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Translation and the History of Knowledge is an anthology honoring Professor Lawrence Wang-chi Wong’s contributions to translation studies and Chinese translation history. This volume comprises 14 articles by leading scholars from diverse disciplines, including translation studies, comparative literature, and East Asian studies, to examine the multifaceted role of translation in knowledge production and transmission. Spanning from the Jesuits’ cross-cultural communication in the 17th century to the translational efforts of sinologists and missionaries in the 20th century, these articles highlight not only the cultural mediation by Western and Chinese scholars but also the pivotal role of translation in shaping cultural ideas.
Price: $55.00
Pages: 500
Publisher: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
Imprint: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
Publication Date:
31 May 2026
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9789882374058
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
This rich collection impressively captures the multifaceted nature of translation as a vehicle for knowledge transmission and cultural exchange across centuries of Sino-Western interactions. It will undoubtedly become an essential resource for scholars of translation studies, Chinese history, and intercultural exchange—a rare and valuable contribution to our understanding of how knowledge traverses linguistic and cultural boundaries.
James St. André is Chairman and Professor of the Department of Translation, and Director of Centre for Translation Technology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Barbara Jiawei Li is Lecturer in the Department of Translation at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Barbara Jiawei Li is Lecturer in the Department of Translation at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Introduction
Chapter 1
Translating Jesuit Political Thought in Late Ming: The Writings of Alfonso Vagnone
Thierry Meynard
Chapter 2
Diplomacy and Powerplay: The Trilingual Juggling Act of Two Jesuits in the Treaty of Nerchinsk
Sophie Ling-chia Wei
Chapter 3
Intellectual Labor, Social Capital and Economic Power in Robert Morrison’s Social Network
James St. André
Chapter 4
“Imperishably Connected with China”: Responses to Sir George Thomas Staunton’s Memoirs of 1856, by His “Private Friends”
Caroline Stevenson
Chapter 5
Narrative Structure, Characterization, and the Re-invention of Chinese Short Story in Robert Kennaway Douglas’s Translation Anthology Chinese Stories
Lingjie Ji
Chapter 6
The Making of Arthur Waley
Tim Barrett
Chapter 7
The Chinese Translation by Zenoni Volpicelli, First Italian Consul in Hong Kong of the Sixteenth Chapter of Cesare Beccaria’s Dei delitti e delle pene (1764) and an Unknown Letter by Sun Yat-sen
Federico Masini
Chapter 8
Wu Jianren’s Hybrid Modernity: The Late Qing Intellectual Crisis as Reflected in The New Story of the Stone
Theodore D. Huters
Chapter 9
“Ave atque vale”: On Translated Texts, Fraternal Strife, and the Study of Literature
Michel Hockx
Chapter 10
“Whither the Chinese Stage?”: Yao Ke’s Translation of Traditional Chinese Opera
Barbara Jiawei Li
Chapter 11
Discovering “Historian” in Early China: Debates on Translating “Taishi gong” 太史公
Lily Li Li
Chapter 12
Translation and Interpretation: Chinese Struggles to Understand and Explain the Japanese Language
Joshua Fogel
Chapter 13
Changing Patterns of Reception of Ancient Texts
Susan Bassnett
Chapter 14
Historiography as History: China’s Tenacious Tributary System
Richard J. Smith
Bibliography of works by Lawrence Wang-chi Wong
Chapter 1
Translating Jesuit Political Thought in Late Ming: The Writings of Alfonso Vagnone
Thierry Meynard
Chapter 2
Diplomacy and Powerplay: The Trilingual Juggling Act of Two Jesuits in the Treaty of Nerchinsk
Sophie Ling-chia Wei
Chapter 3
Intellectual Labor, Social Capital and Economic Power in Robert Morrison’s Social Network
James St. André
Chapter 4
“Imperishably Connected with China”: Responses to Sir George Thomas Staunton’s Memoirs of 1856, by His “Private Friends”
Caroline Stevenson
Chapter 5
Narrative Structure, Characterization, and the Re-invention of Chinese Short Story in Robert Kennaway Douglas’s Translation Anthology Chinese Stories
Lingjie Ji
Chapter 6
The Making of Arthur Waley
Tim Barrett
Chapter 7
The Chinese Translation by Zenoni Volpicelli, First Italian Consul in Hong Kong of the Sixteenth Chapter of Cesare Beccaria’s Dei delitti e delle pene (1764) and an Unknown Letter by Sun Yat-sen
Federico Masini
Chapter 8
Wu Jianren’s Hybrid Modernity: The Late Qing Intellectual Crisis as Reflected in The New Story of the Stone
Theodore D. Huters
Chapter 9
“Ave atque vale”: On Translated Texts, Fraternal Strife, and the Study of Literature
Michel Hockx
Chapter 10
“Whither the Chinese Stage?”: Yao Ke’s Translation of Traditional Chinese Opera
Barbara Jiawei Li
Chapter 11
Discovering “Historian” in Early China: Debates on Translating “Taishi gong” 太史公
Lily Li Li
Chapter 12
Translation and Interpretation: Chinese Struggles to Understand and Explain the Japanese Language
Joshua Fogel
Chapter 13
Changing Patterns of Reception of Ancient Texts
Susan Bassnett
Chapter 14
Historiography as History: China’s Tenacious Tributary System
Richard J. Smith
Bibliography of works by Lawrence Wang-chi Wong