）提倡译者署名，以负文责。Characteristics of the translation in this period:
A. Freelance translators became translators employed by the governmental officials or local authorities. It is associated with certain major projects—ideological and religious in nature—which often had the support of monarchs, aristocrats and institutions. Translation Forum
胡焕庸线
B. Proofreading is not dependent on a single version but several ones which result in the edition of catalogues.
C. Progress is made in terms of translation theories and techniques.
D. Translation of Buddhist scriptures served the interest of the ruling class and meets their demands of controlling the people and the society psychologically.
One sentence summary:
Translation is instrumental in the then Chinese society, for it starts by having itself associated with such project as promoting effective communication between nationalities, and meeting the needs of ideology and popularizing religion—which often had the support of monarchs, aristocrats and institutions.
Questions:
What are the names given by our ancestors to translation?
What is the point of view by Confucius on translating names?
What is the significance of 《法句经序》by支谦in translation studies?
What is your view on the argument of two schools (―文‖and ―质‖) about translation between? What are the features of the two phases of Sutra Translation in the then China?
1.4.China’s Translation from Tang Dynasty to Yuan Dynasty
1..4.1Translation practice in Tang Dynasty
The third phase of the translation of Buddhist scriptures(公元618-906)
This period is regarded as the climax of China‘s translation of Buddhist scriptures. (1)Translation of this period is associated with certain major projects—political, ideological and religious in nature—which often had the support of monarchs, aristocrats and institutions. It served the interest of the monarchs who adopted it to consolidate their power. (2)Buddhism developed in the Tang Dynasty and attracted the monarchs‘ attention. (3)The translators are most Chinese who knew both Chinese and Sanskrit and had good plans in terms of practice and by setting up translation forums. (4) Two of the four famous Buddhist scripture translators are in the Tang Dynasty. (5)The translation is better in fidelity than in the past.
1.4.
江泽惠2.Important translators in Tang Dynasty
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A.Xuan Zang(600-664) a great translator in Chinese history who made great contributions to the development of China‘s translation organization, practice and theory, translated 佛经75部，1335卷. Xuan Zang‘s five don‘ts (五不翻):
Xuan Zang also mad e contributions to the then China‘s translation forums because he classified translation work into 9 kinds: .
B.Yi Jing
蓝刀锋B.Yi Jing(义净,635-713) , translator in the Tang Dynasty，
Bu Kong(不空,705-774), translator in the Tang Dynasty，北印度婆罗门种，梵名阿日祛跋折罗，15岁拜金刚智为师，以后又参加译经，开元29年游遍五天竺，收罗各种经书等共5百部，共译密宗教典110部，共143卷。为人好巴结权贵，吝啬。
Characteristics of the third phase of sutra translation
The third phase of sutra translation showed a marked departure from previous practices in that the processes of theological explication and translation became separated .The size of Translation Forums was reduced dramatically –normally no more than three dozen monks were involved. This is true of all forums held from the late sixth century onwards, including those presided over by the most prolific monk-translator in Chinese history—Xuan Zang.
The third phase forums were highly selective: only monks or lay officials with special abilities were allowed to take part in; all except those directly involved in the translation work were forbidden to enter the forum premises.
1.4.3 Significance of Sutra Translation of the Three Phases
Sutra translation provided a fertile ground for the practice and discussion of different translation approaches. Generally speaking, translations produced in the first phase were word-for-word renderings adhering closely to source-language syntax.This was probably due not only to the lack of bilingual ability amongest the forum participants, but also due to a belief that the sacred words of the enlightened should not be tampered with. In addition to contorted target-language syntax, transliteration was used very liberally, with the result that the translations were fairly incomprehensible to anyone without a theological grounding.
任继愈The second phase saw a obvious swing towards what contemporary Chinese scholars call yiyi(liberal translation). Syntactic inversions were smoothed out according to target language usage, and the drafts were polished to give them a high literary quality.Kumarajiva was credited as a pioneer of this approach. In extreme case, the polishing might have gone too far, and there are extant discussions of how this affected the original message.
During the third phase, the approach to translation was to a great extent dominated by Xuan Zang, who had an excellent command of both Sanskrit and Chinese, and who advocated that attention should be given to style of the original text: literary polishing was not to be applied to simple and plain source texts. He also set down rules governing the use of transliteration, and these were adopted by many of his successors.
Influence of Sutra Translation on China and Chinese
1. The influence of the introduction of Buddhism:
On the Chinese philosophy and logic.
On reading fortune.
On the Chinese language.
On the Chinese language genre and style.
On the Chinese literary production.(cf.马祖毅：《中国翻译简史》pp.74-84)
2.1Translation in the Ming and the Qing Dynasties
According to Chen Fukang(p.56), the period ranging from the end of the Ming Dynasty to the beginning of the Qing Dynasty is the second period of Chinese translation in history whereas that before this is the first period. During the second period of time, translation not only focused on religious scriptures (mainly those of Christianity) but also showed a sign of shifting from only the sutra rendition to the translation of other subjects such as science and technology, political science and literature.
Translation in the Ming and the Qing Dynasties
In addition to the above translation activities, there were other types of translation in this period. The translation of the Islamic calendar which took place when Zhu Y uanzhang became emperor.
四夷馆, a translation enterprise established by the government for training diplomatic and translation personnel.
Missionaries and translation
The second wave of translation activities was also related to religious activities, in particular those of Jesuit missionaries who arrived in China in the late sixteenth century. The Jesuits, notably Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), decided that the best way to spread the gospels was to cultivate China‘s educated class. To this end, a large number of scientific works were translated into Chinese for circulation among scholars and government officials. Such works gained for the Jesuits a high respect from the government and the emperors, and as a result facilitated their missionary work.
Missionary translation activities started shortly after Ricci arrived in China in 1583 and continued into the late seventeenth century. The missionaries active in China during this period numbered at least 70, all of whom produced translations: some were direct translations, others were compilations based on existing Western works. Of 300-plus titles produced by the missionaries, over a third dealt with various branches of science.
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