Department of History
Mengjin Xue
Thesis
Thesis
The Influence of Indirect Translation on Chinese Thought: Western Translation through Japanese, 1896-1949
Supervisor: Oleg Benesch
Research
Research
My project uses indirect translation of modern literary works to examine the intellectual exchanges around women’s roles in society in China, Japan and the Western world from the Sino-Japanese War to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. The indirect translation activities of the early twentieth century played a critical role in shaping Chinese modernity, offering a lens to investigate China’s international relations and the cultural flows between Chinese and foreign intellectuals. Tracing the sources of relevant texts, my project compares and analyzes specific content, aiming to explore the influence of Euro-American and Japanese culture on the formation of Chinese discourses on women’s roles and the local characteristics of Chinese modernity via a multi-method approach.
My project is funded by a York-CSC joint scholarship.
Presentations
“Female Translators in Indirect Translation in Modern China: Western Translation Through Japanese in the Early Twentieth Century”. Annual Joint PhD Conference in Historical Studies, Lund University, June 2024
“Female Translators in China’s Social Changes at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century”. British Postgraduate Network for Chinese Studies Conference, University of York, June 2024
“Female Translators in Indirect Translation in Modern China: Western Translation Through Japanese in the Early Twentieth Century”. York Asia Research Network PhD Conference 2024, University of York, May 2024
“Female Translators in Indirect Translation in Modern China: The Western Translation Through Japanese at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century” (Online). NTU History Postgraduate Workshop Series, Nanyang Technological University, March 2024
“The Indirect Translation of Literature in Modern China: Western Translation Through Japanese, 1896-1949”. PGR Research Seminars, School of History, University of Leeds, March 2024
“Interactions between China, Japan and the West: Indirect Translation in Modern China, 1896 1949”. The Oxford International History of East Asia Seminar, University of Oxford, February 2024
“The Influence of Indirect Translation on Chinese Thought: Western Translation through Japanese, 1896-1949”. Annual Postgraduate Research Conference, Department of History, University of York, October 2023
“The Influence of Indirect Translation on Chinese Thought: Western Translation through Japanese, 1896-1949”. York Asia Research Network ECR/PhD Conference 2023, University of York, June 2023
“The Influence of Indirect Translation on Chinese Thought: Western Translation through Japanese, 1896-1949”. PhD Conference in Historical Studies: Lund Network – York – Bielefeld, Bielefeld University, June 2023
“The Relevance between Natsume SÅseki’s Bungakuron and Wardsworth” (In Chinese). The Sixteenth Annual Conference of Chinese Eastern Literature Research Association, Hunan, April 2018
“The ‘Fan’ and ‘Yi’ in the Exegesis and Paraphrase of Chinese Poetry” (In Chinese). The Seventh Annual Conference of Chinese Comparative Literature Education Association in China, Nanjing, December 2017
