Inventing the Barbarians:The Changing Contexts of Yi in the Late Qing Dynasty

This study analyzes how the meaning of yi(夷,barbarian)was constructed in different historical contexts at the end of the Qing dynasty,which is important for us to reconsider xenophobia and Sino-centrism both in the past and present.Our study combines contextual with intertextual reading methods.It places different materials,including missionaries’works,newspapers,and official documents,in their specific historical contexts and links them to obtain a full picture of this transformation.We argue that yi was invented.Various agents and actors created the connotation of yi to suit their interests.It was transformed by the Qing court from“barbarians”to those who follow Confucianism to justify their rule.Then it was first translated as“foreigners”and later as“barbarians”when Europeans came to China.Our study situates the meaning of yi to help us rethink some of the labels and misconceptions attached to yi and the early missionaries in China.

翻译理论文本机译词汇偏误分析——以Controlling the barbarians汉译选段为例

文章以Controlling the barbarians汉译为基础,通过与参考译文进行比较,对彩云小译、DeepL、谷歌这三种常用翻译软件的汉译进行偏误分析。翻译理论文本时,词汇翻译存在一定差异,一词多义现象始终存在于翻译实践中,而如何确定最恰当的词义是翻译难题。同时,通过机翻来辅助译文的完成已是常态,但机译仍存在诸多翻译漏洞,尤其是词汇方面。文章的研究目的首先是给相关软件开发者一些参考意见,方便软件后期的升级和维护,其次是给需要机译辅助的人员提供一些使用建议,在翻译实践中能避免翻译错误。

翻译与历史语境——“夷”字的语义沿革与英译问题

近年来由于郭实腊把"夷"字译为英语的barbarian而引发的争论呈一边倒的局面。论者普遍认为,郭实腊此译是故意"做手脚",刺激英国人的情绪。而实际情况应是,"夷"字意义的历史沿革和清朝的历史语境来看,清朝官员所用的"夷"字表达了对西方人的藐视和憎恨,因而译为英语的barbarian并没有错。

Stating Otherness Through Socio-Cultural Biases

Nowadays a well-defined idea of barbarians as the cause of the decline of an advanced civilization is widespread.This paper aims firstly to analyze the different meanings that the term barbarian has assumed in media outlets context in recent years,with emphasis on Italian political dimension.Secondly,it aims to examine if(and how much)it could be argued that,in these cases of manipulation,the sources of the late antique world have a crucial role in this kind of cultural biases.The comparative analysis of these two categories seems to reveal the reiteration of a stratified archive that,formed in ancient times and consolidated over time,maintains its main purpose:opposing the dominant social group(ingroup)and heterogeneous minorities(outgroups).So,what is the cultural operations that stay behind this approach?Is it possible to affirm that certain ideological identity archives are replicated over time applied to phenomena perceived as similar to each other,or would it be more correct to look at them as autonomous narratives?

迟到的帝国焦虑——论鸦片战争前“夷”字翻译中译者、文明话语与赞助人的互动

从鸦片战争前"夷"字的翻译史可以看出,翻译赞助人的种种现实目的对"夷"字翻译策略的选择影响最大,而欧洲的文明话语只不过被译者有选择地用来为翻译赞助人的需求服务。无论"夷"字被译为"foreigner"还是"barbarian",都无法成为深刻影响中英关系的"翻译事件"。

Military Degeneration and Decline of the Roman Empire

The cause of the decline of Roman Empire is a mystery to many historians of western civilization.Political and social weakness,or economic retroversion are conceived to be contributable factors.This issue,however,is approached here from the perspective of military degeneration,which closely relates to political anarchy,economic depression and barbarian invasions,and therefore,makes it for the most part convenient for the third-century Persian Sassanids and Germanic peoples to invade into the Empire,and wipes Romans out on the historical stage.

Rise and Fall of Civilizations

Civilizations rise and fall as they evolve.There have always been central civilizations and marginal civilizations, and civilizations that have had or are having a greater impact on world development are naturally regarded as central civilizations.The central civilizations are like the dignitaries. Civilization, even once an exclusive label, belongs only to those central civilizations. While the relatively marginal civilizations are only affixed with an unfriendly label---barbarian.However, there is no eternal nobility.In fact, human history is one where the central civilizations and marginal civilizations,or civilization and barbarian interact with each other and compete for the dominant position.

三菱L200 Barbarian SVP特别版官图发布

近日,三菱汽车宣布基于L200皮卡推出一款特别版车型——L200 Barbarian SVP,这款车的改变主要集中在外部配置方面,限量250辆。这款车依旧搭载2.4L涡轮增压柴油发动机,最大功率为180马力,峰值扭矩为430牛·米。

Between“Guandai”(冠带)and“Yidi”(夷狄):Sima Qian's National Consciousness

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty,the ethnic relations in China entered a new historical stage.Records of the Historian written during this period gives a basically factual account of the ethnic history in China since ancient epochs.It is the first specialized work on ethnic history.The national consciousness that Sima Qian presents in this work is distinctively different from the Confucian tradition,which draws a strict line between Hua(华,China)and Yi(夷,the barbarians).His attention on the commonality of the cultural genes between the farming peoples of the Central-Plains and the nomadic hunting peoples of the borderlands,his recognition of the integrated impact that multiple ethnic groups have on the rise and development of Huaxia(华夏,Chinese)civilization,his respect for"differences among barbarians of the four directions"(四夷各异),and his approval of the“merits of Hu attire”(胡服之功)are all embodiment of his liberal views.To explore the formation and development of the cultural community of the Chinese nation and to understand and interpret this historical process of ethnic integration,we should attach great importance to the positive significance of Sima Qian's national consciousness.

文化霸权下的修辞暴力——《中英天津条约》对“夷”的英译和禁用

1858年签订的《中英天津条约55第五十一款禁止中国用“夷”字指称英国人，条款中的“夷”英译为barbarian。“夷”内聚了华夏民族以自我为中心的“天下”观念，表征了封建朝贡体制下中国的世界观念。“夷”的英译，从19世纪早期的foreigner转变为barbarian，蕴含了西方对中国的世界观念的认知变化。西方殖民视域下，中国是与西方对立的“他者”，而“他者”即“劣等”、“野蛮”，barbarian成为西方排定世界秩序和文明等级的关键词。《中英天津条约》对“夷”的禁用是通过修辞暴力，改造中国原有的世界认知方式，以强权政治威逼中国屈从西方的世界观念，体现了殖民主义者的文化霸权。

The Politics of Translation in Intercultural Discourse Relationships:Translation of 龍/lung and 夷/i into English as a Case in Point

The translation equivalence between龍/lung and dragon as well as夷/i and barbarian embodies the way of discourse power competition between China and the United Kingdom of Great Britain with different discourse pedigrees and discourse systems.The translation equivalence between龍/lung and dragon was constructed by means of mutation and discourse rewriting,and the political implication and cultural value of龍/lung in Chinese context were ablated.The equivalence between夷/i and barbarian in the English context was established through the translation manipulation of the British,and the meaning of夷/i was separated from the Chinese historical context forcibly.The British operated discourse mutation on core Chinese political discourses via translation manipulation to weaken the subjectivity of China and bring China into the modem international discourse system dominated by the West,providing support for the expansion and colonization of British imperial discourse.This research provides reference for dealing with the cultural characteristics and universality,and the relationship between subject and object of discourse in the translation of contemporary Chinese discourse.