The Imprimerie de T’ou-sè-wè and Jesuit Bible Translations and Publications in the Modern Period

Abstract

<p><br></p><p><a>After the Opium War, the Society of Jesus established a new mission base at Zikawei, Shanghai, and published a large number of religious works through the Imprimerie de T’ou-sè-wè. Centering on the major biblical texts translated by the Chinese Jesuits such as Li Wenyu and Shen Zekuan, this paper examines the motives of the translators, the linguistic features, as well as the translation methods, and it points out the continuation of the transwriting strategy for rendering scriptures into Chinese which has been adopted by the early Jesuits since the late Ming time. With the introduction of more advanced technologies in printing, and the support of the T’ou-sè-wè painting workshop, these biblical texts show remarkable new features, in particular the text-image integration mode and the use of paratextual devices (catalogues, tables, and maps, etc.), thus providing vivid examples for Catholic Chinese Bible translations under the new situation. </a></p>

鴉片戰爭之後，耶穌會在上海徐家匯建立新的傳教基地，並利用土山灣印書館出版了大量宗教類書籍，其中包括在聖經原文基礎上的譯述之作。本文以清末民初耶穌會士李問漁、沈則寬等人的代表性譯經文本為中心，探討譯者動機、譯文語言特色和翻譯手法，其譯注結合的方式可以視為晚明以降耶穌會士譯述策略的延續。由於先進印刷技術的引進，加之土山灣畫院的參與和支持，這些譯作又帶有很多新潮的樣貌，尤其是圖文連璧的模式，以及副文本（目錄、表格、地圖等）的應用，為天主教在新傳教形勢下的經典漢譯提供了生動的範例。