The Translation and Reconstruction of “bourgeoise(ie)” in Manifesto of the Communist Party

The importance of translating Marxist concepts to modern China can not be overestimated. Employing the method of corpus data mining, this research traces the dynamic translation and meaning negotiation of bourgeois(ie), a key Markist concept, in the changing political, historical and, cultural landscapes of modern China. It is found that the notion of bourgeois(ie) in China has gone through shifts from a feudal hierarchical concept to an economic one and finally a socio-political concept. In addition, the translations of Chen Wangdao and Cheng Fangwu & Xu Bing were scrutinized to illustrate the complexities underlying translation and meaning reconstruction in different historical periods. The study hopes to move the discussion of the effects of translation away from the scrutiny of loss, deficiency, and failure and instead toward promoting a perspective that embraces complexities in understanding the fluctuating and dynamic interpretations a translator may have in the construction of ideas. In addition, the study shows that the data mining approach allows us to engage more efficiently with the text, which typically highlight areas in need of a close examination. Thus, this research also has important metholdolgical implications for translation studies.