2007年1月22日星期一

从儿童看历史/ Children as History




Figure 1 (Page 697)

A drawing by a seven-year-old girl. From Huang Yi, The Psychology of Children's Drawings (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937), fig. 18

Figure 2 (Page 698)

“Developmental order”: A drawing by an eleven-year-old girl. From Huang Yi,The Psychology of Children's Drawings (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937), fig. 26

Figure 3 (Page 721)

“Educational Toys” from the Commercial Press. From Eastern Miscellany 15, no. 12 (December 1918)

Andrew F. Jones, "The Child As History in Republican China: A Discourse on Development" Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique 10.3 (2002) 695-727.

The whole article in the Journal may be retrievable from the following link:

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/positions/v010/10.3jones.html

2007年1月21日星期日

老子 c.2/ Lao-Tzu (Laozi)

天下皆知美之为美,斯[1]已;皆知善之为善,斯不善[2]已。故有无[3]相生,难[4]相成,长短相形[5],高下相倾[6]音声[7]相和,前後相随。是以[8]圣人[9]无为[10]之事,[11]不言之教。万物[12][13]焉而不[14]。生而不有,为而不恃,功成而弗居。夫唯弗居,是以不去[15]



[1] 美的反面没有说是“丑”,而是“恶”。

[2] 善的反面没有说是“恶”,而是“不善”。

[3] Being and non-being.

[4] Ease.

[5] Form each other.

[6] Lean on each other, rely on. Or 相盈,一说因讳汉帝刘盈,改为“相倾”。

[7] Tune and sound.

[8] It is thus… 和前面的“故”也不完全一样。

[9] Dwelling.

[10] Non-action.

[11] To enact.

[12] Myriad things.

[13] Arise.

[14] To interfere.

[15] 说圣人也可,说万物也可。

2007年1月14日星期日

Hu Ying 胡缨 on late Qing translation/ 晚清的翻译

Never an innocent or neutral linguistic exercise, translation during this period proved even more to be a tension-ridden "contact zone," where different traditions met and wrestled on the solid ground of language, and where the cultural implications of global and local politics manifested themselves in submerged, though no less intense, ways.[1]

这从来不是一个中立的纯语言问题。翻译在此历史阶段更表现为一个充满张力的“接触地带”。这里,不同的文化传统互相遭遇,语言成为角力场。同时,国际和本土的政治意图也暗含在鲜明的文化立场里。(笔者翻译)


[1] Tales of Translation: Composing the New Woman in China, 1899-1918 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 12.

2007年1月11日星期四

The 1900 Plague of San Francisco: Perspective from the Chinese Community/ 1900年的“瘟疫”与旧金山唐人街

本人对此消息的英译

The Monkey Is Dead

Yesterday[1]some Western newspaper[2]reported that the suspicion—a coming plague voiced by that doctor—is now “dead” and has returned to the “Neverland” without a trace. The previously infected monkey was still healthy. Alas! The life and death of the monkey is critical to the reputation of the Chinatown. Isn’t it a serious situation? If the monkey knew that its being alive could remove the panic of the whole Chinatown, the money would be very happy when thinking about it. Of course the Chinese were also happy to know the news.[3]Was the news in Western newspapers a blessing for the monkey, or for the Chinatown? It was happy news for the Chinese population, but a bad one for that doctor. Unexpectedly, this morning a Western newspaper reports that the monkey is dead. The news also indicates that the reason for its demise is starvation, not disease. Well, poor monkey, you are unlucky to fall into hands of such a doctor!



[1]March 13, 1990.

[2]Means American newspapers, since Americans are “Westerners” to the Chinese.

[3] The monkey is alive and healthy.



(Zhongxi ribao, March 14, 1900, issue 23, Item # 18

Controversy concerning the death of a monkey; uncertainties surrounding the diagnosis)

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者:Dun Wang (王敦)。

2007年1月9日星期二

醇亲王载沣和溥仪、溥杰

醇亲王载沣(18831951),清摄政王,光绪皇帝的弟弟,末代皇帝溥仪的生父。1901年为在义和团运动中被杀的德国公使克林德(Baron von Ketteler)“谢罪”而赴德国,才十几岁。照片摄于1907年,牵手站着的是溥仪,抱在怀里的是溥杰。

Second Prince Chun and his two sons, Puyi on the right and Pujie sitting on father's legs, photo taken in 1907. In 1901 he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary by the imperial court to Germany, to "apologize" for a "conflict" at the beginning of the Boxer uprising. In 1908 his son Puyi was chosen to become the last emperor; he became the Regent. Three years later, China turned into a Republic.

2007年1月8日星期一

金山医疗史 (Medical History, Chinatown)

关于美国华侨的医疗历史,可以从刘伯骥、陈依范等的华侨史著作中找到脉络。另外,有一篇英文论文也很不错,专门论述了中医医药在北美早期华侨社区里的应用。参见:Haiming Liu, “The Resilience of Ethnic Culture: Chinese Herbalists in the American Medical ProfessionJournal of Asian American Studies 1.2 (1998) 173-191.

笔者在加州大学伯克利分校图书馆找到一本专门的小册子:The Chinese hospital of San Francisco (Oakland, Calif: Carruth & Carruth, printers, 1899).

© by Dun Wang (王敦). All rights reserved. 著作权拥有者:Dun Wang (王敦)。

2007年1月1日星期一

M. M. Bakhtin (2)

It is not experience that organizes expression, but the other way around—expression organizes experience. Expression is what first gives experience its form and specificity of direction.


不是人生体验构建了艺术表现的形式。反过来说才对——表现形式构建了人生体验。表现形式先是赋予人生体验以形式,然后赋予体验以具体的方向。

V.N. Voloshinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language (New York & London: Seminar Press, 1973), 85.