Translation as Activism: The Case of Yan Fu as a Pioneer Activist Translator in China at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

The concept of translation as activism underscores the ways translation has functioned in promoting social changes. Translation and activism as an emerging area of interest in translation studies has attracted a growing body of scholarship in the past decades. However, scant attention has been paid to activist translation and translators in the context of China. This thesis focuses on Yan Fu (1854-1921) as a pioneer activist translator in China at the turn of the twentieth century. It investigates Yan Fu’s activist translation practice by addressing three research questions:
1) To what extent did Yan Fu choose translation as a kind of activism and why?
2) How did Yan Fu realise his activist agendas through translation intra-textually and extra-textually?
3) To what extent are Yan Fu’s canonised xin-da-ya principles (in)consistent with his activist translation practice and why?
The data examined in this study include both texts and paratexts of the selected works of Yan’s translations. The main types of paratexts investigated are prefaces and commentaries. Methodologically, the analytical tools of paratextual analysis, appraisal framework (Martin and White, 2005) and translation shift analysis (Pym, 2016) are employed.
The main research findings are as follows:
1) Yan Fu’s identity as an activist translator is manifested in his activist agendas in the prefaces to his translations, including saving the nation, opposing autocratic monarchy and strengthening the country. 2) Yan Fu positioned himself and intervened in the texts and paratexts to realise activism through translation. Yan pursued two complementary forms of translational activism: he demonstrated “resistance” to foreign imperialism by criticising foreign aggression and resisting imperialist privileges, and he manifested “engagement” by disclosing the national crisis, inspiring patriotism and calling for action. 3) Yan Fu’s activist translation practice partially contradicts his canonised xin-da-ya principles. The xin (faithfulness) principle was not consistent with his addition of governance for the activist agenda; the da (adequacy of conveyance) principle was not in line with his omission of ethics and substituting of ethics for governance; there also seemed to be an overemphasis on the ya (elegance) criterion in his strict adoption of the classical Chinese.
This study has examined the textual intervention of the activist translator, which has generally been overlooked in previous studies, reflected on the ethics of positionality in activist translation, and proposed a new conceptualisation of activist translators as individuals and reformers. The present research offers new insights into studies on translation and activism and has implications for the contemporary activist translation practice.