A history from below: Translators in the publication network of four magazines issued by the China Book Company, 1913–1923

ABSTRACT

The article offers a glimpse into the “history from below” of a population of previously uncharted Chinese translators, based on the data drawn from four magazines published between 1913 and 1923 by the China Book Company, an ordinary commercial publisher in Shanghai. Combining methods in historical studies, translation history and network studies with Gephi, the article registers the translators’ presences and connections in the magazines’ publication network that comprises the editors, contributors and their educational, professional, commercial and other social affiliations. The study interprets these presences and connections as a sign of the emergence of a writing public in the periodical press, and translation as a discursive mode of production that popularized the very act of publication in this historical setting. This understanding serves as an alternative to the current translation historiography of early twentieth century China that tends to selectively focalize the “great men” of worldly trends and events.

KEYWORDS:

• History from below
• translator history
• magazines
• China Book Company
• network studies
• Gephi

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The dataset cited in this paper is available via DOI:10.6084/m9.figshare.7380389.

Notes

1 The dataset, containing nine items, is available for download at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7380389.v1. Each item is provided with a separate hyperlink for direct access when cited in the paper as Item A-I. The items are:

• Item A contributed items.xlsx, a catalogue of all contributed articles in the magazines, with translations marked;

• Item B dataspreadsheet.xlsx, a record of bibliographical information of the contributors and their affiliations as seen in print, with translators marked;

• Item C records of translators.xlsx, an extract from Item A and B, containing all translators’ names, titles of translated works, and each translator’s translation:publication ratio;

• Item D China Book graph.gephi, a Gephi network graph of the publication network of the four magazines of the China Book Company;

• Item E China Book graph.pdf and Item F China Book graph in grey.pdf, two visual outputs of Item D, with areas marked for the discussion in the paper;

• Item G issue dates.docx, a list of the publication date/year of each magazine issue;

• Item H translators with affiliations.docx, a list of publication records of the translators with external affiliations; and

• Item I explanatory notes.pdf, a document on the rationale of data collection and clean-up.

2 The English titles of The Pastime and The Saturday were printed on the magazine covers. Ladies’ World and Fragrance are my literal translations of the other two Chinese titles, of which there were no official translations. I use the English titles throughout the paper.

3 The library catalogues at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Shanghai Library and the National Library of China showed 39 existing titles published by China Book in the period 1911–1913 (three in 1911, seven in 1912, and 29 in 1913; accessed May 17, 2019). These include 15 reprinted classics, mainly of the Qing poet and essayist Yuan Mei (1716–1792), seven dictionaries, four reference books, four fictional works, five collections of historical anecdotes (including one translation), two collections of essays and two periodicals.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Faculty of Arts, Chinese University of Hong Kong  under Direct Grant for Research 2016–2017 (project code: 4051087).

Notes on contributors

Michelle Jia Ye

Michelle Jia YE is Assistant Professor at the Department of Translation at CUHK and Associate Director of CUHK–Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Asia-Pacific Centre for Chinese studies. Her research focuses on translation in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Chinese periodicals, intersecting translation studies, periodical studies, history of knowledge and digital humanities. She is a published translator of popular social science books.