Tsuen-hsuin Tsien

Western Impact on China Through Translation

Translation is not only a science or an art, but also a practical tool of international communication in the world-wide exchange of ideas. The importance of translation has been heightened by the increasing contacts among nations of widely divergent cultures. In the Western world, translation is considered more frequently from the linguistic than the cultural point of view, for the West has a common pattern of culture underlying its linguistic variety. The problem of communication between the East and the West is more difficult in that there are not only language barriers but also divergent cultural patterns. The translation of Western works into Chinese began near the end of the sixteenth century. Moved by religious enthusiasm, the Jesuits initiated the process and the Protestant missionaries followed. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, translation programs have been a characteristic part of Chinese governmental activity directed toward modernization and, consequently, both the subject matter translated and the languages from which they were translated indicate trends in modern Chinese thought as well as changing governmental policies. Moreover, the motivation of translation and the shifts in intellectual interests are reflected in the character and quantity of translations produced at different times.

Raw Materials for Old Papermaking in China

The discovery that fibers can be formed into a thin sheet on a screen is the key to the invention of paper. Chinese papermakers from very ancient times had selected almost all the kinds of plants known to modern paper industry as producing the best of fibers and yet being most economical in cost. The raw materials producing such fibers include the bast plants, tree bark, stalks of grasses, and other vegetation. Hemp is the earliest material known to have been used for papermaking in China before the Christian era, followed by paper mulberry from the early second century A.D. Rattan was especially popular for making the best paper in southeast China for almost a millennium from the third to about the twelfth century, when the supply of the raw material was exhausted. Bamboo then gradually replaced both rattan and hemp as the chief material for papermaking since the latter part of the eighth century. Rice and wheat straw, the bark of sandalwood and other trees, stalks of hibiscus, seaweed, and certain other plants were also used in making special kinds of paper. Whether cotton and silk have ever been used is controversial. Raw cotton is needed for textiles and is not economical, and pure silk is said to be technically not feasible for papermaking. It was probably the floss silk from the waste of silk cocoons which was used for making paper for special uses. Apparently, the raw plant fibers were not used by European papermakers until the eighteenth century when paper of Western origin began to be fabricated from raw hemp, straw, wood, and other materials as the supply of linen and cotton rags becalne insufficient. It was not until the early part of the nineteenth century that wood pulp was widely used as the chief raw material in papermaking.

Current Status of East Asian Collections in American Libraries

This study of the East Asian collections in American libraries in I97 5 provides new data on the current status of resources, growth rate, geographical distribution, acquisitions, cataloging, personnel, fiscal support, unit capabilities and cost, use patterns, and services. The analysis is based on information from ninety-three libraries, including twenty-two not previously r e p ~ r t e d . ~ Of the collections in this survey, eighty-nine are located in the United States, three in Canada, and one in Mexico. About one-half of them were established before, the other half since, 1960 (Table I). Sixty-six of the collections are in university and college libraries, six in federal libraries, seven in public libraries, and fourteen in museum and special libraries. The size of the collections varies from a few thousand to as many as over a million volumes-with I I having over 200,000volumes; 5 between ~oo,oooand 200,000volumes; 43 between ~o,oooand ~oo,ooovolumes; and 34 under ~o,ooovolumes. The incorporation of East Asian materials in branches of public libraries is a new trend, primarily for providing materials in vernacular languages to minority groups in the local c ~ m m u n i t y . ~