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The Dangers of Translation: the Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators between Qing China and the British Empire

(english) Shen Aidi

195K0

This book re-examines the famous event in the history of Sino-Western exchanges, namely the British envoy Macartney's mission to China and his audience with Emperor Qianlong. The author not only describes the preparations for the mission, personnel selection, maritime voyages, the reception of Qing officials along the way, formal and informal talks, misunderstandings caused by translation, and the mission's experiences, etc., But also turns the camera to the translators Li Zibiao and Xiao Si Dangdong who met at the meeting, telling the ups and downs of their lives in a moving and delicate style, showing the mechanism of country-to-country exchanges from a micro level. Why tell the story of translation? The more you know about other countries, the more likely you are to be suspected in your own country, and rational voices will be suppressed, with translators bearing the brunt.