Abstract: Michel Boym, a Polish Jesuit missionary who was sent to China in the 17th century, is one of the first to inform the western world of the China’s scholarly medicine through his translation works. His achievements are monumental, and his translation work laid early foundations for the later spread of Chinese medical practice and learning in the West. His significant role in this regard, however, has been largely overlooked by TCM scholarship. Based on a multitude of primary sources, this presentation discusses the speaker’s systematic and pioneering research into Boym’s works of translation in order to confirm his unparalleled role and position in the transmission of knowledge, science, and culture between China andthe West.
About the speaker: Yinquan Wang is a Professor of Translation Studies and Sinology and founding director of the Center for the Translation of Chinese Classics and Sinology, Nanjing Agricultural University. He served as the Deputy Dean of the School of Foreign Studies, Nanjing Agricultural University, between October 2013 and February 2017. Between December 2008 and October 2013, he worked at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine as a full professor and deputy dean of the School of Foreign Languages. He earned his doctoral degree in the history of science at Nanjing Agricultural University, China, in June 2010. He was recently funded by the Chinese National Foundation for Philosophy and the Social Sciences to carry out a research project into the translation and dissemination of Chinese medical cultures by the Jesuit mission in China between the 16th century and 18th century. Between October 1997 and October 1998, Professor Wang was affiliated with the Second Language Institute of the University of Ottawa, Canada, as a visiting scholar. He has published dozens of articles in peer-refereed journals in the fields of English linguistics, journalistic English, translation studies, sinology and the cultural exchanges between China and the West.
ArgO-EMR Seminars Michaelmas 2019
Thick Translation Strategies for Chinese Medicine
Pauling Centre, 58a Banbury Road
5.00pm-6.30pm, Wednesdays (Weeks 1, 2, 5, 7)
Convened by Elisabeth Hsu
