Mapping the Translators’ Network of the Shanghai Publisher Chung–hua Library (1912–1920s)

The project offers a historical study of Chung-hua Library, a major publisher in early Republican Shanghai. The Library has so far received little attention in existing scholarship, and it is often associated with the traditional literary circles collectively known as the Mandarin Ducks and Butterflies School. The project aims to challenge the “old-fashioned” and somewhat “backward” connotation of this association, with an analysis of the social network of a group of key members of the Library: the translators. The project first reconstructs the Library’s publishing repertoire and activities, showing that it was an active publisher of translated literature, with its own in-house translation department. It also illustrates that translation was a key element in the Library’s best-selling literary magazines, including The Pastime (1913-1915), Woman’s World (1914-1915), The Glamour (1914-1915) and The Saturday (1914-1916; 1921-1923). Proceeding from these observations, and based on the bibliographical records of the Library and the contents of these magazines, the project compiles indexes of the translators, contributors, editors, periodicals and institutions associated with the Library. The indexes are then processed in data visualization tools such as Gephi to map the social network radiating from the translators. The mapping is expected to reveal complex connections of the translators with literary societies, educators, industrial entrepreneurs, government officials and women’s right activists in early Republican Shanghai. Incorporating textual analysis of their translations, the project defines translators in Chung-hua Library as social connectors of modernizers in early Republican China, and reinterprets the position of the Library in this historical period.

Funding Source: HK Others - Departmental Research Fund^^