Translating Aristotle’s Rhetoric in 1950s-1960s China: Politics and Translator’s Autonomy

This paper examines the first Chinese translation of Aristotle’s Rhetoric by Luo Niansheng (1904–1990). Completed in 1965, shortly before the start of the Cultural Revolution, Luo’s translation was only published posthumously in 1991. Since then, it has been celebrated as a masterpiece and a must-read for students of ancient Greek literature and culture in contemporary China. However, despite its significance, Luo’s translation of the Rhetoric has not yet been comprehensively studied. This paper situates Luo’s translation within the context of cross-cultural exchange of texts and concepts, as well as in the political and social contexts of 1950s and 1960s China. To explore this trans-cultural encounter between contemporary China and Greek rhetorical texts, the paper first presents a historical survey of the transformation of translation practices and studies in post-1949 China; it then conducts a textual analysis of Luo’s translation of Aristotle’s Rhetoric. The paper shows how Luo’s preferences and selection of specific chapters from Aristotle’s Rhetoric for translation, his word choices, and his Marxist-Leninist approach to interpreting the text reflect the wider political and social contexts of 1950s and 1960s China. The paper argues that the translation of ancient Greek texts in this period was not merely a literary exercise but was also closely related to and influenced by the larger political contexts, including ideological struggles, national projects of socialist construction and transformation, and the rebuilding of modern Chinese education and academic systems. Furthermore, this paper also argues that, despite the political constraints of the era, Luo managed to maintain the translator’s autonomy at the textual level through his self-conscious adaptation of translation strategies to produce a text that would better aid the understanding of ancient Greek rhetorical culture. The paper concludes by asserting that Luo’s translation of Aristotle’s Rhetoric is a valuable contribution to the reception of Greek and Roman rhetoric in modern China.