Chinese Translation of Children's Literature: The Late Qing Dynasty (1898-1911)

Abstract

The Late Qing Dynasty (1898-1911) witnessed a great number of translated works of children’s literature from around the world. The present paper, under the guidance of polysysytem theory, attempts to give a synchronic study of the children’s literature translation in the Late Qing Dynasty by focusing on the network of relationship between FCLT and such systems as the canonized literature and the children’s literature in the Late Qing Dynasty. The authors of the paper hold that the change of social attitude towards children in the Late Qing Dynasty gave rise to the demand for the children’s literature and the Chinese children’s literature began to take shape, thus directly bringing about the translation of foreign children’s literature; that FCLT and the canonized literature in the Late Qing Dynasty bear a mutual influence on each other ; and that FCLT had promoted the advent of children’s literature composed by domestic scholars who modeled on the translations of foreign children’s literature. In this way, FCLT in the Late Qing Dynasty not only met the need of children’s literature in the society, but also enlightened the readers of the translations.