Chinese Fiction in English Translation, Ming to Qing (Bilingual Edition): The First Translations & Their Misreadings

What Is This Book About?

How were classic Chinese novels first translated into English? What happened when Western readers encountered stories likeHaoqiu ZhuanandYu Jiao Lifor the first time? What was preserved, rewritten, or removed in translation? This book answers these questions systematically.

How Chinese Classical Novels Traveled to the Westis divided into six chapters, beginning with the origins of "Chinese learning spreading westward" and then examining key translations one by one — includingGujin Qiguan,Haoqiu Zhuan, andYu Jiao Li. The author analyzes not only translation strategies and linguistic choices, but also the backgrounds of the translators, how religious terminology was adapted, and how Western Romanticism shaped the presentation of these Chinese stories-20. In other words, this book goes beyond "how it was translated" to explore "what happened behind the translation."

Who Is This Book For?

• Scholars and graduate students in translation studies: Packed with case studies of Ming-Qing novel translations that can be directly used in academic research and writing.

• Researchers in comparative literature and Chinese literature: Offers a fresh perspective on how Chinese literature was received in the West, broadening your research scope.

• Anyone interested in how Chinese culture travels abroad: Provides historical insight into the challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural literary transmission — directly relevant to today's cultural exchange efforts.

• Translation students: The comparative analysis of multiple translations makes this an excellent resource for learning literary translation.

Why Should You Buy It?

First, this book is the final output of a National Social Science Fund project on the misinterpretation of Ming-Qing Chinese novels in the West, and it was selected for China's 14th Five-Year Plan National Key Publication Program — a mark of serious academic quality-22.

Second, the author Chen Tingting has long specialized in this field. The book draws on extensive primary sources and translation texts, including detailed analyses of the Davis translation ofHaoqiu Zhuanand the various translations ofYu Jiao Li. It's a substantive, research-driven work — not a surface-level overview.