Chinese translation theory was born out of contact with vassal states during the Zhou Dynasty. It developed through translations of Buddhist scripture into Chinese. It is a response to the universals of the experience of translation and to the specifics of the experience of translating from specific source languages into Chinese. It also developed in the context of Chinese literary and intellectual tradition. Look up vassal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Zhou Dynasty (Chinese: 周朝; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: chou chao; 11th century BC to 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ...

Early texts contain various words for "interpreter" or "translator". The Classic of Rites, claims that there was one word for each direction. For example, the translators who had to translate for vassals of the north were called yi4 譯. It has been claimed that yi4 譯 became the sole word for "translator" because in the Han Dynasty and the period of disunion, most translation was with the north. Other words are "tongue person" 舌人 and "return tongue" 反舌. Classic of Rites The Classic of Rites (禮記 Lǐ Jì, or Liki) was one of the Five Classics of Confucianism; it described social forms, ancient rites, and court ceremonies. ... The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: 漢朝; Simplified Chinese: 汉朝; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Han Chau; 206 BC–AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ...

A Western Han work attributes a dialogue about translation to Confucius. Confucius advises a ruler who wishes to learn foreign languages not to bother. Confucius tells the ruler to focus on governance and let the translators handle translation. The Han Dynasty (Traditional Chinese characters: 漢朝, Simplified Chinese characters: 汉朝, pinyin Hàncháo 202 BC - AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. ... Confucius (Chinese 孔夫子, transliterated Kong Fuzi or Kung-fu-tzu, literally Master Kong, traditionally September 28, 551 BCE–479 BCE) was a famous Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings deeply influenced East Asian life and thought. ...

The earliest bit of translation theory may be the phrase "names should follow their bearers, while things should follow China." In other words, names should be transliterated, while things should be translated by meaning.

In the late Qing Dynasty and the Republican Period, reformers such as Liang Qichao, Hu Shi and Zhou Zuoren began looking at translation practice and theory of the great translators in Chinese history. Portrait of Liang Qichao (Tung Wah News, 17 April 1901) Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啟超, Liáng Qǐchāo; Courtesy: Zhuoru, 卓如; Pseudonym: Rengong, 任公) (February 23, 1873–January 19, 1929) was a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) who inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and... Hu Shih (Simplified: 胡适, Traditional: 胡適, Pinyin: Hú Shì), (December 17, 1891-February 24, 1962) was a Chinese philosopher and essayist. ... Zhou Zuoren (Chinese: 周作人, Wade Giles: Chou Tso-jen) (1885-1967), political figure and well-known Chinese writer and brother of influential writer Lu Xun. ...

• Zhi Qian (3rd c. AD)

Zhi Qian (支謙)'s preface (序) is the first work whose purpose is to express an opinion about translation practice. The preface was included in a work of the Liang Dynasty. It recounts an historical anecdote of 224AD, at the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period. A party of Buddhist monks came to Wuchang. One of them, Zhu Jiangyan by name, was asked to translate some passage from scripture. He did so, in rough Chinese. When Zhi Qian questioned the lack of elegance, another monk, named Wei Qi (維衹), responded that the meaning of the Buddha should be translated simply, without loss, in an easy-to-understand manner: literary adornment is unnecessary. All present concurred and quoted two traditional maxims: Laozi's "beautiful words are untrue, true words are not beautiful" and Confucius's "speech cannot be fully recorded by writing, and speech cannot fully capture meaning". Zhi Qian (Ch:支谦). ... Liang Dynasty (also: Leung in Cantonese,) 梁朝 (502-557) was the third of Southern dynasties in China, followed by the Chen Dynasty. ... The Three Kingdoms in 262, on the eve of the conquest of Shu. ... Wuchang (Chinese: 武昌; pinyin: Wǔchāng) is one of the three towns, together with Hankou and Hanyang, which are included in modern day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, in China. ... Laozi (Chinese: 老子, Pinyin:LÇŽozǐ; also transliterated as Lao Tzu, Lao Tse, Laotze, and in others) is a major figure in Chinese philosophy whose historical existence is still being debated. ... Confucius (Chinese 孔夫子, transliterated Kong Fuzi or Kung-fu-tzu, literally Master Kong, traditionally September 28, 551 BCE–479 BCE) was a famous Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings deeply influenced East Asian life and thought. ...

Zhi Qian's own translations of Buddhist texts are elegant and literary, so the "direct translation" advocated in the anecdote is likely Wei Qi's position, not Zhi Qian's.

• Dao An (314-385AD)

Dao An focused on loss in translation. His theory is the Five Forms of Loss (五失本): Dao An (314-385AD) was a Buddhist monk of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, originating from what is now Hebei Province. ...

• 1) Changing the word order. Sanskrit word order is free with a tendency to SOV. Chinese is SVO.
• 2) Adding literary embellishment where the original is in plain style.
• 3) Eliminating repetitiveness in argumentation and panegyric (頌文).
• 4) Cutting the concluding summary section (義說).
• 5) Cutting the recapitulative material in introductory section.

Dao An criticized other translators for loss in translation, asking: how they would feel if a translator cut the boring bits out of classics like the Shi Jing or the Classic of History? Word order, in linguistic typology, refers to the order in which words appear in sentences across different languages. ... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम् ; pronunciation: ) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ... SOV is an acronym for several terms: SOV is used in linguistic typology, and stands for Subject Object Verb. ... SVO is an acronym for several terms: SVO denotes the sequence Subject Verb Object in Linguistic typology. ... ShÄ« JÄ«ng (Chinese: 詩經), translated variously as the Classic of Poetry, the Book of Songs or the Book of Odes, is the first major collection of Chinese poems. ... The Classic of History (書經/书经 Shū Jīng) is a collection of documents and speeches alleged to have been written by rulers and officials of the early Zhou period and before. ...

He also expanded upon the difficulty of translation, with his theory of the Three Difficulties (三不易):

• 1) Communicating the Dharma to a different audience from the one the Buddha addressed.
• 2) Translating the words of a saint.
• 3) Translating texts which have been painstakingly composed by generations of disciples.

• Kumarajiva (344-413AD)

Kumarajiva’s translation practice was to translate for meaning. The story goes that one day Kumarajiva criticized his disciple Sengrui for translating “heaven sees man, and man sees heaven” (天見人,人見天). Kumarajiva felt that “man and heaven connect, the two able to see each other” (人天交接,兩得相見) would be more idiomatic, though heaven sees man, man sees heaven is perfectly idiomatic. Dharma (Sanskrit धर्म) or Dhamma (Pāli) means Natural Law or Reality, and with respect to its significance for spirituality and religion might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. ... KumārajÄ«va (Mandarin Chinese 鳩摩羅什 Jiumoluoshi; also Kiu-kiu-lo, Kiu-mo-lo-che, Kiu-mo-to-tche-po, Tang-cheu) was a Kuchean Buddhist monk and scholar whose father was originally from an Indian noble family, and whose mother was a princess. ... KumārajÄ«va (Mandarin Chinese 鳩摩羅什 Jiumoluoshi; also Kiu-kiu-lo, Kiu-mo-lo-che, Kiu-mo-to-tche-po, Tang-cheu) was a Kuchean Buddhist monk and scholar whose father was originally from an Indian noble family, and whose mother was a princess. ...

In another tale, Kumarajiva discusses the problem of translating incantations at the end of sutras. In the original there is attention to aesthetics, but the sense of beauty and the literary form (dependent on the particularities of Sanskrit) are lost in translation. It is like chewing up rice and feeding it to people (嚼飯與人).

• Huiyuan (334-416AD)

Huiyuan's theory of translation is middling a positive sense. It is a synthesis that avoids extremes of elegant (文雅) and plain (質樸). With elegant translation, "the language goes beyond the meaning" (文過其意) of the original. With plain translation, "the thought surpasses the wording" (理勝其辭). To Huiyuan, "literary patterning should not harm to the meaning" (文不害意). A good translator should “strive to preserve the original” (務存其本). Huiyuan (334-417 B.C) was a Buddhist teacher who founded a monastery in Jianxi province and wrote the text ‘A Monk Does Not Bow Down Before A King’ (404B.C.). Huiyuan worked with monks, lay people, and even rulers to further Buddhist principles and Buddhist acceptance in China. ...

• Sengrui (371-438AD)

Sengrui investigated problems in translating the names of things. This is of course an important traditional concern whose locus classicus is the Confucian exhortation to “rectify names” (正名). This is not merely of academic concern to Sengrui, for poor translation imperils Buddhism. Sengrui was critical of his teacher Kumarajiva's casual approach to translating names, attributing it to Kumarajiva's lack of familiarity with the Chinese tradition of linking names to essences (名實). Sengrui (371-438AD) was born in what is now Henan. ... Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiā The School of the Scholars), sometimes translated as the School of Literati, is an East Asian ethical, religious and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ... KumārajÄ«va (Mandarin Chinese 鳩摩羅什 Jiumoluoshi; also Kiu-kiu-lo, Kiu-mo-lo-che, Kiu-mo-to-tche-po, Tang-cheu) was a Kuchean Buddhist monk and scholar whose father was originally from an Indian noble family, and whose mother was a princess. ...

• Sengyou (445-518AD)

Much of the early material of earlier translators was gathered by Sengyou and would have been lost but for him. Sengyou’s approach to translation resembles Huiyuan's, in that both saw good translation as the middle way between elegance and plainness. However, unlike Huiyuan Sengyou expressed admiration for Kumarajiva’s elegant translations. Sengyou (僧祐) 445-518AD was a southerner, hailing from Nanjing, then called Jiankang (建康). He became a monk at 14. ...

• Xuanzang (600-664AD)

Xuanzang’s theory is the Five Untranslatables (五種不翻), or five instances where one should transliterate: Xuanzang, Dunhuang cave, 9th century. ...

• 1) Secrets: Darani 陀羅尼, a Sanskrit mantra.
• 2) Polysemy: bhaga (as in the Bhagavad Gita) 薄伽, which means comfortable, flourishing, dignity, name, lucky, esteemed.
• 3) None in China: jambu tree 閻浮樹, which does not grow in China.
• 4) Deference to the past: the translation for anuttara-samyak-sambodhi is already established as Anouputi 阿耨菩提.
• 5) To inspire respect and righteousness: Prajna 般若 instead of “wisdom” (智慧).

• Daoxuan (596-667AD)

• Yan Fu (1898)

Yan Fu is famous for his theory of fidelity, clarity and elegance (信達雅), which some believe originated with Tytler. Yan Fu wrote that fidelity is difficult to begin with. Only once the translator has achieved fidelity and clarity should he attend to elegance. The obvious criticism of this theory is that it implies that inelegant originals should be translated elegantly. Clearly, if the style of the original is not elegant or refined, the style of the translation should not be elegant either. In Tibet, many Buddhists carve mantras into rocks as a form of devotion. ... Polysemy (from the Greek πολυσημεία = multiple meaning) is the capacity for a sign to have multiple meanings. ... Bhagavad Gīta भगवद्गीता, composed ca the fifth - second centuries BC, is part of the epic poem Mahabharata, located in the Bhisma-Parva chapters 23–40. ... Prajñā (Sanskrit; Pali: paññā; Tibetan: shes rab, Chinese: 般若, banruo) meaning wisdom, cognitive acuity; or know-how -- but especially the Buddhist wisdom that is based on a realization of dependent origination, not-self, emptiness, etc. ... Yan Fu (1853–1921) Yan Fu (Traditional Chinese:嚴復; courtesy name:幾道, Jidao) (December 10, 1853–October 27, 1921) was a Chinese scholar, most famous for introducing Western thoughts, including Darwins ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest, into China during the late 19th century. ... Alexander Fraser Tytler, lord Woodhouselee (October 15, 1747 - January 5, 1813) Scottish-born British lawyer and writer. ...

• Liang Qichao (1920)

Liang Qichao put these three qualities of a translation in the same order, fidelity first, then clarity, and only then elegance. Portrait of Liang Qichao (Tung Wah News, 17 April 1901) Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啟超, Liáng Qǐchāo; Courtesy: Zhuoru, 卓如; Pseudonym: Rengong, 任公) (February 23, 1873–January 19, 1929) was a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) who inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and...

• Lin Yutang (1933)

Lin Yutang stressed the responsibility of the translator to the original, to the reader, and to art. To fulfill this responsibility, the translator needs to meet standards of fidelity (忠實), smoothness (通順) and beauty. Lin Yutang, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Lin Yutang (林語堂, October 10, 1895 – March 26, 1976) was a Chinese writer whose original works and translations of classic Chinese texts became very popular in the West. ...

• Lu Xun (1935)

Lu Xun's most famous dictim relating to translation is "I'd rather be faithful than smooth" (寧信而不順). Lu Xun (Traditional: 魯迅; Simplified: 鲁迅; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lu Hsün) or Lu Hsün (Wade-Giles) (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), the pen name of Zhou Shuren (Traditional Chinese: 周樹人; Simplified Chinese: 周树人; pinyin: ), has been considered one of the most influential Chinese writers of the 20th century and the founder...

• Ai Siqi (1937)

Ai Siqi described the relationships between fidelity, clarity and elegance in terms of Western ontology, where clarity and elegance are to fidelity as qualities are to being. Ai Siqi (艾思奇) (1910–1966) was a Chinese philosopher and author. ... In philosophy, ontology (from the Greek , genitive : of being (part. ... Quality refers to the inherent or distinctive characteristics or properties of a person, object, process or other thing. ... A being, in the most general sense, is anything that is alive. ...

• Zhou Zuoren (1944)

Zhou Zuoren assigned weightings, 50% of translation is fidelity, 30% is clarity, and 20% elegance. Zhou Zuoren (Chinese: 周作人, Wade Giles: Chou Tso-jen) (1885-1967), political figure and well-known Chinese writer and brother of influential writer Lu Xun. ...

• Zhu Guangqian (1944)

Zhu Guangqian wrote that fidelity in translation is the root which you can strive to approach but never reach. This formulation perhaps invokes the traditional idea of returning to the root in Daoist philosophy. Zhu Guangqian 朱光潛 is the founder of the study of aesthetics in 20th c. ... For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ...

• Fu Lei (1951)

Fu Lei held that translation is like painting: what is essential is not formal resemblance but rather spiritual resemblance (神似). Fu Lei (å‚…é›·, 1908-1966). ...

• Qian Zhongshu (1964)

Qian Zhongshu wrote that the highest standard of translation is transformation (化, the power of transformation in nature): bodies are sloughed off, but the spirit (精神), appearance and manner (姿致) are the same as before (故我, the old me or the old self). Qian Zhongshu (November 21, 1910 – December 19, 1998) was a Chinese literary scholar, writer and polyglot, famous for his burning wit and formiddable erudition. ...

Source

• A History of Translation Theory in China (Chinese original by Chen Fukang 陳富康.中國譯學理論史搞.上海外語教育出版社)