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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 December 2019
In the nineteenth century, the translators of the Bible in to Chinese were heavily dependent on their “native assistants” or “Chinese co-translators”. The importance of the contributions of these co-translators has long been underestimated. In Fujian, the missionaries adopted a co-translator model which allowed the assistant to take an equal and full role in the task of translation. The intention was that the local Christian community should take over full responsibility for all aspects of Christian ministry and mission. The translation process included the adoption of an easy-to-learn system of Romanisation of the Southern Min vernacular so that the resulting translation was accurate and easily read and understood. This essay looks at these developments in Fujian and on Taiwan, notably the co-operation between Reverend Iû Sūn-ióng, (楊士養牧師) and Reverend Thomas Barclay. In contrast, during the translation of the 1919 version of the Mandarin Bible, the “native assistants” played a lesser role in the production of the final work. Nevertheless, while few Chinese co-translators emerged as a creative force during the translation process, they may have contributed to the written style of the translation, if not the theological interpretation of the Bible in Chinese.
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30 The Presbyterian Monthly Messenger, Presbyterian Church of England, (November, 1918), p. 152.
31 P. J. Maclagen, ‘Some literary productions of English Presbyterian missionaries, being the annual lecture for 1947 of the Presbyterian Historical Society of England’, (Presbyterian Historical Society, Special Publication) p. 10.
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35 P. J. Maclagen, in The British Weekly, 10 October, 1938 (clipping held in Archives of School of Oriental and African Studies, PCE/FMC iv/2.)
36 T. Barclay, ‘Letter to the British and Foreign Bible Society’, [May 31, 1889] (Cambridge University Library: archive reference: EAD/GBR/0374/BSA/X/B)
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53 E. Band, Working His Purpose Out, p. 158.
54 Tainan Mission Council, Minutes: 28 December 1926, p. 8 (held in SOAS, University of London, PCE/FMC Series 1, Box 1, file 6).
55 Presbyterian Monthly Messenger, ‘Reports’, (January, 1934).
56 T. Barclay, ‘Letter to Foreign Mission Committee, Mission Board’ (Presbyterian Monthly Messenger, September, 1931, Sept.), p. 122.
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