- 著者
-
黄イェレム
- 雑誌
- 東洋学報 / The Toyo Gakuho
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.98, no.2, pp.61-89, 2016-09
Translations of the Bible into Chinese and the Confucian Canon (四書五経) into English were first completed by Protestant missionaries during the 19th century. Although it is understandable why missionaries translated the Bible, why they worked to translate the Confucian Canon into English is not so apparent. This article explores the reasons for and the context in which the first English translation of one of the Confucian Canon, Analects, entitled The Works of Confucius was published in 1809 by Joshua Marshman, an English Baptist missionary to India, by considering the background to Marshman's Chinese translation of the Bible, as well as the social-political climate of the time. The present scant Chinese research dealing with the context of Marshman's translation endeavors has only viewed the situation from Marshman's perspective. This article searches for a broader context. The author's analysis of the 19th century sources including the writings of the clergyman of the Church of England and those of the Serampore Baptist missionaries makes it clear that whether it be the Chinese Bible or the English Analects, Marshman's translations were deeply related to English East India Company (EIC), the most influential political force in Bengal. In 1800, the College of Fort-William was established for the education of EIC's junior functionaries, and Oriental languages were included in the curriculum. In addition, a project to translate the Bible into Oriental languages was promoted by the clergymen of the Church of England who were the College's provost and vice-provost. Baptist missionaries also joined in the project. The College set up its Chinese language program in the consideration of both political/commercial needs and the translation of the Bible hiring a Macao-born Armenian. However, in the situation in which the Court of Directors (EIC) was opposed to the College and planned to curtail its operations, Chinese education and the Chinese Bible translation project were transferred to Serampore, where Marshman took the responsibility for the translation work at the suggestion of the College's vice-provost. Turning to the question of why Marshman had no alternative but to publish an English version of the Confucian Canon, the author points to changes that were occurring in society during that time, in the form of a violent anti-missionary atmosphere created by political and social events, in particular, the Vellore Mutiny of 10 July 1806. In light of these factors, the Bible translation project of the College of Fort William was suspended. Moreover, the newly appointed Governor-General implemented anti-missionary cultural and religious policy. Under this anti-missionary social mood, Marshman set up a non-religious project to publish an English translation of the Confucian Canon, which enabled him to successfully obtain official support and monetary assistance from the Governor-General of British India and Bengal EIC members. In his The Works of Confucius (Vol.1) that is the translation of Analects (Section 1 to 10) and includes the original Chinese text, Marshman focused on an analysis of the Chinese characters and sentences. It means that Marshman intended to meet a need for a Chinese language learning instrument for the EIC as well as to aid his religious project, i.e., Chinese Bible translation and publication, in the sense that it was a useful medium to deepen his understanding of the Chinese language and Chinese text printing was attempted.