ABSTRACT
This essay has a twofold purpose. First and foremost, I shall describe how the translator Yan Fu (1854-1921) introduced to China the thought of Adam Smith, particularly his liberal thinking and political economy, paying close attention to historical context. Unlike other modern studies, which tend to dwell on how Yan “misunderstood,” “mistranslated,” and “misrepresented” WN, the present essay illustrates how Smith was reborn and transformed in China (Schwartz 1964: 113-29; Trescott 2007: 29-37; Lai 2000: 16-26).1 To understand this process, one has to appreciate a number of contexts, both British and Chinese. This is transnational as well as inter-contextual history. My second purpose is to evaluate the complex legacy of Yan’s translation, so that we can appreciate the trajectory between our own time and that of Yan.
