Since the return of Haitong, new learning has gradually flourished, and the overseas translation of academic books has become an important way for modern China to "import academic theories and recreate civilization" (Hu Shi dialect); However, translating and introducing foreign scholars' works on the history of China is not only conducive to academic prosperity and development, but also helps us to overcome some limitations brought by "being in this mountain" to some extent. However, there are many studies on the history of China abroad. Although there are many translations in the past decades (especially in the last 20 years), they can only "take a gourd ladle to drink". Therefore, the attitude and selection criteria of translation are actually the reflection of academic changes, even the overall changes of the times and society, which is worth studying. This paper does not intend to make a comprehensive survey of the fruitful achievements in the translation and introduction of overseas China's modern history research works in the past 50 years, let alone specific book reviews and introductions. I just want to make a preliminary study and overview of the main features of this translation in different periods, its main influence and significance on the study of China's modern history in China, and it is inevitable that there will be some omissions. Please correct me.

( 1)

1949 the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC) was not only a change of political power, but a profound and comprehensive change from the economic base and social structure to the superstructure, and Marxism-Leninism rose to the national ideology. The basic principle of Marxism holds that the economic base determines the superstructure, but the superstructure will in turn affect the economic base, so a comprehensive social change needs a brand-new ideology to correspond to it. "Academic" belongs to the superstructure, so it is imperative to "transform" the old academic. Because the understanding of China's modern history is of great significance to the China revolution, the Marxist school was relatively mature in the study of China's modern history during the revolutionary war when China's * * * production party seized power; However, among the intellectuals in the original colleges and universities, various non-Marxist schools have been dominant in this period. In this way, the former transforms the latter and criticizes the bourgeois academic trend of thought, which naturally becomes the central task in this field, and the translation and introduction of overseas China's modern history research works naturally cannot leave this central task.

For this purpose, almost all the overseas translations of China's works on modern history published at that time had a clear explanation. The preface to the translation of A History of Foreign Relations of the Chinese Empire states that the reason for translating this book is that the materials in this book are very useful, but the more important reason is that it has always been regarded as a classic by Chinese and foreign bourgeois scholars. Now don't forget that these fallacies have seriously poisoned China's ideological circle for a long time. It should be said that this book occupies a very important position in the works of colonial theory and should be read by anti-colonialists. (1) Danielle's Americans in East Asia, Wright's History of China's Tariff Evolution, Joseph's Diplomacy of Great Powers to China, Willoughby's Privileges and Interests of Outsiders in China, Bercovitz's China Pass translator and the preface or postscript of the British Foreign Office all solemnly stated this point without exception.

At that time, under the historical conditions, in terms of quantity, there were not many works on China's modern history translated and published overseas. However, from the perspective of academic research, most of the works translated in 1950s really represent the first-class level of foreign academic research, and the accuracy of book selection and the high quality of translated products are still admirable, which shows that translators have extraordinary vision, profound knowledge and serious attitude. For example, until now, The History of Foreign Relations of the Chinese Empire is still one of the most frequently cited works by domestic and foreign relations researchers. Generally speaking, the book Privileges and Interests of Outsiders in China has not been surpassed ... More importantly, when the times change, the academic nature of these translations is immediately revealed, which has laid a certain foundation for the rapid development of some related disciplines in the new era.

What is more noteworthy is that in the early 1950s, when the Soviet Union was "one-sided" and various disciplines competed to translate and publish the works of "Big Brother of the Soviet Union" as "textbooks" and regarded them as "models", the works on China's modern history were rarely translated and published, let alone regarded as "models". This also shows from one side that the Marxism-Leninism school in China was relatively mature at that time, and had basically formed its own theoretical system, framework and methods. There was no need to copy the "textbooks" of the Soviet Union in a hurry like many other disciplines.

With the change and development of the domestic political situation, the "class struggle" has intensified, and the analysis and criticism of foreign bourgeois scholars have also intensified. This kind of "translation and introduction" is more clearly referred to as "understanding the enemy's situation", "prospering without destroying capital" and "opposing imperialism and revisionism" How the Foreign Bourgeois Viewed the History of China —— Selected translations of the works of reactionary scholars in capitalist countries on the modern history of China (Vol. 1 2) and Foreign Bourgeois' Views on the Modern History of China are nearly1.2000 words, and the three countries which have had great influence since the end of 19, especially in recent decades, have been selected and translated. In the preface, the editor highly summarized the research on China by foreign bourgeois scholars in the past hundred years, severely criticized various viewpoints, and further explained the purpose of compilation: "We selected and translated these materials in order to understand the enemy's situation and provide negative teaching materials for the struggle to prosper without destroying capital. From these materials, we can further understand the true face of foreign bourgeois scholars in the field of academic thought, understand the criminal activities of imperialism poisoning the people of China through cultural aggression, thus inspiring our national pride and patriotism, actively participating in the struggle against imperialism and modern revisionism, eliminating the pernicious influence and influence of bourgeois historiography in the history circle of China from the struggle, expanding the scientific team of historiography, uniting all patriotic historians, and making joint efforts for building socialism and * * *. ②

During the ten-year "Cultural Revolution", especially in its later period, Russian and Soviet works on China's modern history suddenly blossomed in a deserted academic garden and were translated and published in large quantities. This "one flower alone" is entirely out of the need of the "anti-repair" struggle and the Sino-Soviet border conflict. The "Publication Notes" of the Chinese version of Modern History of China, edited by Tikhvinsky, wrote: "The author of this book has comprehensively and systematically forged the modern history of China by extremely despicable means" and "viciously slandered the great revolutionary struggle of the people of China and the correct Marxist-Leninist line of the China * * * production party". This 5,000-word "explanation" is full of words that are almost abusive, such as "shameless", "crazy attack" and "obeying the master's will". It is believed that the purpose of this book is to "deny Chairman Mao's series of scientific conclusions about China's modern history, deny Chairman Mao's correct line of Marxism-Leninism for the China revolution" and "turn China into a colony of Su Xiu's social imperialism". (3) The spirit of the times at that time can be said to be among them. However, there are many translations of frontier fortress works between China and Russia, because these translations are mainly materials and memoirs and are limited by the length of this article, so I won't go into details. However, these translations laid a solid foundation for the later study of the history of Sino-Russian relations.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that since 197 1 Sino-US relations began to thaw, Fei Zhengqing's representative work "America and China" has also been translated and published by the Commercial Press under the name of "for the relevant departments to criticize and refer to when studying Sino-US relations".

(2)

After the "Cultural Revolution", with the beginning of the new period of reform and opening up, academic circles began to recover after a long silence. Due to the long-term self-isolation, it is particularly necessary and urgent for academic circles to understand foreign academic research. This situation provides objective conditions for the prosperity and development of overseas translation of China's modern history research, and the earliest and most effective publication is The Study of Modern History in China Overseas, which was founded by the Institute of Modern History of China Academy of Social Sciences in early 1980.

In the inaugural issue, the editor of the journal clearly stated that its "purpose is to introduce foreign studies on China's modern history in time, understand the trends of foreign studies on China's modern history, and communicate academic exchanges between China and foreign countries". It is admitted that "in recent years, in the academic field of China's modern history, the research work abroad has developed rapidly" and "some issues that we have not yet involved have also been deeply studied abroad; From time to time, foreign countries put forward different opinions, discuss or argue about some viewpoints in the study of China's modern history. All these require us to know in time, so as to change the situation of closing our eyes, activate the academic atmosphere and promote the development of research work. " "The articles received mainly depend on whether there are new ideas, new materials or new progress, and whether the contents and opinions are correct or not is not necessarily required." ④ From "knowing the enemy's situation" and "negative teaching materials" to "communicating academic exchanges between China and foreign countries" and "discussing or arguing with each other on an equal footing", I have closed my eyes to admit that I have many shortcomings ... This change is enormous and fundamental. Although this "editor's words" is only over 400 words, it reflects the new spirit of the new era from one side, and also shows that the so-called new era is not empty talk, but great new changes have actually taken place in all aspects. It may be hard for future generations to imagine that this plain language is the most "ordinary" truth, but it is actually so "extraordinary" because it is so hard-won. This attitude can be said to be the representative of translation and introduction in the new period. From the first publication in 1980 to the year-end publication in 1995, 15 has published 27 series, with more than 40O translations and nearly 80O words. Among them, there are translations of papers from foreign academic journals and abstracts of works. The languages involved are Japanese, Russian, French, German and many other languages. They have introduced the relevant information of the outside world to domestic academic circles at a faster speed and in a more comprehensive way, and played an important role in academic research. However, due to various reasons, journals that are so important to academic development had to be closed a few years ago, and the academic community still regrets this. In addition, * * * sponsored by the Party History Research Office of the CPC Central Committee has published 42 issues from 1990 to 1996, which is also an important window to understand the academic development abroad.

In the past 20 years, there have been more and more translations and introductions, among which the most influential translations are:

China Modern History Translation Series published by China Social Sciences Publishing House from 1987. Frederic Wakeman, an American scholar, has published The Stranger at the Door-1839-1861Social Turbulence in South China and Kong Feili's 1796- 1864. Fei Weikai's Early Industrialization in China-Sheng Xuanhuai (1844- 19 16) and official enterprise; Chen Jinjiang's The Relationship between Modern Enterprises in the Late Qing Dynasty and official enterprise: Shi Jianya's Market and the Social Structure of Rural China; and British scholar Yang's British Policy towards China (65438+.

Among the "Series of Overseas China Studies" published by Jiangsu People's Publishing House from 65438 to 0988, there are China: Tradition and Change by American scholars Fei Zhengqing and reischauer, Modernization of China by rozman, and Revival of Hu Shi and China-Liberalism in China Revolution by Grider (19 17-66 Guo Yingying wrote "Scientism in Modern China Thought" (1900- 1950), Shi Huaci wrote "Seeking Prosperity: Yan Fu and the West", Ke Wen wrote "Between Tradition and Modernity: Wang Tao and the Reform in the Late Qing Dynasty", and Mozi wrote "Out of the Dilemma-The Evolution of Neo-Confucianism and China's Political Culture" North China electric power and national countryside190 o-1942; The Last Confucianism —— Liang Shuming's Dilemma with China's Modernization: Liang Qichao and the Transformation of China's Thought (1890- 1907) by Zhang Haozhu.

The May 4th Movement and Modern China published by Shaanxi People's Publishing House 1989 includes the May 4th Movement: Interpretation and Evaluation of Culture by Western scholars, China Intellectuals and the May 4th Legacy by American scholar Schwartz (Vera Schwarcz), China Intellectuals in Crisis by Zhang Hao and Modern China by Ji Wenxun.

There are countless other translations, which have considerable influence in different professional fields.

Generally speaking, there are Fei Zhengqing's History of China in the Late Qing Dynasty, Cambridge (two volumes) and Cambridge Republic of China (two volumes). In addition, Fei's "America and China" is constantly reprinted, Fei Zhengqing's Collected Works, The Great China Revolution (1800- 1985) and Autobiography of Fei Zhengqing and Fei Zhengqing. There are American scholar John Shi's Historical Perspective of China Revolution, Shi Jingqian's Tiananmen Square, Cowen's Discovery of History in China-The Rise of China's Centralism in the United States, and Japanese scholar Mizoguchi Yuzo's Study of China in Japan.

In terms of economic history, there are mainly American scholar Hao Yanping's Modern Business Revolution in China,19th Century China Compradors-A Bridge between East and West, Liu's Competition between British and American Shipping Forces in China (1862- 1874) and Japanese scholar's Modern East Asian Economic Development and World Market. American scholar Perkins wrote the development of agriculture in China-1368- 1968, Huang Zongzhi wrote the small-scale peasant economy and social changes in North China, the small-scale peasant families and rural development in the Yangtze River Delta, the over-densification and modernization of rural areas in China, and Yang Ge wrote the one hundred-year political and economic history of Shanghai (1.

Translation of political, military and social history mainly includes Reform and Revolution-Revolution of 1911 on the Two Lakes by American scholars, Aborted Revolution under the rule of China Kuomintang by Yi (1927- 1937), Civil War in China by Hu Sushan and Warlord Politics in China by Qi Xisheng (65438+). Coble Jr. wrote the chaebol in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and the National Government (1927- 1937), Powell wrote The Rise of China's Military Forces (1895- 19 12), and Shi Jianya wrote. Katu Nova, a Soviet scholar, wrote Galen in China, 1924- 1927, Cherie wrote The Northern Expedition of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army, and Jia et al. wrote The China Revolution and the Soviet Consultant, and the collection of essays * * * produced international and China revolution-papers by Soviet scholars.

The translation of the history of Sino-foreign relations mainly includes British diplomacy with China by British scholar Ji Nan (1880- 1885) and the abdication of the Qing Dynasty and the great powers by American scholar John Lee (1908- 19 12). Currie wrote Woodrow Wilson and the Far East Policy (1913-1921), and Tackman wrote about Stilwell and the American experience in China (191-/. Cole wrote gunboats and marines-U.S navy in China (1925- 1928), Scheler wrote American crusaders in China (1938- 1945), and Colin Wei wrote Chiang kai-shek's government and Nazi Germany. Kong Huarun wrote "American Response to China", Xie Weisi wrote "American Policy toward China" (1944- 1945), Japanese scholar Daosheng Fujimura wrote "Riqing War" and Soviet scholar borisov wrote "Sino-Soviet Relations".

In terms of ideological and cultural history, there are mainly American scholar bernal's Socialist Trend of Thought in China before 1907, Yu-sheng Lin's Crisis of China Consciousness-Fierce Anti-traditionalism during the May 4th Movement, Lutz's History of Christian University in China, Japanese scholar Shi Teng Huixiu's History of China People Studying in Japan, and French scholar Wei Qingxin's French missionary policy to China-trade freedom in the late Qing Dynasty.

American scholar Drake's Brief Introduction to Greeting Huan, Shi Fulin's Sun Yat-sen and the Origin of China Revolution, Xue's Huang Xing and China Revolution, McCormack's Zhang Zaibei, Japanese scholar Matsumoto's Zhang Xueliang, Soviet scholar primakov's Feng Yuxiang and the National Army, and British scholar's Mao Zedong. Meissner wrote Li Dazhao and the Origin of Marxism in China, Zhou Mingzhi wrote Hu Shi and China's Choice of Modern Intellectuals, and Voss wrote Ding Wenjiang-Science and China's New Culture.

The above is only a very rough bird's eye view, but it can be seen that the translation and introduction of overseas China's modern history research works have developed vigorously in the past 20 years, which has really played a role in "closing the eyes" and "communicating academic exchanges between China and foreign countries" and played an important role in promoting the academic activity and development of China's modern history during this period.

(3)

During this period, the translation and introduction of overseas China's modern history research works influenced and promoted domestic research in many ways. Of course, academic changes and the emergence of various new ideas have their deeper social and academic background and reasons, and this kind of "translation" is only one of the factors. However, because the task of this paper is only to analyze the function of this kind of "translation and introduction", it is not necessary to discuss other backgrounds and reasons in detail, so I urge readers not to think that the author thinks that all kinds of new ideas in the new period are entirely the result of this kind of "translation and introduction" external function; Similarly, it is not the task of this paper to analyze, study and judge all kinds of new ideas in detail. Therefore, this paper is limited to objectively discussing the influence and function of "translation and introduction" on various new viewpoints. Generally speaking, this influence has the following aspects:

In the study of China's modern history in the new period, an eye-catching and controversial point of view is to look at China's modern history from the perspective of modernization (the words "modernization" and "modernization" in this paper have the same meaning and are chosen according to the needs of writing), not just or mainly from the perspective of class struggle and national struggle. The Preface of China Studies Abroad clearly points out: "If Chinese civilization stands still, does not jump out of its own cultural circle, and thinks about itself through strong contrast, it will be difficult to find the entrance to its modern form". Most of the translated works in this series are exposed to the modernization of China from different angles and fields. For a long time, the model of "Western shock-China reaction" represented by Fei Zhengqing has been the dominant school in the study of modern history of China in the west. This model holds that "tradition" and "modernity" are opposites, and the motive force of China's modern history, especially its modernization history, comes entirely from external stimuli and challenges. Therefore, "what made China so great before19th century has just proved to be something that seriously hindered China's modernization and transformation". As a centralized country, China is famous for its independent political and cultural operation system and has not been challenged by foreign countries for a long time. However, as a result, "it was not until the challenge of modernization inevitably fell on its doorstep that we failed to understand the nature of this challenge", thus missing the opportunity of modernization. ⑤ It is from this angle that the new viewpoint discusses the reasons for the frustration of modernization from the aspects of politics, economy and culture in modern China. At the same time, it draws different conclusions about the "collision" of different (generalized) cultures caused by western aggression and the social changes in China caused by this "collision". In the theoretical framework of modernization, the Westernization Movement naturally became an important stage of "China's early industrialization", but the initial motivation of establishing Westernization was insignificant, which led to the formation of the research fever of Westernization Movement in the 1980s. Similarly, some researchers have made a more objective study of the economic situation during the Republic of China, especially before the Anti-Japanese War.

In recent years, China's "civil society", the relationship between the state and society, and the field of public affairs have been hot topics in American academic circles, and there have been heated debates. In recent years, China's related research, such as chambers of commerce, autonomous associations or organizations, local elites, public institutions and so on, has achieved fruitful results, which is obviously influenced and inspired by this. Even those who questioned and opposed the concept of "civil society" in modern China, their basic "theoretical resources" came from different viewpoints in American academic circles, and their influence was far-reaching.

Many researchers pay more attention to the role and significance of "comprador" and "concession" in the cultural exchange between the East and the West, mainly from the perspective of cultural conflict and complementarity between China and the West (in modern China, it was almost a one-way flow of western culture to China culture). Similarly, the positive role played by missionaries and missionary schools in the process of China's modernization, mainly spreading modern scientific and cultural knowledge, has also received more attention and attention in recent years. The relationship between culture and society, or the social significance behind culture, is a new academic viewpoint, method and ideological trend that has arisen in the West in recent years. The Origin and Culture, Power and Countryside of the Boxer Rebellion —— North China Countryside 1900- 1942 is the representative work of this new paradigm in the research field of China's modern history. The former made a regional analysis of the socio-economic structure of Shandong Province in the19th century, especially made a detailed study of the folk culture in northwest Shandong by using the method of cultural anthropology, such as social drama, storytelling, religion, temple fairs, fairs, martial arts traditions and the history of cultural conflicts between China and the West. On this basis, the author thinks that the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion is the result of the "interaction" between the social and economic structure and cultural traditions in northwest Shandong. The latter tried to break through the gap between history and sociology and put forward new concepts such as "cultural network of power" from the perspective of "mass culture". Taking the rural areas in North China as an example, this paper shows in detail how the state power permeates the bottom of society through various channels such as commercial groups, temple fairs, religions and myths. For example, the practical significance of Longwang Temple is to control the distribution of water resources, and the squire attaches importance to Guandi Temple. As the patron saint of the country and the protector of the place. These two books have had a great impact on domestic research in recent years, such as the relationship between traditional culture and the Boxer Movement, and the social and cultural significance and function of temple fairs have attracted researchers' attention.

In the study of the history of Sino-foreign relations, some researchers believe that the process of China being incorporated into the modern international system is of course the process of national sovereignty being violated and colonized, but it is also the process of modern China's "opening its eyes to the world" and breaking away from the "Huaxia Center", and the process of diplomatic modernization, that is, the emergence and development of modern diplomatic ideas and systems. The "history of aggression against China" decades ago was gradually replaced by a more neutral "history of Sino-foreign relations". Although we just changed our name, we can also see the academic changes, which shows that the "theoretical presupposition" of the research is consistent from ancient times to modern times.

In the study of ideological history, researchers began to pay attention to the original meaning of science, and the study of liberalism and its representative figures was more objective, reflecting the influence of translation and introduction. Enlightenment in China-Division of Knowledge and the Legacy of the May 4th Movement, the discussion on the relationship between "Enlightenment" and "Salvation" deeply inspired China's ideological and academic circles. Since the end of 1970s, the contradictory model of "tradition" and "modernity" in the study of China history in the United States has been gradually replaced by the new modernization theory, that is, "modernity" has developed from "tradition", and more attention should be paid to the inheritance and utilization of various traditional resources. The book Crisis of China's Consciousness during the May 4th Movement-Fierce Anti-traditionalism focuses more on the analysis of the negative impact of "fierce" and "comprehensive" anti-traditionalism in modern China, especially during the May 4th Movement. Under the background of the resurgence of "cultural craze" and "fierce anti-traditionalism" in the mid-to-late 1980s, the translation and publication of this book really attracted people's attention. The author may not have thought that it was actually the 1990s for various reasons.

In the study of characters, Sun Yat-sen and the Origin of the China Revolution closely combined Sun Yat-sen with the social environment, breaking through the previously derided "Sun-centered" framework. The book "Huang Xing and China Revolution" made a detailed study on the relationship between Huang Xing and the Revolution of 1911, which caused a useful discussion and promoted the in-depth research. Moreover, the above two books were first translated and published by the state, which was more eye-catching at that time. The book "Li Dazhao and the Origin of Marxism in China" deeply studies and analyzes the relationship between Li Dazhao's thoughts and populism, and inspires the research on the influence of populism on the thoughts of other leaders in China, which still causes heated debates. Compared with China's previous studies on figures mainly focused on political figures, foreign countries have always paid more attention to the study of "cultural figures", such as Liang Shuming, Ding Wenjiang, Qian Mu and Ye Hong. The translation and introduction of these monographs has played an obvious role in promoting domestic related research.

In a word, the translation and introduction of China's works in modern history overseas in the past 50 years, like the history of China people, has experienced a tortuous development process, and now it can be said that a hundred flowers are blooming. However, under this prosperity, there is still a hidden worry that cannot be ignored, that is, the quality of translation is declining, and some mistranslations actually play a misleading role. In the long run, people will doubt the accuracy of all "translations", which will eventually seriously damage the indispensable "translations" for academic development. Improving the quality of translation is an urgent task for translators. Of course, the challenge that every researcher has to face is how to really extract the essence from such diverse translations instead of blindly copying them. And this is more difficult and more important.

Precautions:

Thanks to Ms. Zeng for helping to collect some information during the writing of this article.

(1) Shao Xun-shan: Preface to Chinese Translation, translated by Ma Shizhu and Zhang Huiwen: History of Foreign Relations of the Chinese Empire, Volume/kloc-0, Joint Publishing Company of Life, Reading and Knowledge, Edition 1 957, Volume1- The second and third volumes of this book were translated by Zhang Huiwen and published by Life, Reading and Knowledge Joint Publishing Company 1958 and Commercial Press 1960 respectively.

(2) Preface: How Foreign Bourgeois Treat the History of China-Selected Translation of Modern History Works by China, a reactionary scholar in capitalist countries, compiled by the Information Compilation Group of the Institute of Modern History of China Academy of Sciences, Volume 1 961edition, Volume 10- 14.

(3) Notes on Publishing, edited by Tikhvinski, translated by the Department of History of Beijing Normal University, the Department of History of Peking University and the Russian Translation Group of Peking University: Volume I and Volume II of Modern History of Central South, life, reading and knowledge joint publishing company, 1974 edition, 1-6 pages.

(4) Editor's Note, A Study of Modern History of China Abroad, series 1, China Science Press, 198O edition.

⑤ [America] rozman, editor-in-chief, translated by the "Comparative Modernization" research group of the National Social Science Foundation: Modernization of China, Jiangsu People's Publishing House, 1988, p. 669.