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Li Shanlan's Achievements in Scientific Translation and His ISSN 1712-8358[Print] Cross-Cultural Communication ISSN 1923-6700[Online] Vol. 16, No. 1, 2020, pp. 46-56 www.cscanada.net DOI:10.3968/11549 www.cscanada.org Li Shanlan’s Achievements in Scientific Translation and His Contributions to the Modernization of Chinese Sciences WANG Jia [a]; LI Changbao [b] ,* [a] MA student, School of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, Hangzhou, China. INTRODUCTION [b] Ph.D., Professor, School of Foreign Languages, Zhejiang University of Li Shanlan (1811-1882), also known as Li Renshu, is Finance & Economics, Hangzhou, China. * an outstanding Chinese translator, scientist and educator Corresponding author. in the late Qing Dynasty, who was born in Zhejiang Received 2 December 2019; accepted 1 March 2020 Province and died in Beijing. Li Shanlan grew up from a Published online 26 March 2020 literary family and had received private education since childhood. Endowed with gift and flanked by diligence Abstract as well as patience, Li gradually excelled at mathematics Li Shanlan is a well-known translator, scientist and and astronomy that he can recite the articles he once read. educator in the late Qing Dynasty of China. He The preface to the translation of Euclid’s The Elements published 8 great translation works in his lifetime, (1857) reads: “When I was fifteen years old, I grasped totaling 104 volumes. Li’s translation works encompass the meaning and principle in the six volumes of the old many important fields of modern western sciences -- translation before thinking about the latter nine volumes mathematics, astronomy, mechanics and botany. His which, I think, must be more recondite. It is such a pity erudite knowledge, profound research, and far-sighted that former translators didn’t finish the whole work.” vista mark the translator somebody in the Chinese history. Sporadic descriptions show that Li Shanlan was eager This paper firstly discusses Li Shanlan’s specific scientific to learn advanced knowledge and stand as the proof of translations, and then analyzes and points out that his his determination to begin translating western books great contributions to the modernization of Chinese in the future. Li Shanlan translated a host of scientific sciences. The pioneer Li has not only disseminated masterworks throughout his life including the last nine western scientific knowledge and laid the foundation volumes of Jihe Yuanben (几何原本), eighteen volumes for the disciplinary knowledge system in China, but of Daiweiji Sheji (代微积拾级), thirteen volumes of has also cultivated a large number of talents to meet Daishuxue (代数学), eighteen volumes of Tantian (谈 the development and construction in modern Chinese 天), twenty volumes of Zhongxue (重学), three volumes sciences. Moreover, many scientific terms he translated of Yuanzhui Quxianshuo (圆锥曲线说) and eight and created are still in use today, consistently yielding a volumes of Zhiwuxue (植物学). It is worth mentioning positive effect on the contemporary Chinese sciences and that his translations, especially those over mathematics education. and astronomy, were widely recognized in the late Qing Key words: Li Shanlan; Scientific translation; Mod- Dynasty. Except for one unfinished translation Naiduan ernization of Chinese sciences Shuli (奈端数理), all the other translations were published in Shanghai Mohai Library and Jinling Publishing House, Wang, J., & Li, C. B. (2020). Li Shanlan’s Achievements in Scientific exerting influence widely in China and even overseas. Translation and His Contributions to the Modernization of Chinese Since the end of the 1970s, most studies on Li Shanlan Sciences. Cross-Cultural Communication, 16(1), 46-56. Available in the domestic academia have shed light on the following from: http//www.cscanada.net/index.php/ccc/article/view/11549 three aspects: (1) Studies on Li Shanlan and his co- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/11549 translators. Yu Yingji (2007) introduced Li Shanlan and his co-translator’s scientific translation works, holding that they could not be underestimated in terms of translation Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 46 WANG Jia; LI Changbao (2020). Cross-Cultural Communication, 16(1), 46-56 methods and the translation of modern scientific nouns; Sheji (Gao, 2014), Zhongxue (Nie, 2010) and Yuanzhui Wang Yusheng (1983) discussed Li Shanlan’s activities in Quxianshuo (Gao, 2018), all of which discussed in detail turn with sufficient historical materials in various periods, the times, features and publications of their translated and highly evaluated his translations as a contribution to versions, and their impact on later generations. Although the development of modern sciences and technology in the scholars have made in-depth researches on the above China; Du Xuefeng (2012) explored the co-translation three respects, the research on Li Shanlan’s achievements of Li Shanlan and his closest collaborator Alexander in scientific translation and his contributions to the Wylie, and pointed out that if without Li’s pioneering modernization of Chinese sciences is still insufficient and translations, the development of modern Chinese sciences relatively fragmented. For this reason, this paper attempts would be incomplete; Zhang Bisheng, Qu Anjing and to analyze Li Shanlan’s contributions to the scientific Yao Yuan (2017) also summarized Li Shanlan’s academic modernization of China by probing into his scientific translation achievements, highlighting that translators translation achievements. have their translation features such as scientific selection and collation, and emphasizing that Li is a master of both western studies and academic research; Wang Xiaoqin 1. LI SHANLAN’S ACHIEVEMENTS IN (1999) elaborated on the situation of Li Shanlan’s co- SCIENTIFIC TRANSLATION translator Wylie who stayed in China for more than 30 Li Shanlan devoted his whole life to scientific research, years and his translation of western scientific works in translation, writing and teaching. In terms of translating chronological order. Wang Liqun (2004) indicated that western books, he had a long-term and unique vision Li Shanlan and Wylie kept reversing western prejudice concerning the selection of original texts. Almost all the towards Chinese mathematics and served as a bridge translated western books, in their respective domains, are between Chinese and western cultures. (2) Studies on Li masterpieces, among which he introduced unremittingly Shanlan’s translation background and the influence of his the classics of western mathematics, astronomy, translation works. Li Guofa and Jiang Xian (2005) held mechanics and botany to the lingering China. Not only that Li Shanlan’s translation achievements in mathematics that, Li Shanlan’s many translations were the debuts in once again led the trend of translation and introduction the Chinese translation field at that time, laying a solid of western mathematics and other sciences; Zhang foundation for people in the late Qing Dynasty to acquaint Bisheng (2019) focused on analyzing the originality of Li modern western sciences, and also blazing a bright trail Shanlan in translating scientific terms and their impact on for future generations to further domestic sciences. education in the late Qing Dynasty, and as such affirmed Li’s educational achievements; Yan Chunyu and Li 1.1 The Only Translation Sequel to the Euclidean Weiwei (2015) explored the breakthrough of the concept Geometry Two Hundred Years Later of traditional Chinese mathematics in Daiweiji Sheji, and The Elements is a mathematical monograph of the ancient also pointed out the trait of mathematics in the late Qing Greek mathematician Euclid (330 BC-275 BC). It is also Dynasty: underlining practicality whereas overlooking viewed as a “melting pot” integrated with plane geometry, theories; Zhao Shuanlin (2017) introduced the translation solid geometry, theory of proportion and number theory background of Daishuxue and its terms, stressing that as well as the most widely circulated book in the West many mathematical terms still in use today had been besides the Bible. The Elements enjoys a high reputation shaped early in the late Qing Dynasty; Yu Xingyue (2015) because the book first established a deductive system demonstrated the translation Tantian on the basis of its using axiomatic methods, and has always been regarded reception in China in order to exemplify that the book as a model of rigorous thinking that must be followed. played a decisive role in the modernization of China’s The book’s introduction into China was not an easy astronomy; Guo Jianfu, Yongmei and Shao Wen (2017) story, and some theses (Zhang, 2000; Lan and Zhu, 2003) analyzed the positive effects of experimental applications showed that Euclid’s The Elements had been brought in in Zhongxue while pointing out that the localization the oriental country since the middle of the 13th century of western sciences by the late Qing scholars was not through the communication with Arabic arithmetic and conducive to the long-term scientific development in culture. During the Mongolian period, there were also China to a certain extent; Zhang He (2019) dissected Arabic translations of Euclid’s The Elements in Yuan the positive impact of Zhiwuxue on modern China and Dynasty (Li & Jiang, 2005, pp.52-55). More than three Japan as well as its significant role in the modernization centuries later, the scientist of Ming Dynasty Xu Guangqi of Japanese botany. (3) Studies on the contents of Li (1562-1633) and Italian missionary Matteo Ricci
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