Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Translation of the Bible, Other Religious Literature, and Indigenous Religious Texts: China

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of the Catholic Church in East Asia

  • 72 Accesses

Abstract

Written texts have always played a key role in advancing the Christian doctrine. Since the inception of Christianity, a set of texts has been canonized and defined as “sacred,” forming, subsequently, the Bible. Several other texts have been identified as fundamental to the explanation and transmission of the Christian doctrine. The translation of the Bible and all of the religious literature connected with it has always played an important role in the life of the Catholic Church. Such translations have fostered important debate, even among missionaries. This chapter discusses the most representative volumes of Bible translations in Chinese and of other Catholic texts that have been translated from other languages or directly edited in Chinese. The use of written texts was highly developed in the missionary activities of the Jesuits in China during the seventeenth century. The Jesuits authored many translations and new religious texts, but they never undertook a complete translation of the Bible, attributing more importance to other types of texts. A complete translation was completed only in 1961. The first section of this chapter provides an outline of the attempted and partial translations of the Bible made by Catholics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with a focus on the first complete version published in a single volume in 1968 as Sigao Shengjing. This section also describes and analyzes the translations published after 1968. In the second section of the chapter, other religious literature is presented, including both translations of European texts and texts directly written in Chinese by missionaries or Chinese converts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allegra, Gabriele M. 1946. Relatio Sessionis die 11 feb. 1946 convocatae. Manuscript. MS XIV, 3.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1953. Lo Studio Biblico Cinese O.F.M. Manuscript. May 14, 1953, MS XXIV, 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1961. Translation of the scriptures into Chinese. World 12: 97–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1965. The Chinese version of the Holy Bible of Studium Biblicum O.F.M. Hong Kong. Teaching All Nations: 345–353.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2005. Le memorie di fra’ Gabriele M. Allegra O.F.M., il san Girolamo della Cina. Edited by Stephane Oppes. Città del Vaticano: Libreria editrice vaticana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barriquand, Francois, ed. 2011.“Shengjing de Zhongwen fanyi 圣经的中文翻译” (The Chinese Translation of the Bible). Tianzhujiao yanjiu xuebao 天主教研究学报 (Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies) 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buzzetti, Carlo. 1973. La Parola tradotta. Aspetti linguistici, ermeneutici e teologici della Traduzione della Sacra Scrittura. Brescia: Morcelliana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camps, Arnulf. 1999. Father Gabriele M. Allegra, O.F.M., (1907–1976) and the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum: The first complete Chinese Catholic translation of the Bible. In Bible in modern China: The literary and intellectual impact, ed. Irene Eber, Sze-Kar Wan, and Knut Walf, 55–76. Sankt Augustin-Nettetal: Institute Monumenta Serica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Yanrong. 2014. The Shengjing zhijie: A Chinese Text of Commented Gospel Readings in the Encounter Between Europe and China in the Seventeenth Century. Journal of Early Modern Christianity 1: 165–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, Daniel K.T. (Cai Jintu 蔡锦图). 2011. “Tianzhujiao Zhongwen Shengjing fanyi de lishi he banben 天主教中文圣经翻译的历史和版本” (The history and editions of Catholic Chinese Bible translations). In Shengjing de Zhongwen fanyi 圣经的中文翻译 (The Chinese translation of the Bible), edited by Francois Barriquand. Tianzhujiao yanjiu xuebao 天主教研究学报 (Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies) 2: 11–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Choi, Daniel K.T., and George K.W. Mak. 2014. Catholic Bible translation in twentieth-century China: An overview. In Catholicism in China, 1900–present. The development of the Chinese Church, ed. Cindy Yik-yi Chu, 105–123. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chu, Cindy Yik-yi. 2012. The Catholic Church in China: 1978 to the present, 2012. New York: Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———, ed. 2014. Catholicism in China, 1900–present. The development of the Chinese Church. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawes, Gregory W., ed. 2010. Shengjingxue daolun 圣经学导论 (Introduction to Bible studies). Vol. 94 of Fuda shenxue congshu 辅大神学丛书 (Fu Jen theology series). Taipei: Guangqi wenhua.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Gruttola, Raissa. 2018. Translating the Bible into Chinese: Characteristics and features of the Sigao Shengjing. In Between texts, beyond words: Intertextuality and translation, ed. Nicoletta Pesaro, 27–47. Venezia: Edizioni Ca’ Foscari.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eber, Irene. 1999. “The interminable term question.” In Bible in modern China: The literary and intellectual impact. Monumenta Serica monograph series, XLIII, ed. Irene Eber, Sze-kar Wan, Knut Walf, 135–161. Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eber, Irene, Sze-Kar Wan, and Knut Walf, eds. 1999. Bible in modern China: The literary and intellectual impact. Sankt Augustin-Nettetal: Institute Monumenta Serica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang, Zhirong 房志荣. 2010. “Jidu gongjiao yu xinjiao yijing jingyan tan 基督公教与新教译经经验谈” (On the Experience of Catholics and Protestants Translating the Bible). In Shengjingxue daolun 圣经学导论(Introduction to Bible Studies), edited by Gregory W. Dawes, 124–141. Vol. 94 of Fuda shenxue congshu 辅大神学丛书 (Fu Jen Theology Series). Taipei: Guangqi wenhua.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foley, Toshikazu. 2009. Biblical translation in Chinese and Greek. Verbal aspect in theory and practice. Leiden, Boston: Brill.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. “Four-character Set Phrases. A Study of Their Use in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Versions of the Chinese New Testament”. In Shengjing de Zhongwen fanyi 圣经的中文翻译 (The Chinese Translation of the Bible), edited by Francois Barriquand. Tianzhujiao yanjiu xuebao 天主教研究学报 (Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies) 2: 45–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haft, Lloyd. 2008. Perspectives on John C.H. Wu’s translation of the New Testament. In Reading Christian scriptures in China, ed. Chloë Starr, 189–206. London, New York: T & T Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, Gail. 2019. Candida Xu (1607–1680), Chinese Christian Woman of Faith. In The contribution of Chinese women to the Church. Proceedings of the conference “I have called you by name,” September 25–26, 2014, ed. Piotr Adamek, SVD and Sonja Huangb Mei Tin, 31–49. Siegburg: Verlag Franz Schmitt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moule, A.C. 1949. A manuscript Chinese version of the new testament (British Museum, Sloane 3599). The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1: 23–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolini-Zani, Matteo. 2006. La via radiosa per l’Oriente. I testi e la storia del primo incontro del cristianesimo con il mondo culturale e religioso cinese (secoli VII–IX). Magnano: Qiqajon Edizioni.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliva, Carmelo. 1968. Un precursore della liturgia in lingua nazionale, P. Niccolò Longobardo S.I. La Civiltà Cattolica, 2833, vol. III: 480–494.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polmonari, Simonetta. 2009. Padre Basilio Brollo da Gemona in dialogo con la cultura cinese. Vicenza: L.I.E.F.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romano, Monica. 2017. The Sheshan New Testament translation by Bishop Jin Luxian of Shanghai. In Foreign Missionaries and the Indigenization of the Chinese Catholic Church, ed. Cindy Yik-yiChu, 125–170. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sella, Pacifico. 2008. Giovanni da Montecorvino, Giovanni da Montecorvino frate minore e primo vescovo in terra di Cina (1307–1328). S. Maria degli Angeli, Assisi: Edizioni Porziuncola.

    Google Scholar 

  • So, K. H. Francis. 1999. Wu Ching-Hsiung’s Chinese translation of images of the Most high in the Psalms. In Bible in modern China: The literary and intellectual impact, ed. Irene Eber, Sze-Kar Wan, and Knut Walf, 321–350. Sankt Augustin-Nettetal: Institute Monumenta Serica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Song, Gang 宋刚. 2015. “Benyi yu tuyu zhijian: Qingdai Yesuhui shi he Qingtai de Shengjing hanyi ji quanshi ‘本意’与‘土语’之间:清代耶稣会士贺清泰的《圣经》汉译及诠释(Between ‘original meaning’ and ‘vernacular language’: The translation of the bible and exegesis of the Jesuit Louis de Poirot during the mid-Qing period).” Guoji hanxue 国际汉学 (International Sinology), 5: 23–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— 宋刚. 2017. Xiao renwu de da lishi: Qingchu Sichuan Tianzhu jiaotu Xu Ruohan ge’an yanjiu de qishi 小人物的大历史:清初四川天主教徒徐若翰个案研究的启示(Small Figure, big history: A study on Johan Su, an early Qing Sichuan Catholic Convert). Guoji hanxue 国际汉学 (International Sinology), 10: 30–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2018. Giulio Aleni, Kouduo Richao, and Christian–Confucian dialogism in Late Ming, Monumenta Serica monograph series LXIX. Abingdon, Oxon – New York: Routledge. Religious Studies Review 46 (4): 575.

    Google Scholar 

  • Standaert, Nicolas. 1999. The Bible in early seventeenth-century China. In Bible in modern China: The literary and intellectual impact, ed. Irene Eber, Sze-Kar Wan, and Knut Walf, 31–54. Sankt Augustin-Nettetal: Institute Monumenta Serica.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———, ed. 2001. Handbook of Christianity in China. Volume I: 635–1800. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starr, Chloë, ed. 2008. Reading Christian scriptures in China. London, New York: T & T Clark.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strandenaes, Thor. 1987. Principles of Chinese Bible translation. As expressed in five selected versions of the New Testament and exemplified by Mt. 5:1–12 and Col. 1. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiedemann, Gary R., ed. 2010. Handbook of Christianity in China. Volume II: 1800–present. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uchida, Keiichi, and Alan Thwaits. 2017. A study of cultural interaction and linguistic contact: Approaching Chinese linguistics from the periphery. Göttingen, Taipei: V & R Unipress, National Taiwan University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Willeke, Bernward H. 1945. The Chinese Bible manuscript in the British Museum. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 7 (4): 450–453.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zetzsche, Jost O. 1999. The Bible in China: The history of the Union Version or the culmination of Protestant missionary Bible translation in China. Sankt Augustin-Nettetal: Institute Monumenta Serica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, John Baptist Shijiang. 2007. The promotion of the Bible in contemporary China and evangelization. Tripod 27 (144): 11–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zürcher Erik. 2007. Kouduo richao: Li Jiubiao’s Diary of oral admonitions: A late Ming Christian journal. Sankt Augustin, Brescia: Institut Monumenta Serica, Fondazione Civiltà bresciana.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Raissa De Gruttola

Authors
  1. Raissa De Gruttola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raissa De Gruttola .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Cindy Yik-yi Chu

  2. Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Beatrice Leung

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

De Gruttola, R. (2021). Translation of the Bible, Other Religious Literature, and Indigenous Religious Texts: China. In: Chu, C.Yy., Leung, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Catholic Church in East Asia . Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9365-9_10-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9365-9_10-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-9365-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-9365-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation