Re-imag(in)ing history with digital humanities: showcasing early Chinese-English translator networks
About the lecture
What happens when modern digital tools are used to uncover the hidden networks behind early Chinese–English translation?
Join Professor James St. André to explore the fascinating world of Chinese–English translators in the late 18th and 19th centuries - a time when Britain and the United States were starting to engage more deeply with China. At the heart of the talk is a newly developed digital project that maps the relationships between these translators, revealing the networks of people who helped bridge two very different cultures.
Using an interactive database, visualisation tools, and a dedicated website, the project brings these historical connections to life in fresh and surprising ways. It shows how modern digital approaches can uncover new insights into history, literature, translation, and even religion.
By tracing the earliest direct translations from Chinese into English and the rise of expertise about China in the English-speaking world, this lecture offers a unique perspective on the individuals and collaborations that shaped cross-cultural understanding.
Professor James St. André's visit is supported by the Macgeorge Bequest, the Asia Institute and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne.
About the speaker
Professor James St. André
James St. André is Professor in the Department of Translation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he teaches literary translation, translation history, translation theory, and research methodology. He is also Director of the Centre for Translation Technology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he is currently leading the project “Reconceptualizing Chinese–English Translator Networks in the Nineteenth Century”. Recent publications include Conceptualising China Through Translation (2023), “Implications of Computer Code Translation for Translation Studies” (Translation Studies, 2023), and “The Translator as Cultural Ambassador: The Case of Lin Yutang” (in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Modern Chinese Literature in Translation, 2023). Earlier works include Translating China as Cross-Identity Performance (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2018) and three edited volumes: Thinking Through Translation with Metaphors (St. Jerome, 2010), China and Its Others: Transforming Knowledge through Translation, 1829–2010 (co-edited with Peng Hsiao-yen, 2012), and Translation and Time: Migration, Culture and Identity (Kent State University Press, 2020). He has also published articles in META, TTR, The Translator, Translation and Intercultural Studies, Translation Studies, and the Journal of Translation Studies.
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