Translation, transmission and indigenization of Christianity in nineteenth-century China: south-to-north travel of the disguised San Zi Jing by Medhurst

Abstract

The Chinese traditional educational primer San Zi Jing (三字经) was immensely appreciated by Western missionaries, who frequently leveraged it to spur Chinese-language learning or to decipher Chinese thought. Walter Henry Medhurst (1796–1857), affiliated with the London Missionary Society (LMS), translated and reconstructed biblical scriptures into the format and style of the Chinese-language San Zi Jing, henceforth referred to as the “disguised San Zi Jing” in this article. The disguised San Zi Jing was initially published in Batavia in 1823 and reprinted in several locations, occasionally with minor modifications to its content. First, this study examines the complex qualities of the original San Zi Jing, which made it an ideal translation target, and the unique natures of the disguised San Zi Jing, which served as the ultimate translation product. Second, referencing Edward Said’s traveling theory, a diachronic investigation finds that the disguised San Zi Jing traveled in four stages, from Nanyang to Lingnan to Jiangnan and finally across Pan-China (more regions of China). Last, the article examines the indigenization process of the disguised San Zi Jing in space and content over time and analyzes the power dynamics underlying indigenization. The study contributes to translation history studies as well as studies of Christianity in China.