费正清“夷”字翻译的话语解读

Discourse Decoding of John King Fairbank's Translation of "夷"

1858年的中英《天津条约》规定将"夷"字翻译为barbarian,从此该字在汉语语境中的原来foreign的意义遭到驱逐,体现了英国对清政府施加的强权政治。近100年以后,费正清在书写中国历史时再次使用了这种翻译方式,反映了他思想深处根深蒂固的西方文化中心主义的集体无意识。

Sino-British ＂Treaty of Tianjin＂ of 1858 regulates that ＂夷＂ be translated into ＂barbarian＂,the original meaning ＂foreign＂ of this character in Chinese context has thus been expelled,which indicates the British hegemony imposed upon Qing Government.Nearly 100 years later,John King Fairbank still adopted this translation when writing Chinese history,which shows the collective unconciousness of Western cultural centralism deeply rooted in his mind.