Professor Dong Xiaobo of the School of Foreign Chinese of Nanjing Normal University: Robert Morrison (1782-1834) was born on January 5, 1782 in the town of Morpers in northern England, and in 1804 was appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Church of London to go to China to carry out overseas missionary work. One of Morrison's goals in traveling to China was to compile a dictionary of Chinese. The compilation of the Chinese-English Dictionary began in 1808 and was the first Chinese-English-English-Chinese dictionary in China, and was later compiled as a guideline for the compilation of Chinese-English-English-Chinese dictionaries. When compiling the dictionary, Morrison insisted that to learn a national language well, it is necessary to understand the history, geography, religion, culture, philosophy, politics, customs, etiquette and other aspects of the nation, so the entire "Chinese-English Dictionary" is rich in Chinese history, culture, politics, religion, customs and other aspects, which can be called an encyclopedia of Chinese and Western culture.
Morrison devoted a great deal of ink and ink to the chinese religious and philosophical mechanisms of various sects in the Chinese-English Dictionary. The first word "one" in the Dictionary was expounded with the help of Taoist philosophy, he first pointed out that "the heavens are one, the earth is one, the Tao is one", and then quoted the "Tao Sheng one, one life two, two births three, three lives and all things" in the Tao Te Ching as an example sentence to illustrate the view that the "Tao" exists as the first material cause, and he also pointed out that the "Tao" in the eyes of Chinese is a state of extreme stillness or a completely static state, which is invisible and observable, and has no trace. Its essence is an initial force or principle that existed before the separation of heaven and earth.
Although Morrison's efforts to introduce Chinese culture to the West have a clear original intention of serving the colonial forces, the translation of the Chinese-English Dictionary has, to a certain extent, increased the export of Chinese culture to the outside world, enhanced the correct understanding of China in the Western world, promoted the acceptance and recognition of Chinese culture by foreign cultures, and reshaped China's international image.
Source: Guangming Daily