Yan Fu
Yan Fu | |
---|---|
President of Fudan University | |
In office 1906–1907 | |
Preceded by | Ma Xiangbo |
Succeeded by | Xia Jingguan |
Personal details | |
Born | Yan Chuanchu (嚴傳初) 8 January 1854 Yangqi Village, Republican China |
Alma mater | Royal Naval College, Greenwich |
Occupation | Military officer, newspaper editor, translator, writer |
Yan Fu (simplified Chinese: 严复; traditional Chinese: 嚴復; pinyin: Yán Fù; Wade–Giles: Yen² Fu⁴, IPA: [jɛ̌n.fû]; courtesy name: Ji Dao, 幾道; 8 January 1854 — 27 October 1921) was a Chinese military officer, newspaper editor, translator, and writer. He was most known for introducing western ideas to China in the late 19th century.[1]
Life
On January 8, 1854, Yan Fu was born in what is modern-day
After graduating with high honors in 1871, Yan Fu went on to spend the next five years at sea. He first served aboard the training ship Jianwei (建威) and later on the battlecruiser Yangwu (揚武). In 1877–79 he studied at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, England. During his years there, he became acquainted with China's first ambassador Guo Songtao, and despite their age difference and status gap developed a strong friendship. Benjamin Schwartz mentions in his biography that "they often spent whole days and nights discussing differences and similarities in Chinese and Western thought and political institutions".[2]
His return to China, however, did not bring him the immediate success he was hoping for. Though he was unable to pass the
It was not until after the Chinese defeat in the
Yan Fu served as an editor of the newspaper
He became a royalist and conservative who supported
On October 27, 1921, after returning to his home in Fuzhou only a year earlier to recuperate from his recurring asthma, Yan Fu died at the age of 67.
Translation theory
Yan stated in the preface
Though Yan Fu's classical prose did its best to meet the standards of "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance", there were those who criticized his works for not being accessible to the younger generations. In particular, a famous liberal from the May Fourth Movement, Cai Yuanpei, stated in an article written in 1924: "...[Yan Fu's translations]...seem to be old-fashioned and his literary style is difficult to comprehend, but the standard with which he selected books and the way he translated them are very admirable even today".[9] Other critiques of his work arose as Chinese scholars became more aware of Western learning.
Translated works
Yan Fu was one of the most influential scholars of his generation as he worked to introduce Western social, economic and political ideas to China. Previous translation efforts had been focused mainly on religion and technology. Yan Fu was also one of the first scholars to have personal experiences in Western culture, whereas many prior scholars were students in Japan who then translated Western works from Japanese to Chinese. Yan Fu also played an important role in the standardization of science terminology in China during his time serving as the Head of the State Terminology Bureau.
In 1895 he published Zhibao 直報, a Chinese newspaper founded in Tianjin by the German Constantin von Hannecken (1854-1925), which contains several of his most famous essays:
- Lun shi bian zhi ji 論世變之亟 (On the Speed of World Change)
- Yuan qiang 原強 (On the Origin of Strength)
- Pi Han 辟韓 (In Refutation of Han Yu)
- Jiuwang jue lun 救亡決論 (On our Salvation)
Later, from 1898 to 1909, Yan Fu went on to translate the following major works of Western liberal thought:
- Evolution and Ethics by Thomas Henry Huxley as Tianyan lun 天演論 (On Evolution) 1896-1898
- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith as Yuan fu 原富 (On Wealth) 1901
- The Study of Sociology by Herbert Spencer as Qunxue yiyan 群學肄言 (A Study of Sociology) 1903
- On Liberty by John Stuart Mill as Qunji quanjie lun 群己權界論 (On the Boundary between the Self and the Group) 1903
- A System of Logic by John Stuart Mill as Mule mingxue 穆勒名學 (Mill's Logic) 1903
- A History of Politics by Edward Jenks as Shehui tongquan 社會通詮 (A Full Account of Society) 1903
- The Spirit of Law by Montesquieu as Fayi 法意 (The Meaning of the Laws) 1904-1909
- Primer of Logic by William Stanley Jevons as Mingxue qianshuo 名學淺說 (An Outline of Logic) 1909
References
- Benjamin I. Schwartz (1964). In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- (in Chinese) Shen Suru 沈蘇儒 (1998). Lun Xin Da Ya: Yan Fu Fanyi Lilun Yanjiu (論信達雅:嚴復翻譯理論硏究 "On faithfulness, understandability and elegance: a study of Yan Fu's translation theory"). Beijing: Commercial Press.
- Wang, Frederic (2009). “The Relationship between Chinese Learning and Western Learning according to Yan Fu (1845-1921).” Knowledge and Society Today (Multiple Modernity Project) Lyon, France.
Notes
- S2CID 261749245.
- ^ Benjamin I. Schwartz (1964). In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Pg 29
- ^ Benjamin I. Schwartz (1964). In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the West. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Pg 32
- ^ Yan Fu. Britannica.com.
- ISSN 0161-9705, 07/1983, Volume 5, Issue 1/2, pp. 188–191 - Cited p. 189.
- ^ Lin, Xiaoqing Diana. Peking University: Chinese Scholarship and Intellectuals, 1898-1937. p. 41.
- ^ First Yan FU Academic Forum held at PKU. Peking University.
- ^ 嚴復. Wikisource. . (in Chinese) – via
- ^ Huang, Ko-wu (2003). "The Reception of Yan Fu in the Twentieth-Century China." University Press of America. 25-44
External links
- (in Chinese) Detailed biography and with related essays
- (in Chinese) Some of his works on-line Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine, including the translation of Evolution and Ethics