Seeking New and Practical Learning and Serving the Public by Translation: China’s Modernization of Traditional Learning via Knowledge Translation in The New World of Translation

The New World of Translation was the only translation journal in the late Qing Dynasty with the word “new” in the title. It was founded by Fan Xiren in 1906 after he was sent to study in Japan by the Imperial University of Peking. Following the principles of “studying new and practical learning and promoting public interest”, its 46 translators in academic and geographical affinity produced numerous translations about practical learning and knowledge for “public interest” in an attempt to disseminate knowledge of constitutional monarchy among nationals for building a modern nation-state. These translators reformed the discipline classification in translation journals. With their translations of practical learning in eight categories, they endeavored to promote political transformation through the modernization of traditional learning.