A Study on Benjamin Hobson’s Contribution to the Translation of Western Medicine in Modern China

Ruoran WANG, Changbao LI

Abstract


Benjamin Hobson is a British medical missionary who came to China in the Qing Dynasty. Living in China for nearly twenty years, Hobson had quite a few translation works published, and he was not only the first one who systematically translated various kinds of medicine theories into Chinese but also the pioneer of creating medical terms in Chinese. This paper first attempts to make a thorough inquiry into Hobson’s medical translation practice and his views on translation, and then points out that Hobson’s major contributions to the translation of western medicine in modern China are that his medical translation promoted the popularization of western medicine in China, that the publication of Treatise on Physiology set a milestone of translating medicine works for modern China to learn from the West, and that his compilation of A Medical Vocabulary in English and Chinese laid the foundation for the Chinese translation of modern medicine terminology.

 


Keywords


Benjamin Hobson; Medical translation; Translation of western medicine; Treatise on Physiology; A Medical Vocabulary in English and Chinese

Full Text:

PDF

References


Chen, W. C., Luo, W. W., & Kuang, Y. H. (2013). Revisiting “Collaborative Translating” in Late Qing China: The Draft Manuscripts of First Lines on the Practice of Surgery in the West and Treatise on Midwifery and Diseases of Children. Journal of Chinese Studies, (1), 243-293.

Chen, Z. Y. (1897). The second sequel of royal classic selection. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Book Co..

Cousland, P, B. (1908). An English-Chinese lexicon of medical terms. Shanghai, China: The American Presbyterian Mission Press.

Guo, Q., & Li, J. C. (2015). Benjamin Hobson and western medicine education in modern China, Medicine and Philosophy, (9), 85-88.

Hobson, B. (1851). Treatise on physiology. Shanghai, China: Yan Chai Hospital.

Hobson, B. (1857). First lines on the practice of surgery in the west. Shanghai, China: Yan Chai Hospital.

Hobson, B. (1858). A medical vocabulary in English and Chinese. Shanghai, China: Shanghai Mission Press.

Hobson, B. (1858). Practice of medicine and materia medica. Shanghai, China: Yan Chai Hospital.

Hobson, B. (1858). Treatise on midwifery and diseases of children. Shanghai, China: Yan Chai Hospital.

Hu, Z. Y. (1982). Early western medicine books and works on the combination of Chinese and western medicine theories published in China. Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine, (2), 125-126.

Li, C. B. (2005) Medical missionaries and the definition and unification of medical nouns in the translation of western medicine in modern China. Chinese Culture Research, (4), 50-56.

Li, C. B. (2005). Translations and writings of western medicine by protestant medical missionaries in modern China. Forum on Chinese Culture, (1), 117-121.

Luo, W. W. (2004). The history of “Inflammation”. Chinese Language Review, (3), 42-46.

Ma, B. Y., Gao, X., & Hong, Z, L. (1997). The history of intercultural medicine communication between China and foreign countries. Shanghai, China: Wenhui Press.

Shen, G. W. (1996). The creation and exchange of the scientific terms using Chinese character in modern times -- medical terms (1). Bunrin, (30), 59-94.

Shen, G. W. (2010). A study of communication through vocabulary between China and Japan in modern times: Creation, acceptance and sharing of new words. Beijing, China: Zhonghua Book Company.

Sun, Z. (2010). The creation of modern medical terms -- A case study of Benjamin Hobson (1816-1873) and his Medical Vocabulary in English and Chinese. Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, (4), 456-474.

Wang, M., & Luo, J. J. (2008). A review on the modernization of biology and western medicine in the Late Qing Dynasty in China. Journal of HIT (Social Science Edition), (5), 11-21.

Wang, S., & Lü, L. F. (2015). Convergent but different: Weigh of western medicine by the Chinese school of converged medicine in the Late Qing Dynasty. Studies in Philosophy of Science and Technology, (6), 82-87.

Wang, S., Chen, T., & Zhang, X. L. (2015). A side view of the introduction of western medicine: Benjamin Hobson’s translation strategy of western medicine books. Medicine and Philosophy, (4), 88-90, 97.

Wang, T. (1882). Tao Yuan selection. Hongkong, China: Hongkong Government Printing Bureau.

Wu, Y. X. (2009). The spread and localization of western human physiological knowledge in China in the Late Qing Dynasty. Journal of Sun Yat-sen University (Social Science Edition), (3), 78-94.

Wylie, A. (1867). Memorials of protestant missionaries to the Chinese: Giving a list of their publications, and obituary notices of the deceased, with copious indexes. Shanghai, China: American Presbyterian Mission Press.

Xiong, Y. Z. (1994). The spread of western learning in China from 1842 to 1860. Historical Research, (4), 63-81.

Zhang, R. R. (2017). The forerunner of “Western Medicine Spreading Eastward” in modern China: A probe into Hobson’s Treatise on Physiology. Jianghan Tribune, (8), 134-138.

Zhao, P. S. (1991). Hobson’s “Five Kinds of Western Medicine Books” and their influences in China. Modern Chinese History Studies, (2), 67-83, 100.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/10970

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Changbao Li Li

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Share us to:   

Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/ccc/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Cross-Cultural Communication are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION Editorial Office

Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture