章士钊设立国立编译馆始末考述

Zhang Shizhao's Attempt to Set Up the National Institute for Compilation and Translation

1925年,章士钊在学潮愈演愈烈之际就任教育总长,着手进行教育改革。章士钊以教育部编审处为基础,借鉴同为政学系的彭允彝、李根源诸人的办法主张,先在教育部下筹设编译馆,同时进行审查教科用书和编译学术著作的工作。不久,鉴于该馆无法同时兼顾两项职能,于是章士钊转换思路,重新设制,创立所谓“国立编译馆”,专门负责编译学术书籍的工作。章士钊的本意在于设立一个超然于政治风波之外的官办编译机构,以国家之名、用国家之力使用中文翻译外国学术书籍,提高研究著作的数量和质量,进而推动学术发展。但在内外时局的影响下,章士钊设立国立编译馆的尝试最终以失败告终。不过,此种尝试仍在近代官办编译机构的发展中居于承上启下的地位,并对后来的制度设计产生了深远的影响。

In 1925 while the student movement was intensifying,Zhang Shizhao was appointed the Minister of Education and began to carry out reform in education.Based on the Editorial Office of the Ministry of Education and drawing on the proposals of Peng Yunyi and Li Genyuan,both members of the Zhengxue Xi(Political Clique),Zhang Shizhao set up a bureau for compilation and translation in the framework of the Ministry of Education,while also undertaking the tasks of reviewing textbooks and compiling academic works.Soon after,as the bureau could not cope with those two tasks simultaneously,Zhang changed his mind,re-established the system and founded the National Institute for Compilation and Translation,which specialized in compiling and translating academic books.Zhang Shizhao's original intention was to set up a government-run compilation agency detached from the political turmoil which could translate academic books from foreign languages into Chinese in the name of the country,and to improve the quantity and quality of research works and further promote academic development.But under the influence of the internal and external situation,Zhang's attempt failed.However,this kind of attempt still plays a connecting role in the development of modern government-run compilation institutions in China and has a far-reaching impact on the subsequent system design.