Yan Fu | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of National Peking University | |
| In office 3 May 1912 – 1 October 1912 | |
| Preceded by | Lao Naixuan [zh] (as President of the Imperial University of Peking) |
| Succeeded by | Zhang Shizhao |
| President of Fudan University | |
| In office 1906–1907 | |
| Preceded by | Ma Xiangbo |
| Succeeded by | Xia Jingguan [zh] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Yan Chuanchu (嚴傳初) (1854-01-08)8 January 1854 |
| Died | 27 October 1921(1921-10-27) (aged 67) Langguan Alley, Houguan County, Fujian, China |
| Alma mater | Royal Naval College, Greenwich |
| Occupation | Military officer, newspaper editor, translator, writer |
Yan Fu (simplified Chinese:严复;traditional Chinese:嚴復;pinyin:Yán Fù;Wade–Giles:Yen2 Fu4;courtesy nameJi Dao (幾道); 8 January 1854 – 27 October 1921) was a Chinese military officer, newspaper editor, translator, and writer. He is most known for introducing Western ideas to China during the late 19th century.[1]
On January 8, 1854, Yan Fu was born in what is modern-dayFuzhou,Fujian Province to a respectablescholar-gentry family in the trade ofChinese medicine. In his early years, Yan Fu's father greatly encouraged Yan Fu to obtain a high level of education and prepare for theImperial examination. However, the death of his father in 1866 caused an abrupt change to these plans. A year later, Yan Fu entered theFoochow Arsenal Academy in Fuzhou, a Western school where he studied a variety of subjects including English, arithmetic, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, astrology and navigation. This was a turning point in young Yan Fu's life as he was able to experience the first-hand contact withWestern science, thus inspiring the enthusiasm that carried him through the rest of his career.
After graduating with high honors in 1871, Yan Fu went on to spend the next five years at sea. He first served aboard the training shipJianwei (建威) and later on the battlecruiserYangwu (揚武). In 1877–79 he studied at theRoyal Naval College,Greenwich, England. During his years there, he became acquainted with China's first ambassadorGuo Songtao, and despite their age difference and status gap developed a strong friendship. Benjamin Schwartz mentions in his biography that "they often spent whole days and nights discussing differences and similarities in Chinese and Western thought and political institutions".[2]
His return to China, however, did not bring him the immediate success he was hoping for. Though he was unable to pass theImperial Civil Service Examination, he was able to obtain a teaching position at the Foochow Arsenal Academy and then Beiyang Naval Officers' School (北洋水師學堂) atTianjin. During this time, Yan Fu succumbed toopium addiction which was wide spread in China at the time.[3]
It was not until after the Chinese defeat in theFirst Sino-Japanese War (1894–95, fought for control of Korea) that Yan Fu became famous. He is celebrated for his translations, includingThomas Huxley'sEvolution and Ethics,Adam Smith'sThe Wealth of Nations,John Stuart Mill'sOn Liberty andHerbert Spencer'sStudy of Sociology.[4] Yan critiqued the ideas of Darwin and others, offering his own interpretations. The ideas ofnatural selection andsurvival of the fittest were introduced to Chinese readers through Yan's work.[5]: 516 The former idea was famously rendered by Yan Fu into Chinese astiānzé (天擇). Yan popularized the theory of evolution, emphasizing its ramifications for China and establishingSocial Darwinism as the framework according to which the majority of Chinese intellectuals and politicians understood international conflicts.[6]
Yan Fu served as an editor of the newspaperGuowen Bao.[7] He became politically active, and in 1895, he was involved in theGongche Shangshu movement, which opposed theTreaty of Shimonoseki ending theFirst Sino-Japanese War. In 1909, he was given an honoraryJinshi degree.[8] In 1912 he became the first principal of National Peking University (nowPeking University). Today the university holds an annual academic conference in his honor.[9]
He became a royalist and conservative who supported EmperorYuan Shikais andZhang Xunimperial ambitions in his later life. He also participated in the foundation of Chouanhui (籌安會), an organization that supported restoring the monarchy. He laughed at "New Literature Revolutionaries" such asHu Shih.
Utilitarianism and 'Life-ism' (the continuous expansion and preservation of life) were advocated by Yan andLiang Qichao, but drew criticism fromWang Guowei.[10]
On October 27, 1921, after returning to his home in Fuzhou only a year earlier to recuperate from his recurring asthma, Yan Fu died at the age of 67.
Yan stated in the preface[11] to his translation ofEvolution and Ethics (天演論) that "there are three difficulties intranslation: faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance" (譯事三難：信達雅). He did not set them as general standards for translation and did not say that they were independent of each other. However, since the publication of that work, the phrase "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance" ("Xin Da Ya") has been attributed to Yan Fu as a standard for any good translation and has become acliché in Chinese academic circles, giving rise to numerous debates and theses.[12][13] Some scholars[who?] argue that this dictum actually derived from Scottish theoretician of translation,Alexander Fraser Tytler.
Though Yan Fu's classical prose did its best to meet the standards of "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance", there were those who criticized his works for not being accessible to the younger generations. In particular, a famous liberal from theMay Fourth Movement, Cai Yuanpei, stated in an article written in 1924: "...[Yan Fu's translations]...seem to be old-fashioned and his literary style is difficult to comprehend, but the standard with which he selected books and the way he translated them are very admirable even today".[14] Other critiques of his work arose as Chinese scholars became more aware of Western learning.
Yan Fu was one of the most influential scholars of his generation as he worked to introduce Western social, economic and political ideas to China. Previous translation efforts had been focused mainly on religion and technology. Yan Fu was also one of the first scholars to have personal experiences in Western culture, whereas many prior scholars were students in Japan who then translated Western works from Japanese to Chinese. Yan Fu also played an important role in the standardization of science terminology in China during his time serving as the Head of the State Terminology Bureau.
In 1895 he publishedZhibao直報, a Chinese newspaper founded in Tianjin by the German Constantin von Hannecken (1854-1925), which contains several of his most famous essays:
Later, from 1898 to 1909, Yan Fu went on to translate the following major works of Western liberal thought:
| Academic offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President ofFudan University 1906–1907 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas President of the Imperial University of Peking | President ofNational Peking University 3 May 1912–1 October 1912 | Succeeded by |
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