Source of this article: Shanghai Translation, No. 1, 2006
Transferred from: Shanghai American Studies, Mingde Museum of History
After the 1860s, with the spread of the Western-style movement, Shanghai, as one of the treaty ports, continued to attract more and more foreigners to participate in cultural activities to spread Western learning. During this period, American missionaries poured into Shanghai, forming a trend. They forged ahead in the field of scientific and technological translation, forming a main force of modern Chinese scientific and technological translation, and writing a shining page in the history of American translation and Sino-US cultural exchanges.
Show promise
In the 1840s and 1860s, when almost all British missionaries in China were translated and published in Shanghai, most of the newcomers to the United States participated in scientific and technological translation in their personal capacities. The London Mission Press, the first missionary translation agency in China in the late Qing Dynasty, was founded in Shanghai in 1843 by the British missionary Walter Henry Medhurst (1796-1857). Although the main translators of the translation center were English clerics, and the translations published were mainly religious, the American missionary Tarleton Perry Crawford (1821-1902) compiled the Scientific Manual (Shanghai dialect, 1856 edition, 15 pages) in a creative way.
The American missionary Gao Di Pi came to Shanghai in the 1850s and invented a syllable script based on the Shanghai "native tone"
The Chinese and American Holy Class Book Establishment, originally founded in Macau in 1844, was later developed as the American Chinese Library and moved to Shanghai in 1860. Later, meihua bookstore replaced mohai library in Shanghai as a center for western translation and dissemination. Among the translators who worked in scientific and technological translation in the museum was Alvin Pierson Parker (1850-1924), who collaborated with Xie Honggen on a number of scientific and technological translations, including Lattice Matter (a textbook of natural science knowledge), Sygurgitation (calculus textbook), and Eight Lines of Preparation (a triangular textbook). At the same time, Mrs. Gao Di Pi compiled the Book of Making Foreign Rice (1866 edition, 29 pages) for the Meihua Bookstore, which introduced 268 kinds of Western cuisine and pastry, and was one of the few books in the late Qing Dynasty that introduced Western food.
Pick up the girder
From the late 1860s onwards, some Americans were not willing to play a secondary role in the Shanghai translation industry, but instead provoked sorghum in Shanghai translation and publishing institutions, and even founded their own publications to publish scientific and technological translations, a trend that continued until the end of the century.
Founded in Shanghai in 1868, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau Translation Hall became the main battlefield for American missionaries to carry out scientific and technological translation, and Young John Allen, who had a wealth of translations in the history and political history of the country, also made occasional achievements in science and technology, and his scientific and technological translation "Gezhi Enlightenment" was divided into four volumes: chemistry, geography, astronomy and natural history.
Lin Lezhi and Ma Gao temperature
Other translations worth mentioning in the field of scientific and technological translation include Daniel Jerome Macgowan (1814-1893) and Hua Xiangfang's Identification of Golden Stones (1871 edition), A Brief Interpretation of Geoscience (1873 edition); Carl T. Kreyer's (1839-1914) "Linjin Guan Zhi", "Krupp Cannon Theory", "Optics" (Zhao Yuanyi's writings, Drawings by Sha Ying and Cao Zhongxiu, Shen Shansheng Proofreading, 1876 edition), Two agronomic books of Methodist, "Theory of Agricultural Soil Quality" and "Agricultural Jinliang", three scientific books "Method of Taking Fire Oil", "Photographic Engraving Method", and "Radio Newspaper" (Fan Xiyong's writing).
On September 5, 1868, Lin Lezhi published The Chinese Church News, the first American Chinese weekly magazine in Shanghai, which opened up another frontier for American missionaries in scientific and technological translation. Although the journal was named "Church", it spread the truth of Western learning, and in just three years the content of the church was reduced to less than one-fifth.
Ding Yunliang and Jia John
At the same time, the newspaper facilitated the publication of scientific and technological translations by other American missionaries in Shanghai at that time, including William Alexander Parsons Martin's (1827-1916) "Introduction to Grid Objects" (serialized from no. 4 to No. 43, the original book was published by the Beijing Shi Tongwenguan, the content of which was published as a chemical part) and John Glasgow Kerr (1824-1901) compiled by John Glasgow Kerr (1824-1901) The Beginning of Chemistry (serial, one of the masterpieces of Chinese translations of Western chemistry books in the 1870s) and his "Self-Introduction to the Inner Medicine Expository Book".
Officially launched in Shanghai in February 1876 and sponsored by the Gezhi Compilation Society, the Gezhi Compilation (Monthly) was an authentic popular science magazine that later became an ideal primer for late Qing intellectuals to learn about Western studies. American missionaries who wrote for the journal's scientific and technological translation were Francis Lister Hawks Pott (1864-1947), and others. Bu's translation of "The Beginning of Geography" introduces the formation of the earth, geological structure, topography and landform, volcanic earthquakes, etc.
Bu Fangji, Di Cowen and Husse
In 1877, another major translation agency, the School and Textbook Series Committee, was founded in Shanghai. The book club made American missionaries useful in scientific translation, and Calvin Wilson Mateer (1836-1908) served as chairman of several of the book club's committees with great prestige. The puzzle book club published important scientific and technical translations of American missionaries: "Pen Math" and "Metaphysics Preparation" were both interpreted by Di Cowen and written by Zou Liwen; "Acoustic Disclosure", "Optical Revelation", and "Astronomical Revelation" were all interpreted by the American Presbyterian missionary Watson McMillan Hayes (1857-1944) and written by Zhu Baochen.
Founded in Shanghai in 1887, The Christian Literature Society of China, the largest translation and publishing institution for British and American missionaries in China, elected Lin Lezhi as its assistant and decided to resume publication as the organ of the Cantonese Society, which had been suspended for more than five years. American missionaries, including Lin Lezhi, translated almost exclusively political articles at the Broad Institute. It is worth mentioning that after the resumption of publication, the "Bulletin of all Nations" changed the religious propaganda journal into a comprehensive publication based on current affairs, and its special scientific knowledge category provided a platform for scientific and technological translation, in addition to publishing Scientific and Technological Translations such as "GezhiYuanLiu theory" and "On eclipse" translated by Lin Lezhi himself, it also published translations and introductions by other American missionaries in science and technology, medicine, etc., including Ding Yunliang's "Theory of Comets", Pan Shenwen's "Sketch of Comets", and Jia John's "Theory of Skin Diseases" and so on.
Internal and external dynamics
The reason why American missionaries were able to engage in Western translation, especially scientific and technological translation, based in Shanghai for a long time, and continued their scientific and technological translation activities until the end of the 19th century or even the beginning of the 20th century, has its profound internal and external motives.
Unique regional cultural advantages
Among the five cities of trade, Shanghai was not the first city to open to the outside world, but history finally chose Shanghai, and the missionaries also chose Shanghai. Shanghai is blessed with unique geographical advantages. Located in the Yangtze River Delta, almost located in the center of China, the traffic is in all directions, the operation of foreigners in Shanghai is smooth, coupled with the inclusiveness of Shanghainese and other characteristics, so that Shanghai has come to the fore, surpassing the other four, becoming a center for absorbing more and more foreigners to spread Western learning.
The Bund in 1928
The U.S. overseas missionary movement is in the ascendant
After the signing of the Treaty of Wangxia in 1844, as the advance team of the United States' foreign expansion operations, the American Christian Church was more active in developing toward China. By 1855, of the 30 missionaries in Shanghai, there were 21 Americans and 9 British. In 1858, there were only 81 Protestant missionaries in China, and by 1889 there were 1296, of which 513 were American missionaries, second only to the British 724. Although the number of American missionaries in China ranks second, its own increase in proportion is considerable. Around 1890, a wave of religious propaganda began to be set off in the United States, providing a steady stream of reserve talents for American missionaries in Shanghai to engage in scientific and technological translation activities.
The foreign affairs movement continued to deepen
After the Opium War, the foreign affairs movement initiated by people of insight in China obviously played a positive role in promoting the missionary cause. The development of modern industry was imminent, however, Chinese at that time, the industry was facing the reality of starting from scratch, and it was extremely necessary to recruit talents and translate Western books, so opening a translation center became a top priority. On the other hand, in the face of the difficulties encountered by the mission, American missionaries felt that the form of "indirect preaching", that is, the activities of journalism, publishing, and translating books, were a good strategy. As a result, Shanghai became a hot spot for American missionaries to use their scientific and technological translation skills in Shanghai.
Outstanding contribution
The scientific and technological translation of American missionaries in Shanghai had a great influence in late Qing China, so strong that it lasted for a long time, comparable to that of missionaries in other countries. Their translations further laid the foundation for Shanghai as a chinese western learning dissemination center and translation center.
Achievements in Shanghai, radiation to the whole country
American missionaries in Shanghai have laid a solid objective foundation for the enduring translation of science and technology in Shanghai. It is manifested in three aspects: First, it has successively assumed the heavy responsibility of translation and publishing institutions in Shanghai and has become the mainstay. Second, it has absorbed more and more American missionaries to devote themselves to the cause of scientific and technological translation in Shanghai. Third, their scientific and technological translation works are not limited to publication in Shanghai, but are also distributed throughout the country and widely adopted. People of insight in China have been diligent in translating their classic scientific and technological works.
A model of the combination of translation and politics
The role of missionaries in the translation of the Western affairs movement—from passive to active, from unconscious to conscious—was particularly evident in the translation circles of Shanghai in the late Qing Dynasty. American missionaries objectively translated and published a number of Western natural science books that echoed the Western affairs movement, and played a role in promoting China's scientific progress and Sino-foreign scientific and technological cultural exchanges.
Chinese and foreign translators took a group photo to commemorate the occasion. Fifth from the left is Di Cowan
Pioneering and innovating, filling in the gaps
The translations of American missionaries in Shanghai have pioneered the application of science and technology in several fields. For example, Decovin's Mathematics of Pen Calculation first used Arabic numerals, the addition and subtraction symbols +-, numerators and denominators above and below the score line in China. Although there are very few medical translations published in Shanghai, they not only provide a theoretical basis for the implementation of medical practice by the Boji Medical Bureau he founded, but also fill the gap in the history of Chinese and Western medicine, have an enlightening effect on traditional Chinese medicine, and provide a solid foundation for the later integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
Enrich the vocabulary of translation and lay the theoretical foundation
For example, While compiling textbooks, Decovin did a lot of work sorting out noun terms. In 1904, he published his own Dictionary of Chinese-English Comparative Terms, aiming to unify the standards for the translation of scientific and technological translation names. The dictionary contains more than 12,000 entries, and its scientific and technical vocabulary covers mechanics, acoustics, heat, optics, electricity, magnetism, crystallography and other aspects. This greatly avoids the chaotic situation of technological translation. Decovin made it clear that the translation and naming of scientific and technical terms must be short, easy to use, and accurately defined. All of these have practical reference significance for local translators who later engaged in translation theory research.
Promote the reform of education in modern China
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, both church schools and government-run schools opened science courses that were different from traditional schools. In the absence of readily available textbooks, translating Western scientific and technological works became the best way to compile textbooks. These translated textbooks are widely adopted by the new-style schools, which will inevitably impact the traditional content of conventional teaching, break the old pattern of traditional textbooks dominating the world, and disseminate advanced scientific and technological knowledge and humanistic concepts in the modern West. Many aspiring young students draw nourishment from it, expand their horizons, and learn how to look at the world.
Promote the enlightenment and establishment of natural sciences
According to scholars, in the 40 years from 1860 to 1900, 555 Western works were translated into Chinese published, of which 162 were natural sciences, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, medicine, etc.; 225 kinds of applied science, covering technology, mining, shipping and so on. Among these natural and applied science translations, the scientific and technological translations of missionaries in Shanghai and the United States occupy a place. Under the enlightenment and catalysis of Western scientific translation, various natural sciences have emerged in China one after another, thus initially forming a system of natural science in modern China.