Rejuvenating China: The translation of Sir Henry Rider Haggard's juvenile literature by Lin Shu in late Imperial China

Abstract

Lin Shu (1852–1924) translated Sir Henry Rider Haggard's works in late Qing China (1644–1912) with a political purpose in mind. By contextualizing the translation background, analyzing the discourse created by Lin Shu at the para-translation level in his translations of Haggard's works and highlighting Lin's treatment of gender, this study argues that Lin Shu appropriated Haggard's work to refresh the national imagination of China by means of a new allegory – the juvenile boy. Lin Shu adopted a gender-inclusive Chinese term, shaonian, to denote the notion “juvenile”, following Liang Qichao (1873–1929), who was influenced by the impact of translated juvenile literature on the successful transformation of Meiji Japan (1868–1912) into a powerful modern state. Through his use of an ostensibly gender-neutral term in reference only to the young male protagonist, Lin Shu exploits and extends Haggard's colonialist politics into a discourse whose intention is to mobilize male Chinese readers to rejuvenate China.