Understanding the “Theoreticality” of Traditional Chinese Translation Theory: Taking Qian Zhongshu’s “Realm of Transformation” Theory as an Example

Academic Lecture


Lecture Time: 21 June 2021 (Monday) 14:00-15:30
Venue: Tencent Conference (Conference ID: 988 764 496 Conference Password: 0621)
Lecture Title: Understanding the “Theoreticality” of Traditional Chinese Translation Theory: Taking Qian Zhongshu’s “Realm of Transformation” Theory as an Example
Lecturer: Prof. Lan Hongjun, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Introduction to the lecture
    Traditional Chinese translation theories are the historical foundation of the theoretical confidence of Chinese translation studies, based on China, learning from foreign countries, digging into history, grasping contemporary times, caring for human beings and facing the future is our thinking in the construction of translation studies. How to recognize the “theoreticality” of traditional Chinese translation theory is an important issue in our translation research at present. To understand the theoretical nature of traditional Chinese translation theory, it is necessary to understand the discursive form of the representation of traditional Chinese translation theory, and more importantly, to understand the unique contribution of traditional Chinese translation theory in terms of ideological content. The theoretical domain, as a collection of objects reflected by the theory, is one of the ways to understand the theoretical nature of traditional Chinese translation theory. This presentation will take Qian Zhongshu’s theory of “realm of transformation” as an example and analyse its heterogeneous theoretical domain in relation to Western translation theories, in an attempt to highlight the obscured academic value of traditional Chinese translation theories.

Introduction of Professor Lan Hongjun
    Prof. Lan Hongjun is a professor, a doctoral supervisor, a Yunshan Distinguished Scholar of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and the secretary of the second batch of “double-leader” teachers’ branch of the Ministry of Education. He is also the director of China Translation Association, deputy secretary-general and executive director of Translation Culture Research Association, deputy secretary-general of Guangdong Translation Association, and president of Guangzhou Scientific and Technical Translation Association. He has presided over and participated in a number of projects of the National Social Science Foundation of China, and is an expert in reviewing manuscripts for many foreign language academic journals in China. His main research interests are translation theory criticism and translation history research. He has published dozens of papers and several books.


All students and teachers are welcome to attend the lecture!



School of Foreign Languages
7 June 2021