Translation in the New Tide Journal (1919–1922) and the Canonization of May Fourth in the Early Republican Periodical Press

The project examines translation in the journal New Tide (1919-1922) and assesses its role in the canonization of May Fourth. The project explores translation in varied forms, which ranged from “obvious” translations of full or abbreviated texts, to “hidden” translations in fragmentary quotations, summary, citations, or notes. The project traces the sources of translations, compares sources to translations, and examines the usage of translation in the journal. The translation data reveal a process through which a range of foreign sources were appropriated through partial translation in the journal to establish an evolutionist, “new-versus-old” rhetoric, and in which translation had dual effects of criticizing – hence marginalizing – the journal’s concurrent traditional-minded Chinese intellectuals and of validating – hence canonizing – the central ideas of May Fourth, which were integral to what we know as Chinese modernity. These dynamics surrounding New Tide translation are discussed in a series of papers published in international conferences and journals in translation studies, Chinese studies and May Fourth studies, as well as in part of the PI’s monograph. The project has an open dataset (doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.7428434), where readers can navigate the translation data, including a network graph that connects translation in New Tide to their sources.

Funding Source: RGC - Early Career Scheme (ECS)