This article is reproduced from: Bible Encyclopedia Network
As the church actively expands in various parts of the world, the Bible is translated into various language versions at the same time, so that more people can study it and get the light of life from it. According to statistics, there are 2,261 Bible translations (Versions) in different languages circulating around the world, which does not include different translations in the same language. While we are studying the languages, versions, and translations of the Bible, we should also have a general understanding of how the Bible was introduced into China and how it was translated into the Chinese Bible we share today. This chapter lets us explore the history of Chinese Bible translation and some important translations in each period.
The earliest history of Nestorian Bible translation
The historical records of the translation of the Bible into Chinese characters can be traced back to the Nestorian stele of the Tang Dynasty and the Dunhuang Sutra. Around AD 633 (the ninth year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty), a group of Nestorian priests headed by Bishop Alopen came from Persia (now known as Iran) to preach in Chang'an, China (now Xi'an). They are a heretical sect that split from Catholicism. After coming to China, they were called Nestorian Christians, which may mean "bright and brilliant religion". Not long after Nestorian came to China, they began to translate church classics. The "Catalogue of Sutras" in the "Zun Jing" found in the Dunhuang Grottoes
records that thirty-five classics had been translated into Chinese at that time. Some of the titles, according to scholars' research, may be the Chinese translation names of the Bible books (see Table 1):
Table 1: Comparison table between Nestorian scriptures and Bible books
On the other hand, the records in the third chapter of the Nestorian classic "Monotheism" "The Third Treatise on the Giving of the Lord" found in Dunhuang also have some scripture fragments that are very similar to Matthew 6:1-7:14 (Sacred Sermon on the Mount). Now compare this fragment of scripture with the Scotch translation as follows:
It can be seen that during the early 150 years of Nestorian Christianity in China, it is very likely that they have translated some Bible books into Chinese and occasionally quoted the Bible in other works. However, among the six existing Nestorian scriptures, there is no Bible translation, so we still have no insight into the way Nestorian priests translated the Bible.
Bishop John of Montecorvino’s missionary work and Bible translation work
It was not until the middle of the thirteenth century that the first Catholic missionary appeared in China—Bishop John of Montecorvino
O.F.M. He was born in Italy in 1247 and later became a Franciscan. In 1294, he was appointed as a special envoy by Pope Nicholas IV and arrived in Khanbali (now known as Beijing) with an autograph letter from the Pope to Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty. He was immediately allowed to preach in the Yuan Empire, and later, he was appointed by the Pope as Archbishop of the entire East. In addition to missionary work in China, Bishop Meng also works as a translator. In a letter to the Holy See in 1305 AD, he mentioned that he had translated the New Testament and Psalms into the common language of the Tatars (now known as the Mongols), and used them in liturgy and preaching. However, these translations have never been circulated, so we know little about this translation work. Bishop Meng died in 1328 (the first year of the Yuan calendar ). After that, the church's missionary career in China gradually came to an end due to the lack of successors and the demise of the Yuan Dynasty.
The Bible translation work of Jesuit missionaries from the 16th to the 17th centuries
After two centuries of silence, the Jesuits Rev. Michel Ruggieri and Matthaeus Father (Rev. Matthaeus Ricci) brought the gospel of Christ to China again. The two of them arrived in Zhaoqing, Guangdong in 1583, and started contacts with Confucian scholars and government officials. Luo Mingjian was the first Catholic missionary to write in Chinese. His "Records of the Sacred Religion of God" was the first Chinese Catholic catechism book, which discussed the nature of God, creation, immortality of the soul, the Ten Commandments and the Eucharist. It was written in 1584. However, most of the Chinese writings of the Jesuits at that time were to explain the basic doctrines of the church, such as the Trinity of God, original sin, salvation, etc. It was not until Rev. E Diaz wrote "The Biblical Interpretation of the Incarnation of God" that there was a fragmentary translation of the Bible. This book is mainly a Chinese translation and commentary of the Sunday Gospel passages, published in Beijing in 1636.
The motivation for Bible translation during this period was entirely based on the application of the Bible in church liturgy, such as Sunday gospel preaching, psalm singing in the Bible of the Hours, antiphonal singing, etc. During the period from 1676 to 1680, the Jesuit Rev. L. Buglio translated several liturgical scriptures, including the Missale Romanum (1670), Priests' Hours (1674), Our Lady's Hours (1676), and the Dead Hours (1676), etc., all of which translated some fragments of the Bible.
Bible translations from the 18th to the 20th centuries
Judging from the existing historical archives, it is likely that there was no relatively complete Chinese translation of the Bible from the 16th to the 18th centuries. This situation was not broken through until the early 18th century with the efforts of Rev. J. Basset of the Paris Foreign Mission in France. There is very little historical information about him, but the New Testament translations he left behind had a significant impact on other translations in the future, which will be discussed in detail later. This translation, known as the Bashet Translation or the Siloam Manuscript, has not been officially printed. The manuscript is now in the collection of The British Museum, and a copy is also in the collection of the Studium Biblicum O.F.M. in Hong Kong.
Since the beginning of the 19th century, Catholic missionary work in China has been in the ascendant. Therefore, more missionaries have devoted themselves to Bible translation work due to the needs of evangelization. In the early 19th century, Rev. L. de Poirot, a Jesuit priest, translated most of the Bible (except the Minor Prophets) into Chinese and named it the "Old and New Bible". Unfortunately, this translation has not been printed. It is said that it is still in the Beitang Library in Beijing. Bible translation flourished in the late 19th century, with more clergy and even lay people participating. Among them were the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, which Father Wang Thomas translated in 1875 (the first year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty), but unfortunately it was not published. There are also "The Complete Works of the New Scriptures" translated by Father Li Wenyu in 1897; "The Bible of Four Histories" (1900) and "Records of the Acts of the Apostles" (1907) translated by Father Li. The more famous translations later include: Father Ma Xiangbo's "New History Compiled Directly" (1913?) and "The Gospel of Salvation" (1949?); Xiao Jingshan's translation of "The Four Gospels" and "The Complete Works of the New Scriptures" (1922?); Wu Jingxiong's translation of "The First Draft of Psalms and Interpretations", "The Gospel" and "The Complete Works of the New Scriptures" (1946). Information on Chinese translations from the 19th to 20th centuries can be found in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Brief table of information on Chinese translations of Catholic Bibles from the 19th to the 20th centuries
The Mandarin Union Version can be said to be an important milestone in the Chinese translation of the Bible, opening a new page for Bible translation. Among the dozens of Bible translations at that time, the church and believers really needed a unified standard Bible. In fact, this "call" has appeared a long time ago. Unfortunately, differences in theological views are not easy to "unify". The experience of translating the "Commissioned Translation" is a good example.
In 1890, a missionary conference was held in Shanghai, with representatives from various mission societies attending. The conference passed the work of translating the Union Version to unify the standards for the classical Chinese, simple liberal arts and mandarin translations; and established three committees to translate these three versions.
"Simple Liberal Arts and New Testament" was the first to be completed. Shen Wenli had many twists and turns, and it took sixteen years of work to publish "Shen Wenli and the New Testament". Later, the two translation groups of Qian Wenli and Shen Wenli merged, and the "Complete Book of Wenli Translations" was published twelve years after the merger. As for the "Mandarin Union Version" translation team, due to problems in selecting translators, it took sixteen years of work to complete the New Testament, and another thirteen years of work before the Old Testament was completed, and was officially renamed the "Mandarin Union Version."
The translators of the Union Version of the Bible aimed at "loyalty to the original text," that is, "insisting on literal accuracy." However, due to changes in Bible translation principles, this goal has a new understanding: "paying attention to accuracy in meaning." During the thirteen years of translation of the Old Testament, the New Testament went through many revisions to make its translation clearer and more beautiful. The Union Version actually provided the church with a translation that was more accurate than before and more suitable for public reading. As a result, it became the most popular Bible translation among churches and believers. It gradually established a model authority and became mainstream. It also added many unique Christian vocabulary to the language system of churches and believers.
However, as archaeologists continue to make new discoveries and Bible scholars learn more and more about the original text and the historical background of the Bible, there is nothing wrong with revising the translation or re-translating the Bible into a more accurate version. At the same time, the language changes with the times. In the decades after the publication of the Union Version, the process of Chinese modernization has not stopped. The meanings of many words are different from those of the past, and the use of grammar and style has also changed. The church really needs a Bible translation that is more ideal and more suitable for contemporary people to read.
In recent years, many people have also made efforts. In the 1950s, there were Xuhui Seminary's "New Translation of the Gospel", Di Shouren's "Simple Bible Reader", and Xiao Jingshan's "New Bible Complete Works" revised in Greek; in the 1960s, there was the "Sigao Bible Translation" still used by the Catholic Church today; in the 1970s, there were "Lv Zhenzhong Translation", "Contemporary Gospel", "New Bible" "New Translation of the Testaments", "Contemporary Bible", "Modern Chinese Translation" and the "New Translation of the Bible" in the early 1990s; there is also the "New Punctuation Union Version of the Bible" which revised the "Union Version" in the 1980s; there is also the "New Chinese Translation" that is still being translated by our association (International Bible Society), and other translation work
Bible translation work is endless. From history, we see that this work has never stopped, it has been ongoing, and it must continue.
Today, we may be very interested in the strengths and weaknesses of each Bible translation, but we must understand that which translation is not the most important, the most important thing is to read some information from it. No translation is perfect, but God will always speak to us through the translation we read. When we read the Bible, God speaks to us clearly. In such a translation, as Paul said: "Some preach Christ out of jealousy and strife, and some out of good intentions." But "What does it matter? Whether it is a pretense or a sincere heart, no matter what, Christ is preached. For this, I rejoice."” (Philippians
1:15, 18)
Appendix:
----Year (A.D.)-----------------Translation-----------
----781-----------------------Nestorian Stele
----The end of the thirteenth century and the beginning of the fourteenth century------"John Menggao" "Vino Translation": Psalms, New Testament (Mongolian)
----End of the 16th century------------------Matteo Ricci's translation of "The Ten Commandments of God"
----1636----------------------- Yang Mano's "Interpretation of the Bible"
----About 1700---------------" Bashet Translation"
----End of the 18th century-----------He Qingtai's "Old New Bible", not yet printed and released
----1822-----------------------"Marshman Translation"
----1823----------------------Morrison's "Holy Book of God"
----1837---------------------- Medus , Guo Shila , Pi Zhiwen, Ma Ruhan "New Testament"
----1840---------------------- Medus, Guo Shila, Pi Zhiwen, Ma Ruhan "Old Testament" Guo Shila revised "New Testament of Jesus the Savior"
End of the 19th century ------------------- The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom deleted and printed the "Old Testament" as the "Old Testament Holy Book" and deleted the "New Testament of Jesus the Savior" as the "New Testament Holy Book"
----1850------------------------"Commissioned Edition of the Four Gospels"
----1852----- ------------------"Commissioned Translation of the New Testament"
----1953-----------------------"Commissioned Translation of the New Testament"
----1854-----------------------"Commissioned Translation"
----1857------------- ----------Metus and John Sturt rewrote the Mandarin version of the New Testament
----1859 from the "Commissioned Translation"-----------------------The New Testament
----1862 from the "Pi Zhiwen Translation"------------"Pi Zhiwen Translation"
----1866--------- ------------"The Complete New Testament in Beijing Mandarin"
----1868-----------------------The "Complete Old Testament" revised by Gothe, Luo Erti, and Dean
----1872----------------------"The Complete Book of the New Testament in Beijing Mandarin" (revised version)
----1875--- -------------------"Beijing Mandarin Old Testament" by Joseph Shi, Wang Duomo's "Records of the Apostles"
----1878-----------------------"Beijing Mandarin New and Old Testament"
----1885---------------------- Yang Gefei's "Simple Literary Translation of the New Testament" "Book"
----1889----------------------Yang Gefei's "New Testament Simple Wenli Translation" (revised edition) "Yang Gefei's Mandarin Translation of the New Testament" (revised edition) translated by John Bao and Bai Hanlihe "Yang Gefei's Mandarin Translation"
----1892---------------------- De Ya's "Annotations on the Bible of the Four Histories"
----1897- --------------------- Li Wenyu's "New Testament"
----1902 ----------------------- Joseph Shi's "Two-Finger Version"
----1905 -----------------------Yang Gefei's "A Simple Literary Translation of the Old Testament" (Song of Songs)
----1904 ----------------------- "Simple Wenli Union New Testament"
----1906 ----------------------- "Deep Wenli Union New Testament" "Mandarin Union Version of the New Testament"
----1919 ---------------------------- "Wenli Union Version" "Mandarin Union Version"
----1946----------------------Wu Jingxiong's "Translation of Psalms"
----1949----------------------Wu Jingxiong's "Complete New Testament"
----1954----------------------Xuhui Seminary's "New Translation of the Gospel"
----1955----------------------Di Shouren's "Simple Bible Reader"
----1956----------------------Xiao Jingshan's "The Complete Works of the New Testament"
----1967----------------------Xiao Tiedi's "New Testament"
---- 1968---------------------- "Scotch Bible Translation"
----1970-----------------------"Lu Zhenzhong Translation"
----1974----------------------"Contemporary Gospel"
----1976---------- ------------"New Translation of the New Testament"
----1979-----------------------"Contemporary Bible" "Modern Chinese Translation"
----1993----------------------"New Translation of the Holy Bible"
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