The Change in the Translation Landscape in Modern Chinese History

Since modern times, with the rise of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, China's literary translation industry has entered a period of vigorous development, marking a watershed in the history of modern Chinese translation. The May Fourth New Culture Movement was an enlightenment movement in the field of Chinese thought and culture, promoting the liberation of people's thoughts and the dissemination of vernacular language and new ideas, laying the foundation for the emergence of the peak of literary translation during the May Fourth New Literature. The translation of Marxist and Leninist works was a landmark event during the peak of literary translation in the May Fourth New Literature, enabling the spread of Marxist and Leninist ideology in China and exerting an undeniable influence on modern Chinese history. If Marx's works had not been translated, would China have achieved its current development achievements? The cultural vitality brought by the stellar translations during this period also revitalized Chinese literature.

However, later, due to the constraints of the ten-year Cultural Revolution, the Chinese translation industry was shackled, beginning to suffer erosion and facing instability. The renowned German sinologist Gu Bin once said, "Why did Chinese literature lag behind during the Cultural Revolution? One reason is the scarcity of translated works." In the 1930s and 1940s, Nazi Germany banned the translation of many foreign works. In Gu Bin's view, this was a loss for Germany's literary development. It was not until 1979 when China gradually introduced a large number of translated works that Chinese literature was able to "set things right," and the abundance of excellent foreign translations also positively influenced the development of contemporary Chinese literature.

Since the reform and opening up, Western translation theories have been gradually introduced into China, leading to the formation of a peak in the study of Chinese translation theory and marking the beginning of China's own transformation in the translation landscape. Subsequently, based on the compilation and research of foreign translation theories, many Chinese translation researchers began to explore their own translation theories. During this period, while the number of translated works of foreign literary works published in China has been increasing year by year, the quantity of "masterpieces" has been decreasing compared to the past. This is due to the fact that the standardization of the Chinese translation industry has not kept pace with the pace of marketization. Additionally, while there is an increase in translating foreign literary works, there are very few translations of Chinese classic works into foreign languages. The Chinese translation industry not only needs translations from foreign languages to Chinese but also translations from Chinese to foreign languages to move towards the world, promote the development of both Chinese and foreign translation industries, and cultural exchange. Only then can China occupy a place in the global translation community in the new historical period, tell Chinese stories through cultural exports, and expand the international influence of Chinese culture.

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