ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the influence of Chinese philosophy on the formulation of Chinese translation theory. It examines how Chinese philosophy has influenced the Chinese discourse on translation and how it can be used to interpret traditional thoughts on translation. Some Chinese translation scholars also draw ideas from Chinese philosophy to explain the nature and principles of translation or propose guidelines for practicing or researching in translation. The formulation and development of Chinese translation theory is a complex topic and difficult to handle mainly because of the long history of translation practice and the relatively short history of the systematic study of translation theory. The Chinese translation researchers are familiar with almost all of the major translation theories in the West. Tu and Xiao thought that Western translation theory had made contributions to Chinese translation studies in two major areas: methodology and ‘research practice’.
