ABSTRACT
In the Chinese version of the Bible, the opening words of John 1:1, ‘In the beginning was the W ord’, have always been rendered into the elegant Tai chu you D ao (In the beginning of the universe there was D ao)} In translation, much can be lost as can be gained. On translating Chinese philosophic concepts into English, I.A. Richards once remarked: ‘We have here indeed what may very probably be the most complex type of event yet produced in the evolution of the cosmos.’2 This is an exaggeration. Nevertheless, it highlights the difficulties and intellectual challenges in mediating between Chinese and Western languages and thoughts. Translation exists because people speak different languages. This truism is founded on a situation which can be regarded as enigmatic and as posing problems of extreme psychological and socio-historical difficulty.3
