Translation: a Fundamental Diplomatic Bridge between China and the Arab World in Light of the GCI—Translating ‘Ibn Battuta’s Journey’ A Case Study

Abstract

This research paper examines the role of the Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI) on the connection between China and the Arab world, along with the challenges that both parties may face in its implementation. This paper demonstrates that cultural diplomacy, which has been and still is the core aspect of the relations between China and the Arab world, started since its inception. Moreover, it points out the roles of cultural mediation as a form of cultural diplomacy between the two parties, especially its present and future responsibilities in achieving cultural exchange between the Arab and Chinese civilisations, especially after the launch of the GCI. In this framework, translation will take on more duties, and will come as the most persuasive instance of the vitality of cultural translation and its function of rejuvenating cultural exchange and fostering the spirit of coexistence between the Chinese and the Arab side. The method of study carried out in this research is a descriptive analytical approach which would match the objectives of the study, and the paper concludes with the findings and future recommendations that it believes would contribute to the improvement of translation between the Arabic and Chinese languages in line with the GCI.

Keywords:

• Global Civilisation Initiative
• cultural diplomacy
• cultural translation
• ‘Ibn Battuta’s Journey’
• China
• the Arab world

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 I. Battuta, Ibn Battuta’s Travels (Beijing: Sino-Culture Press, 2015).

2 X. Chao, ‘Initiatives proposed by China, fruitful outcomes shared by world’, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Independent State of Samoa, (22 May 2023), available at: http://ws.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/xwdt/202305/t20230522_11081047.htm.

3 Xi Jinping, ‘Xi proposes Global Civilization Initiative’ speech presented at Beijing’, (15 March 2023), available at: https://english.www.gov.cn/news/topnews/202303/15/content_WS6411d42ac6d0f528699db528.html.

4 Ibid, p. 4.

5 G.K. Ahmed, ‘Reading on the Global Civilization Initiative’, Al-Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies, (2023).

6 R. Ellis, ‘The trouble with China’s global civilization initiative’, The Diplomat, (1 June 2023), available at: https://thediplomat.com/2023/06/the-trouble-with-chinas-global-civilization-initiative/.

7 F. Siddiqui, China and the Arab World: Past and Present (New Delhi: Indian Council of World Affair, 2022), p. 15.

8 W. Cieciura, ‘Bringing China and Islam Closer: the first Chinese Azharites’, Middle East Institute, (28 April 2015), available at: https://www.mei.edu/publications/bringing-china-and-islam-closer-first-chinese-azharites.

9 Ibid.

10 F. Siddiqui, China and the Arab World: Past and Present (New Delhi: Indian Council of World Affair, 2022), p. 14.

11 J. Ma and J. Wang, ‘Ma Jinpeng and the study of Chinese Islamic history’, China Muslims 5, (2021), pp. 73–78.

12 I. Battuta, Ibn Battuta’s Travels (Beijing: Sino-Culture Press, 2015).

13 L. Benabdallah, ‘China’s relations with Africa and the Arab World’, South African Institute of International Affairs, (1 November 2018), available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep25989?seq=1.

14 F. Siddiqui, China and the Arab World: Past and Present (New Delhi: Indian Council of World Affair, 2022), p. 14.

15 Ibid, p. 9.

16 J. Mo, ‘BRI deal boosts cooperation between China, Arab States’, China Daily, (7 December 2023), available at: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202312/07/WS65711f54a31090682a5f1dc5.html.

17 Z. Ali, ‘Saudi-Iran Deal: A test case of China’s role as an international mediator’, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, (23 June 2023), available at: https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2023/06/23/saudi-iran-deal-a-test-case-of-chinas-role-as-an-international-mediator/.

18 Xi Jinping, ‘Xi Jinping proposed ‘eight major common actions’ for China-Arab practical cooperation at the first China-Arab Summit’ speech presented at Riyadh’, (10 December 2022), available at: http://en.people.cn/n3/2022/1211/c90000-10182488.html.

19 Secretary General of the League of Arab States, ‘China’s support for the Arab world’, (2022).

20 M. Mohamad, ‘Arab-Chinese relations: contemporary challenges’, Center for Arab Unity Studies, (2018).

21 M. Hamchi, ‘The political economy of China-Arab relations: challenges and opportunities’, Contemporary Arab Affairs 10 (4), (2017), p. 584.

22 F. Siddiqui, China and the Arab World: Past and Present (New Delhi: Indian Council of World Affair, 2022), p. 51.

23 M. Hamchi, ‘The political economy of China-Arab relations: challenges and opportunities’, Contemporary Arab Affairs 10(4), (2017).

24 S. Asada, 50 Years of US Study Abroad Students: Japan as the Gateway to Asia and Beyond (London: Routledge, 2019).

25 M. Jiang, ‘Translation as cultural diplomacy: a Chinese perspective’, International Journal of Cultural Policy 27(7), (2021), pp. 892–904.

26 Ibid.

27 G. McGinn, ‘Foreign language, cultural diplomacy, and global security’, American Academy of Art and Science, (15 November 2015), available at: https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2019-02/Foreign-language-Cultural-Diplomacy-Global-Security.pdf.

28 L. Venuti, The Translator’s Invisibility, A History of Translation (New York: Routledge, 1995).

29 M. Jiang, ‘Translation as cultural diplomacy: a Chinese perspective’, International Journal of Cultural Policy 27(7), (2021), pp. 892–904.

30 B. Wang, ‘On the pivotal role of cultural translation in the exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations’, Comparative Literature: East & West 7(2), (2023), p. 168.

31 S. Amin, Eurocentrism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2010), p. 212.

32 I. Battuta and A. Tazi, Rihlat Iben Battuta (Rabat: The Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, 1997).