REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 207 



currency. He is an authority that should not be neglected or over- 

 looked. 



The translator in his Introduction says, "In translating the inscrip- 

 tions on the various notes, the original wording has been followed as 

 closely as possible, with the purpose of bringing out such distinctions 

 as," etc. ; "to translate the Chinese freely . . . would have been 

 simpler, but by this method the slight but important distinctions in 

 the text of each issue could not be brought out," (p. 477). 



But this attempt at literalness has its dangers as we shall point out 

 later on. What should be aimed at in translations is not a free trans- 

 lation, but rather an idiomatic rendering equivalent in meaning to the 

 original. It is here that the translator has failed badly. Let one term 

 be taken in confirmation of this criticism. Tien hsia J£ "F occurs on 

 almost every note. This is translated, under the Heavens : 'To the 

 world' and so on. Neither of these translations is good, since they do 

 not convey to the English reader the idiomatic significance of the 

 original. Tien hsia is the idiomatic term for ''Empire or country.' So 

 in attempting to be too literal the translator has confused the meaning. 

 It must be owing to the same reason that other obscurities remain. 

 For instance / Kuan ^ft j£ is gives as one Kuan. It would have been 

 more consistent to say 'One String' or simply i Kuan, and so on 

 throughout. Again Yin tsao EP$j| is 'Coins' or 'fabricates' and not 

 prints and issues, (p. 480). I 



Fen hsing Tien hsia should be rendered for Circulation in the 

 Empire, rather than, distributed under the heavens (p. 488). Again, 

 Shou ts'ung f§" $£ is given by principal or conspirator but should be 

 principal and accomplice (p. 514, etc.). The 3rd line on plate 33 is 

 rendered by "authorization decree." A more correct rendering would 

 be The Imperial decree having been received by the Civil Board, 

 authorizing this script to bear the value of 30 taels. It is questionable 

 whether 'which value cannot be altered' is the correct rendering. The 

 word Ssu 5}c£ is rendered privately it would be better to use the 

 technical term of illegally or clandestinely. Pan pu jjg Jftj seems to 

 have disappeared in the translation of plate 10, p. 490. 



And on page 499 we have the phrase 'petitioned the Imperial 

 decree.' Now the Imperial decree cannot be petitioned — it is a dead 

 thing. Ch'ing chih ff| H is a phrase meaning, 'Having asked or 

 prayed for authority to do' (p. 501). One more : the 2nd line on 

 plate 22 is given as prints and issues (p. 503). Should it not be 'com- 

 mands the printing of?' There are many such discrepancies and they 

 are pointed out partly to show that the translator in trying to be too 

 literal has often missed the meaning. 



The Academy is to be congratulated on its enterprise and this new 

 production is most interesting and valuable. M. 



