Translation in China during the modernization age: Fiction and language policies (1895-1927)

In this study, the origins, development, and changes of literary translation in China were examined in their historical, political, and socio-cultural context. The impact of literary translation on language policies, the strategies adopted by translators, the functions of fiction translation, and the discourses of fiction translation were examined under the "Modernization Theory" and the theoretical framework proposed by the "Manipulation School". The findings related to language policy, in particular, were compared through the China-Turkey cases. The main objective of this study is to find out, within the framework of "choices of translators" and "rewriting", whether the translations of fiction that first appeared in China during the modernization period were used as an instrument of ideological and political manipulation with the aim of directing the public. At the same time, this study aims to fill the gap that exists in Turkey regarding the history of translation and the history of literary translation in China. The results of the study show that in the period, although their aims, methods, and results differed from each other, the translations of fiction were used as a guiding force, and political force by the intelligentsia. It was found that in literary translations, "rewriting" and "manipulation" influenced all areas of the translation process during the period, from text selection to the choice of translation strategies.