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Translation and the Construction of Identity: Abstracts
Date: 12-14 August 2004
Venue: Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, Korea
Eva Hung The Chinese University of Hong Kong In the last 2000 years China has experienced two huge
translation movements which have brought fundamental changes to her culture.
Initiated by foreigners with an evangelical mission and a small number of
Chinese nationals keen on cultural transfer, these translation movements
gained momentum when the governments of the day began to give them support.
In each case this resulted in a conspicuous elevation of the status of the
translator. Yet this new status was not applicable to all translation
activities, just to work which had caught the eye of the government. This paper will examine the background that led to
prestige and material benefits being given to certain translators, whether
in the form of patronage or direct employment. Case studies will show that
such relationships were intimately linked to issues of authority and
control. More interestingly perhaps, they also mirrored the evolving
self-image of the host culture. The analysis will be based on the
interaction between translation patrons and the most influential sutra
translators, including Kumarajiva (344-416) and Xuan Zang (602-664), as well
as on the position of China’s foreign-language translators of the late-Qing
dynasty (19th to early 20th century) in the context of
a new world order.
Plenary Session
The Gilded Translator: Issues of Authority, Control and Cultural
Self-representation
© IATIS 2003