May Fourth Movement and the Modernity of Chinese Translation Thoughts

Translation Thought is the representation of the zeitgeist in translation.May Fourth Movement of 100 years ago, viewed as the great divide between the traditional and the modern in China, has brought about a full range of impacts on Chinese society.Translation, being an important participant in the formation of Chinese modernity on one hand, was influenced a lot, on the other hand, by the zeitgeist of May Fourth Movement.Since then, Chinese translation thoughts have begun to take on some new features, indicating a turn from the traditional to the modern.The most obvious changes of Chinese translation thoughts since May Fourth Movement can be generalized as follows: 1) translation scholars since then, have begun to think about the functions of translation from the perspective of nation-state; 2) translation scholars have begun to explore the possibility of constructing translation studies as a discipline; and 3) translators and translation scholars have begun to acquire a global vision of cultural diversity in translation.