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Chapter 13: The Chinese Translation History In Modern Age

钟义菲 Zhong Yifei，Hunan Normal University, China

Abstract

Since the middle of the 19th century, translation has gradually become a tool for people resolved to save the country from extinction. The spread of the large number of translation works has broadened the ways for the public, especially the intellectuals, to learn the west. In the meantime, it has also changed the social climate. The invasion of western civilization, translators' spontaneous development of translation activities and the passivity of national politics made Chinese society enter an important period of western learning translation, especially around the period of Opium War. The cause of translation in modern China coincided with the Chinese people's struggle against aggression. After the Opium War, China had to open the door. China had to end its isolation and began to face the outside world directly. However, the prolonged blockade made China lag behind the western world. Modern politics, economy, diplomacy and cultural activities are closely related to translation, which plays an indispensable role in history. The theme and source of the original translation often reflect the development trend of modern Chinese ideology and the direction of government policy. As for the nature and quantity of translation books in different periods, we can also see the motivation of translation books, the general trend of intellectual interests, and the impact of the dissemination in society. The time clue of this article is from the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement, briefly introducing the translation and the translator, emphasizing its emergence background and several important period of development, research and analysis of western culture reflected in translation  works in modem Chinese history, the change of Chinese people’s thoughts in translation and the influence of modern translation on Chinese society. This paper is divided into three chapters. The first chapter introduces the emergence, importance and main characteristics of modern translation works, then reviews the emergence of modem translation works, emphasizes their importance, and briefly introduces representative translation works. The second chapter introduces the background of translation works and translation climax stages of western books, studies the main characteristics and development trend of translation in each period. The third chapter studies the influence and performance of modern translation on people's ideology and social life through the description in translation works. This paper focuses on the development of modern translation, the important role of translation in Chinese history, and the specific impact of translation on modern society.

摘要

自19世纪中叶以来，翻译逐渐成为人们决心拯救国家免遭灭绝的工具。大量翻译作品的传播拓宽了公众，尤其是知识分子学习西方的途径。与此同时，它也改变了社会气候。西方文明的入侵、译者翻译活动的自发发展以及国家政治的被动，使中国社会进入了西学翻译的重要时期，尤其是鸦片战争前后。近代中国的翻译事业与中国人民反抗侵略的斗争不谋而合。鸦片战争后，中国不得不打开大门。中国不得不结束孤立，开始直接面对外部世界。然而，长期封锁使中国落后于西方世界。现代政治、经济、外交和文化活动都与翻译密切相关，翻译在历史上起着不可或缺的作用。原文的主题和来源往往反映了中国现代意识形态的发展趋势和政府政策的方向。至于不同时期翻译书籍的性质和数量，我们还可以看到翻译书籍的动机、知识兴趣的总体趋势以及在社会上传播的影响。本文的时间线索是从鸦片战争到五四运动，简要介绍了翻译和译者，强调了其产生背景和几个重要的发展时期，研究和分析了中国近代翻译作品中反映的西方文化，中国人翻译思想的变化以及现代翻译对中国社会的影响。本文共分为三章。第一章介绍了现代翻译作品的产生、重要性和主要特征，然后回顾了现代翻译作品的产生，强调了现代翻译作品的重要性，并简要介绍了具有代表性的翻译作品。第二章介绍了翻译作品的背景和西方书籍翻译的高潮阶段，研究了各个时期翻译的主要特点和发展趋势。第三章通过对翻译作品的描写，研究现代翻译对人们思想和社会生活的影响和表现。本文着重论述了现代翻译的发展，翻译在中国历史上的重要作用，以及翻译对现代社会的具体影响。

Key words

Modern Translation，Translation，Social Life，Ideology

Introduction

Around the middle of the 19th century, The Western invasion brought new knowledge. The Westernization Movement sent a large number of international students to study abroad and translated a large number of books for military purpose.The Qing government decayed, and was tired of the invasion of foreign enemies, the war repeatedly failed. After the Sino-Japanese War in 1894, faced with internal and external troubles, far-sighted people knew that they could not rely on the Qing government, so they devoted themselves to writing novels. Many people accepted and spread Western culture through translating books. The importance of translation was recognized by the development of journalism, media, and provident men influenced by the Western culture at that time. In this social context, people have criticized the corruption of government through literature and translation.

Modern China began in the Opium War in 1840. It was a special period in Chinese history. During this period, the Chinese were attacked by foreign guns, as well as by foreign culture and foreign education. Especially after the Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese people were greatly shocked psychologically, and people began to realize that the West was more advanced than China in political, economic, cultural and other aspects, which was providing a great opportunity for the introduction of translation literature. Translators at that time also hoped to translate the western advanced scientific knowledge to the Chinese people so that they could broaden their horizons and innovate their ideas. During the Reform Movement of 1898, Liang Qichao advocated publicizing political ideas by translating foreign political novels to transform the society. He believed that the incredible power of novels was "enough to dominate people's psychology and could change the society of one generation." Based on the translation of the novel, Liang Qichao gave the novel new significance and mission. He put forward the idea of improving the novel, with the famous ones such as The Beauty Adventures and The Fifteen Little Heroes, which promoted the process of novel revolution and the prosperity and development of the translating novels. Yan Fu translated works such as Heaven and Yuan Fu. His translation had a great influence at that time and was the most important enlightenment translation in China in the 20th century. In the translation of Heaven, Yan Fu proposed three difficulties: Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance. It was advocated by many literary writers at that time and used as the theoretical basis for their translation. The concept of "natural selection: the fittest to survive" conveyed in Yan Fu's Heaven woke people up from the dream of the heavenly world. There are more famous translation works such as Lin Shu’s The Lady of the Camellias, Black slaves call for heaven record and so on. It had an important influence on the change of people's concept. People are not limited to the traditional concept of marriage and love, and the concept of freedom and equality gradually spread. Under the prevalence of translation works, traditional values, such as emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, men being superior to women, gradually lost their status and were gradually replaced by new ideas.  （A 1981:741）

The paper mainly includes three chapters: First, modern translation works and the overview of translators. Second, the background and climax of modern translation works. Third, the impact of modern translation on social life. In the modern Chinese literary circle, there was a wave of translation in western books, and the translation activities of foreign works were unprecedentedly prosperous. The emergence of a large number of translation works has also caused a large influx of foreign cultural ideas. Under the translation of domestic scholars, the translators not only conveyed the literary nature of foreign works, but also expressed their translation purpose through translation language and techniques, and had a huge impact on Chinese social life at that time. Academia research is more aimed at the overview of modern translation works and its prosperity, but little research on its impact on national social life. This paper analyzes the wide variety of materials and works to detail the influence of modern translation on social life. （Lian 2009:93）

1. Modern Translation Work and Its Main Characteristics

1.1 The Emergence of Translation Works and Their Importance

The premise of the emergence of translation works is the introduction of western civilization. The spread of western culture in modern China can be traced back to the eve of the Opium War. The main translators are missionaries, who mainly introduce religious doctrine, and also bring western history and geography to China. They established schools, translated western books (such as the Bible), compiled magazines, wrote books and so on. It can be said that missionaries are the first wave of intermediaries communicating between Chinese and Western culture. Early missionaries in China, although for the purpose of conquest, tended to teach by words and deeds than coercion. However, considering China's closure at that time, the Chinese were not allowed to learn foreign languages. The missionaries have also made great efforts in communicating the Chinese and Western cultures. This also led to the introduction of western civilization at this stage and laid the foundation for the development of the modern translation and cultivated talents. The Opium War was an important period of western translation. The rise and fall of China is always closely related to the rise and fall of translation culture. As a special component of Chinese literature, the development of translation literature has always affected the process of Chinese literature and historical changes, especially the occurrence of modern Chinese translation literature, which has effectively promoted the transformation and development of Chinese literature and modern society. Modern translation, from its emergence to the development, is inseparable with China's social changes. Translation has promoted the change of people's ideas, enriched people's knowledge in many fields, and not only promoted the development of Chinese literature, but also played a certain positive role in the development of politics and Chinese society. （Guo 1979:126）

1.2 Representative Works of Modern Translations and Their Main Categories

The introduction of modern western literature made Lin Shu a famous literary translator. Many people will misunderstand The Lady of the Camellias as the first translation novel in modern China. But The Declaration has already begun to publish translation novels earlier. The first translation novel should be Xinxi Talk. According to Zou Zhenhuan, the most expensive translation of the Bible was the first version to enter the palace, the "royal version" of the late Qing Dynasty. The first modern Japanese novel translated into Chinese was The Beauty Adventure, translated by Liang Qichao, which opened the translation of the political novel in the late Qing Dynasty. At the same time, the Chinese translation books related to Japan was Ryukyu Geography. Tan Ruqian thought it as “the first Chinese translation of Japanese documents”. After translation into Chinese, the most influential translation is Yan Fu’s Heaven, Lin Shu’s The Lady of the Camellias, and Black Slaves Call for Heaven record translated by Wei Yi and Lin Shu. The three works had a great influence on Chinese society in different aspects. Thai new history can represent part of the translation works since modern times. It is widely spread into China though it doesn’t achieve any effect in the West. The book is considered by western scholars as the most boring residual history and a third-rate world history. In China, it sold more than one million copies, which is the most popular reading book in the Restoration period. It can be said that the social influence in different historical stages and social backgrounds can be different. The Law of the Duke of Nations theoretically defeated the ignorant idea of the Qing government. In addition, there are translations about life which popularized scientific knowledge in China and played a good role in the abolition of feudal superstition. Foreign Cookery in Chinese was the earliest Chinese translation of a relatively systematic introduction of western cooking methods in the process of introducing western food culture in China. In the aspects of medicine, there were books such as Tessi’s Personal Theory, Optical Disclosure and Cardiotherapy. The first sociological monograph of full-text translation in modern China was translated by Zhang Taiyan, which had an important influence on the progress of social cognition.（Feng 2012: 234-235）

1.3 Main Characteristics of Modern Translation Works

One is catering to the taste and ethics of the Chinese readers in order to obtain a wider popularity. Influenced by the social background of the late Qing Dynasty, most people who learned from the West were limited to intellectuals and politicians. In order to make the translation get more attention, the translator chose more accepted literary works for translation. This to some extent leads to the lack of extensive translation categories. In Introduction to Translation, the second chapter "Translation of Catholic Scholars between the Ming and Qing Dynasties" discussed the Catholic doctrine translation and scientific translation between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and pointed out that " at that time, translation sought more elegance, integrity and the willingness of Chinese officials and scholars to read. However, there are also some translators who try to keep the original meaning rather than deliberately satisfying the readers’ interests." On the other hand, it also confirms that the characteristics of translation was catering to readers at that time. （Zhang 2003:158）

The second is to use foreign novel translation as a tool for reform politics. After the failure of the Opium War, people with insight were eager to find good ways to save the country. The most direct and effective way is to learn western culture. In the process of learning western culture, the most convenient thing is to translate western works. However, hindered by language factors, the translation of monographs is far more difficult than the novels. Therefore, except for the few people who are proficient in foreign languages, most translators basically choose to take novels as the entry point to give personal political opinions and ideas to achieve the purpose of political improvement. Third, readers often take the translation of novels as a pastime, resulting in the flood of boring detective novels and romantic novels. Popular novels translations are enough while famous novels translations are rare. To cater to the market and earn publication costs, many translators translate foreign works for the purpose of making a profit. And after a few celebrities do not classify foreign translations, many translators will have a herd mentality. At the same time, due to the influence of domestic readers' literary taste, popular novels and simple literary works are more acceptable to them, so resulting in the flood of some novel categories. Fourth, the translation is not faithful. Influenced by traditional ideas, some phenomena in western works were not accepted by the Chinese at that time, and to avoid unnecessary trouble, the translator chose to omit part of the plot in the original, and could not completely express the original idea. In order to express his political position and views, the translator will fabricate the plot and comments not included in the original. For example, when Su Manshu translated Hugo's Bad World, he invented a character called Lauder, using him to satirize the corrupt stupidity of the Qing government. Secondly, the translator will change the narrative perspective and structure of the original, which is largely influenced by the traditional Chinese narrative style. For example, Liang Qichao used the serial structure when translating The Beauty Adventure.（Zhang 1934:42）

It is summarized as follows: excessive catering to readers and lack of independence; the monotonous type of translation with limitations; lack of translation proficiency and transmission of the idea; separation from the original work.

2. The Rise Background and Climax of Modern Translation Works

2.1 The Background of the Rise of Modern Translation

After the Opium War, the Qing government successively signed the Nanjing Treaty and the Humen Treaty, which made insightful people attempt to save modern China from abyss of suffering. In the face of an unprecedented crisis, a group of people began to search for the way to save the country, and every individual has put all his strength into the efforts to save the nation in danger. Modern China is faced with a more powerful opponent in all aspects. People with insight realize that they must break through the current situation of self-isolation and learn from the outside world. Learning from the West and imitating the West became an important strategy of saving the nation at that time. Chinese society has constantly updated the old mechanism, trying to get rid of the original closed and rigid political dilemma, starting to find a new development direction, from the learning of western skills to the study of western political and economic system, ideology and culture. To learn from the West and seek self-improvement, translation is first serve as a bridge of communication. Domestic people with insight can bring western works to China by translating them. After the failure of the Second Opium War, China was forced to sign the Treaty of Beijing. The national crisis became more and more serious, the national crisis further strengthened the Chinese people's thought of self-improvement, and the understanding of the outside world became more and more urgent. At the same time, due to the current situation, foreign language communication and diplomatic intercourse have become very urgent. In this environment, translation became indispensable in this era.

2.2 The Purpose of the Rise of Modern Translation

The 19th century was a period of complex economic situation and chaotic political situation. At this time, the demand for formal translators increased. However, in this period, translation was very sophisticated and had a great influence on the control authority of the government and exchanges between Chinese and foreign countries. In the Treaty of Beijing, Britain and France sent documents that are written in English and French to China. But considering that there was almost no translation talent in China at that time, the two sides agreed to attach Chinese version. But if there was any dispute, both English and French characters should be the authority. Then the Qing government had to start training translation talents, and the first batch of foreign language schools were established accordingly. The original motivation of The School of Combined Learning was quite related to the signing of the Sino-British Treaty, and the British authorities attached a Chinese translation within three years, aiming to allow the Chinese government to cultivate a number of qualified translators during this period, so the establishment of The School of Combined Learning was established in 1861. It was the first official foreign language school in the late Qing Dynasty with the purpose of cultivating foreign language translation talents. Foreigners were the teachers, training specialized foreign language translators. In order to become rich and train soldiers, China must learn from advanced western science and technology. To learn from advanced western technology, it is bound to remove the language barriers in the process of learning. Zeng Guofan once mentioned that translation must occupy the fundamental strategic position of westernization cause. It is easy to see that the purpose of translation is to learn the advanced western technology more efficiently and to achieve the purpose of saving the nation. The process of modernizing Chinese literature is, in a sense, the process of Chinese literature learning from the West and seeking innovation and change under the impact of western culture. （Shi 1983:216）

2.3 The Climax of Translation in the Western Book

2.3.1 From the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War

From the Opium War to the Sino-Japanese War, especially after the 1860s, with the rise of the westernization movement aimed at self-improvement and wealth, there was an upsurge in the translation of Western science and technology books. In the late Qing Dynasty, under the influence of opium smuggling, China and the UK exchanges are getting closer and closer. Until the Opium War broke out, the door of China was completely opened, and the Qing government had to face the outside world. Lin Zexu fought in the front line of the anti-smoking movement and the anti-British struggle from 1839 to 1840. He organized personnel to translate many books. In the monthly Macao, there are five volumes: on China, on tea, on smoking prohibition, on the use of military forces and on the feelings of foreigners in various countries. These materials are mainly translated from Guangzhou weekly, Guangzhou chronicle and etc. Lin Zexu never neglected to give up the work of organizing translation. Among Lin Zexu's translations, The Chronicles of Four Continents has the most far-reaching impact on Modern Chinese history. It is the first book in modern China to systematically introducing world geography and history. The translation of these books opened the eyes of the Chinese people and began to import Western learning in modern times, which is of great significance to the history of modern thought and culture. One of the most direct effects is that it has led to the emergence of a number of masters who compile and study foreign profiles. It indirectly led to the development of the style of study for practical use, and also had an important impact on the literary reform in history. Wei Yuan revised and supplemented The Records of the Four Continents. This book not only retained the characteristics of the west, but also sublimated in combination with the domestic reality, added many notes and political comments, and put forward many political propositions represented by "learning from the foreigners and mastering their skills to control the foreigners", which gathered huge ripples in the ideological circles at that time, and even spread to Japan, It also had an impact on Japan's Meiji Restoration. However, at this time, the work of Lin Zexu and Wei Yuan only played the role of foresight and did not form a huge social situation. The development of translation still needs new forces to promote. At this time, the Westernization school played such a role. （Zou 2008:57-58）

The Westernization Movement took place after the second Opium War and before the Sino-Japanese war. During this period, the Qing government experienced the impact of two Opium Wars. Facing the strong ships and guns of Western powers, it was in a difficult situation at home and abroad, and felt a profound crisis never seen in history. The Westernization school, divided from the feudal landlord class, had a certain understanding of the world situation. They advocate learning from western capitalist countries. The main figures of the Westernization school were Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and others. They held high positions in the Qing government. Compared with other ordinary officials, they were more deeply aware of the need to learn and introduce advanced military weapons and manufacturing technology from Western powers in order to maintain the ruling order of the feudal society and realize the stability of the regime of the Qing Dynasty. However, at that time, the Westernization school could only recognize the progress of Western skills and the strength of military strength. Their change Geng Chang's method was only limited to "learning from foreigners". Among them, the translation of foreign books became an important means to achieve the goal of learning from foreigners. （Wang 1987:23-24）

In 1862, due to the needs of diplomacy and Westernization Movement, Tongwen museum was established in Beijing to train translators. The Tongwen Library in Beijing regards translation and washing as an important activity. The Jiangnan manufacturing Bureau, founded in 1865, had a greater impact during this period. The two primary problems faced by Jiangnan manufacturing Bureau after its completion are technology and talents, and the key to solving these two problems is the translation of technical books. Therefore, it decided to "set up another school to learn translation", "it is planned to select intelligent disciples to study with the school when it is completed", "You don't have to fake a foreigner, you can also extend it and make it into a book." The books translated by the translators were mainly about natural science and applied technology, which played a positive role in introducing modern science and technology and promoting the development of productive forces, and became important teaching materials for people of insight at that time to understand the external world and update their knowledge structure. These books can be said to have cultivated the next batch of cultural newcomers, such as Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Zhang Taiyan and Cai Yuanpei and so on. （Zeng 1987:83）

During this period, the importance of translation has been paid some attention, and the government has begun to operate translation in an organized and planned way. At the same time, the translation activities of the church have also been strengthened. Missionaries played the role of cultural invaders in the process of foreign military aggression. At first, missionaries wanted to carry out cultural aggression in the sense of Christianity, but they were influenced by Chinese tradition The influence of culture was resisted by the Chinese people. So they turned to spread new western knowledge and Western civilization, set up institutions, run newspapers and translate books, and tried to open the gap of the Chinese people's thought, so as to achieve the purpose of cultural aggression control. But objectively speaking, they also played a role in spreading Western learning to a certain extent. The translation by foreign missionaries had a great impact on Chinese society. The Chinese people's own pure literary translation also began at this stage. However, the literary translation at this stage still lacks systematic theoretical guidance and positive social atmosphere.

2.3.2 After the Sino-Japanese War

After the Sino-Japanese War was defeated, the Westernization Movement was declared bankrupt, and China's current situation was at stake. People with lofty ideals learned from the failure of the Westernization Movement that reform is far from solving the problem. To make China embark on the road of independence, prosperity and strength, we must fundamentally learn from the West and change the feudal autocratic system. In order to comprehensively learn western learning, translation is the first thing at this time. Therefore, this is the moment The translation career of this period is very prosperous, which is very different from the translation characteristics of the previous era. First, the expansion of the field of translation. At this time, the focus of importing western learning turned to various fields of social science, and paid particular attention to the import of political and academic ideas. The eight famous works translated by Yan Fu were outstanding representatives of this period, which had a significant impact on the society of the Qing Dynasty. During this period, translation methods were widely used, that is, abridged translation and free translation of foreign works, which were understood by the translator At this time, a large number of social sciences have been introduced, which has greatly improved the ideological level of Chinese people and brought the political and cultural activities to a new stage. Secondly, the translation field has also been expanded. The previous translation work was limited to government-run institutions. After the Sino-Japanese War, the reformers stepped onto the historical stage, and the translation work has been included in the overall plan of the reform. The reformers created schools, ran newspapers and opened publishing houses, with the import of Western learning and the translation and introduction of Western books as the main activities. After the failure of the reform movement, the establishment of newspapers and publishing houses did not stop. At this time, China's translation industry began to gradually break away from the limited government-run and turn to the private sector, resulting in an unprecedented prosperity in the translation industry. In addition, the translation team has gradually expanded. The establishment of foreign language teaching has gradually increased the number of foreign students and personnel abroad. The emergence of more and more translation talents meets the development of the publishing industry and social needs at this time. More and more people who know foreign languages are engaged in translation. This period is also an era of a large number of translators. Not only Lin Shu and Yan Fu, but also Liang Qichao, Su Manshu, Zhou Guisheng, Wu Guangjian are all well-known. During this period, the level of translation was also greatly improved. In the early days, most of the translations were spoken by foreigners who knew a little Chinese, and then recorded and polished by Chinese. The level of translation was uneven. During this period, most translators were proficient in foreign languages, their Chinese level was also high, and the quality of translation improved greatly Great improvement.（Xiao 1984:23）

This stage is also a period of vigorous rise and unprecedented prosperity of novel translation. In the early modern times, novel translation was not paid much attention. The first foreign novel translated into China was translated by foreign missionaries and published by the church. It was The Pilgrim’s Progress by British writer John Buyan, and the translation was published in Xiamen in 1853. During this period, translation activities also had some defects. Due to the popularity of translation, although abridged translation and free translation made the translator more free to express his political ideas, it also caused the disadvantages of breaking away from the original works. The purpose of translation was not to introduce western literature, but to express the translator's own ideas as a political means. At the same time, translation theory was strongly advocated in this period and political utilitarianism have also been greatly strengthened.

2.3.3 Marked by the Rise of the New Culture Movement

After the revolution of 1911, people's political enthusiasm was obviously low. In terms of translation, few people paid attention to social, political and economic works, and the number of translated novels was significantly lower than that of creative novels. However, people's literary concept was gradually strengthened. During this period, many translators introduced foreign literature from a literary perspective, bringing a new atmosphere to the translation circle and the history of Chinese literature In the period of the new culture movement, the translator's political and literary ideas were significantly improved, which laid a good foundation for the third wave of Western Chinese book translation starting from the new culture movement.

During this period, first of all, the number of short stories was greatly increased. During this period, new translators preferred to translate short stories. For example, Hu Shi translated The Last Lesson and Zhou Zuoren also published several short translation novels in the magazine New youth. The short translation novels published during this period also included The Leisure Review of Customs translated by Lin Shu and Chen Jialin. At this stage, the translator chooses the original work carefully after fully understanding and studying the original author, and describes his own opinions and ideas in the preface and postscript. Unlike in the past, he arbitrarily cuts the original work to express his political ideas, most of them are serious and loyal to the original. During this period, script translation gradually prevailed, and poetry translation appeared a new atmosphere. German poetry began to receive attention, and vernacular poetry began to appear. A new generation of translation practitioners consciously linked the translation of foreign literature with the transformation of Chinese literature and the purpose of the new culture movement. Chinese literary translation and Chinese society have entered a new era. （Wang 1992:321-322）

3. The Influence of Modern Translation on Social Ideas

3.1 Appearance of the Concept of Marriage

The translation that made an important change in the concept of scholars in the late Qing Dynasty was The Legacy of the Camellia in Paris translated by Lin Shu. This book describes the ups and downs of the protagonist Mark fate and complex psychological feelings. After the Sino-Japanese War, Lin Shu joined the ranks of reformers. He took a more open attitude towards love, which made Lin's translated novels reflect some changes of the times to a certain extent, implying that modern marriage and love pay attention to color. In Lin Shu's concept, if women want to benefit from freedom of marriage, they must first receive good education, such as Qiu Zhilan as a chivalrous woman, the heroine Qiu Zhilan sneaked into the capital to avenge her father's murder. She met scholar LV Qiushi and fell in love at first sight. She took the initiative to give a keepsake while LV Qiushi was reading at night. Finally, with the help of the blind nun of Shuiyue nunnery, they got married. Qiu Zhilan pursued love independently and persevered, suggesting that women's sense of marriage and love had begun to change under the circumstances at that time, or the wind of free marriage and love has gradually risen. In Lin Shu's translated novels, Lin Shu points out the rigidity of the orders of parents and the words of matchmakers. He also advocates that women should maintain the beauty of temperament. In Lin Shu, women generally can consciously control their emotions, maintain a certain degree of reserve and gentleness in their behavior, and never do things carelessly. To a certain extent, this reflects the love aesthetics and love trend of the society at that time.（Hu 1916:474）

In the past, the novels of talented women and beauties in ancient China were a special kind of art to express the love concept of the citizen class. In Chinese novels of talented women and beauties, most of the talented people in the books were portrayed as the images of handsome, talented, elegant and noble, and not in line with the times. Second, the highest ideal commonly pursued by scholars at that time was "wedding night, golden list." The happy ending of joys and sorrows can satisfy people's aesthetic taste in the past. In The Legacy of the Camellia Woman in Paris, It depicts the heroine, who is loyal to her feelings and has a sense of morality, left because of Yameng's career future and family happiness. This self-sacrifice combined with tragic color made the people who have seen the story of talented people and beautiful women for a long time with an unprecedented freshness, which provided a new type of love aesthetics for the people at that time. （Chen 1990:213）

There are also relevant translation works such as Better Return published during the Meiji period, which is called "the milestone of the theme novel describing women's consciousness in the Meiji period", which describes the content of women's resistance to the oppression of old morality and ethics, and the dramatic work Doll's House, the heroine Nala breaks away from her originally happy family and realizes that she is a neglected individual value. Her home is just a doll's home. It can be inferred that Nora is not the only one. The concepts of marriage and love freedom and women's individual values conveyed in her works since modern times have gradually penetrated into the society, and people have begun to gradually recognize the importance of women’s rights. （Yuan 1989:178-181）

During the May 4th movement, The Troubles of Young Witt was strongly favored by young Chinese readers at that time for its crazy love passion, very dreamy action, rebellious and independent thought of the society and the protagonist's individualistic thinking method. This book was once regarded as the "Bible" by young men and women at that time As a general cultural phenomenon, the love between Witt and Lvdi made the young people talk about the freedom of marriage and love at that time and take the sacred love between men and women as the ideal. Witt easily reminded people of the talents in the love story at that time. Witt's lovelorn was expressed through strong sadness, which was the best comfort and inspiration for the young people who were eager to escape from the feudal cage at that time. It was a landmark translation that influenced modern Chinese society at that time.（Shi 1989:245）

3.2 The Emergence of the Concept of Freedom and Equality and the Changes and Manifestations of Social Values

Feminism is also one of the concepts of freedom and equality. Among the reformers after the failure of the Sino Japanese War of 1894-1895, Lin Shu was one of the first to advocate feminism. This was also mentioned in the previous section when describing the concept of marriage and love. The rise of women's concept of freedom of marriage and love has gradually spread, which implies that women pay attention to their own rights. From the novels translated by Lin Shu, Lin Shu's admiration for women's courage to pursue their love or rights shows that Lin supports and advocates women's rights. Xinxi Gossip deals with the values of money and the concept of social class. The novel expounds the role of money in Europe, which is unheard of by Chinese scholars. For example, the third volume of the novel describes that the British set up marriage halls, that is, intermediaries such as today's marriage agencies, many people who come to the museum are losers, hoping to cheat into marrying rich families, it describes that many people go to parties, but are driven by money worship in an attempt to cheat them into marrying rich people. At the same time, it also describes that money can make an old woman get a young husband, and the young husband aims at the old woman's rich family wealth. In the eyes of the Chinese people at that time, this was not in line with the code of ethics and could not be accepted.（Lu 1981:56）

Conclusion

In the transition period of modern China, the social function of translation played an important role, and the subversion was the most prominent in the social function of translation. At that time, China had experienced a long period of inaction towards western culture and regardless of the political and economic state of locking the country, resulting in China's ignorance of the West. However, at this time, the western world has not stopped the translation and introduction of Chinese culture through various channels Understanding. Asymmetric information exchange and translation make China in a passive position when communicating with the West. With the continuous entry of western new ideas and translation into China, values are constantly challenged, and even some extreme culturists try to subvert traditional Chinese culture and social values. The current situation requires China to make progress, and the current situation also forces China to make progress. In this period of mixed internal and external relations and political chaos, translation, as a communication tool, has always led Chinese people of insight in the exploration of saving the nation from subjugation and strengthening the country. （Zhang 1966:5-7）

The changes of modern history and the prominence of modern cultural view are greatly influenced by the input of Western learning. In modern Chinese society under the shock of Western learning civilization, translation makes western learning smoothly enter the Chinese people's political world, cultural undertakings and social life, but the overall westernization is absolutely impossible. In modern times, although Chinese traditional Confucianism has been criticized, even as a cultural pioneer The activists threw the target of political opinions, but middle school can't be reduced. Middle school is also the spiritual belief of Chinese unity since modern times. Lin Shu has always stressed that the traditional ethics revealed by Confucian culture has some eternal value and universal significance. The real Western civilization does not let us abandon middle school and completely replace it with Western learning, but let middle school be a traditional culture The social atmosphere under the coverage is more civilized.

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Written by--Zhong Yifei (talk) 13:50, 8 December 2021 (UTC)