Abstract:This is a historiographical study of translation in the West,focusing on how such fundamental issues as "the nature of translation","the principles and methods of translation" and "the role of the agency of translation" have been dealt with throughout history and on their implications to present-day translation studies in the West.Starting from an ethno-convergent view of translation studies,which the author has all along been arguing for,the paper posits the relevance of the historiogaphical study of translation in the West to studies in the current Chinese TS field,and that an open-mindedness in TS research,i.e.,a scholarly attitude that is neither Eurocentric nor Sinocentric,will be beneficial to TS development in the Chinese context and beyond.