Abstract: The present research is based on about 900 articles and excerpts from journals, books and newspapers on translation theories or translating methods published in China before 1950.A quantitative and qualitative analysis of these works clearly presents us an overall evolution of traditional Chinese ideas on translation.A diachronic survey of the themes involved in the literature shows:1) as one of the stimuli to the evolution of translational themes, social changes contribute to the transformation of social functions performed by translations which in turn lead to public attitudinal changes toward translation; 2) traditional Chinese ideas on translation is characterized by plain "utilitarianism" focusing on operability in terms of method and a relatively lack of academic abstraction and theorization; 3) the evolution of translational themes demonstrates shifts of translation norms of different historical periods as well as conflicts between translation norms of the same historical periods within the same culture.In a word, social motivation is an essential factor affecting the translational thematic evolution which accords with the tenet of practicality, or providing guidance for practice, as the primary goal of translation theory.