Abstract:

Due to insufficient attention from academia, the differences between ancient Chinese translation(Yi译) activities and modern translation have not been fully explored. In fact, ancient Chinese translation activities have often been confined to “linguistic and semantic exchanges”, an observation made from a modern perspective. Rewriting Chinese Translation History not only locates the activities in this way, but also misquotes ancient texts in such a way that they are untenable. Returning to the historical scene, in the Fangyan (Dilects), the term 传 in “译,传也” should be read as “zhuàn”, meaning 驿(courier stations). In the “The Historical Records of Dawan” from Shiji (The Grand Scribe’s Records), the 绎in “daoyi”(导绎) means 译 (interpreting or translating) and is the phonetic loan character of 驿(courier stations). In the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the name of the official interpreter was “Shi Yi”(使驿). These historical materials and their interpretations tell us that ancient Chinese译 was primarily an official activity centered on “Yizhan”(驿站, courier stations), aimed at “education”, and “chongyi”(重译)emphasizes this even more. The latter did not aim at linguistic relay interpreting, but information transmission from one “Yizhan” to another that ultimately reaches the center, indicating political activities of “paying allegiance to the central state” from all directions. Exploring ancient translation activities requires an approach focused on “character-based”, with the key being the benevolent thoughts reflected in “Ziru”(multiplication of characters).

Key words: courier stations, translation, Ruism