ABSTRACT
According to Ding, some leading scholars in Chinese translation think there is only applied translation theory and no pure translation theory in China. Most of the Chinese publications that discuss translation seriously, however, are aware of the Western influences to a certain extent and either adopt the imported research methodology entirely or propose that a process of integration be initiated between Western and Chinese translation theories. Guanzhong Yi Chang made a clear distinction between ‘pure translation studies’ and ‘applied translation studies’ and claimed that Chinese translation studies belongs to the latter category; i.e. Chinese translation theory is ‘applied’ in nature. According to Douglas Robinson, being systematic is not the most important quality of academic research; therefore, whether Chinese translation theories are systematic or not is really not important. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
