ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the importance, but also the challenges, of the idea of 'identity' to define the relationship between translation and culture. It provides a different perspective of the interaction between translation and culture. The book investigates publishing houses 'as actors that play a key role in the formation of cultural narratives through translation'. It discusses a historian's perspective to the role of translation in nation building in China. The book focuses on the social construction of health and illness, an 'emic' approach that contrasts with the supra-cultural 'etic' concept of disease as a biomedically measurable phenomenon. It also provides a comprehensive account of the various efforts to achieve a history of translation, both at national and supra-national levels. The book addresses 'the importance of translation in global mass media networks and products'.
