Before Sinology: Early European Attempts to Translate the Chinese Language

Soon after the first contact between sixteenth-century Europeans and the Ming state, European traders, travelers, and missionaries tried to understand the Chinese language. This chapter outlines three models that these earliest translators employed in their attempts to understand Chinese books, maps, and religious texts despite the significant cultural and linguistic barriers. Native Chinese speakers were employed by Europeans; teams of Chinese and European translators worked together outside China; and European missionaries systematically mastered Chinese through extensive “study abroad.” This chapter explores how each of these translation models reflected deeper hierarchical and social relationships between the European and Chinese actors involved—a fact reflected in the accuracy and content of these translated works.