TRANSLATION AND RESEARCH OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE LEGAL CLASSICSDong Xiaobo & Zhang YafangII. THE CHINESE LEGAL SYSTEM AND ITS INFLUENCES
A. The Chinese Legal System and the World’s Legal Systems
B. Characteristics of the Chinese Legal System
C. The Influence of the Chinese Legal System
D. The Significance in Rejuvenation of the Chinese Legal System
III. TRANSLATION OF CHINESE LEGAL CLASSICS: SIGNIFICANCE, HISTORY AND PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED
A. Legal Classics and Their Legal Cultural Significance
B. Translation and Research Status of Chinese Legal Classics
C. Problems to Be Solved in the Translation and Research of Chinese Legal Classics
IV. TRANSLATION OF CHINESE LEGAL CLASSICS AND REJUVENATION OF THE CHINESE LEGAL SYSTEM
A. Practical Needs for the Translation of Chinese Legal Classics
B. Principles to Be Followed in the Translation of Chinese Legal Classics
C. Significances of the Translation of Chinese Legal Classics
The Chinese legal system was a long-standing and influential legal system reflecting the legal wisdom of the Chinese nation concerning national governance. The legal classics, as the carrier of Chinese legal culture, provide a critical path for understanding Chinese legal culture. The westerners’ first contact with Chinese legal culture can be traced back to the late 16th Century while the output translation of traditional legal classics started from 1810 when Sir George Thomas Staunton published the first English version of the Great Qing Legal Code. So far, the output translation of traditional Chinese legal classics has gone through over 200 years, during which the western sinologists firmly seized the initiative in translation of traditional Chinese legal classics and shaped rigid images of the Chinese legal system in the international community. As an integral part of traditional Chinese culture, the Chinese legal system is a precious fortune for the construction of the socialist rule-of-law system with Chinese characteristics and socialist country under rule of law. On one hand, the legal classics translation is conductive to seizing the initiative in output translation of Chinese legal classics, solving the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of foreign translators, enhancing the acceptance and recognition of Chinese legal culture in the international community, and laying a solid foundation for the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system. On the other hand, the legal classics translation is also beneficial for changing the international community’s prejudiced and rigid impression of the Chinese legal system, spreading the core values of Chinese legal culture, promoting the equal communication between the Chinese legal system and other legal systems, realizing ‘westward transmission of Chinese legal culture’, enhancing China’s discourse power in international rule-of-law construction, and contributing Chinese wisdom to the formation of the global rule-of-law community of shared future. A nation’s development and rejuvenation call for not only strong economic power, but also profound cultural heritage. As a decisive factor for the formation of national spirit, culture exerts such significant influence on a nation’s development to the extent the destiny thereof can be changed. For over 2,000 years, the Chinese legal system has functioned as a powerful tool for protecting national unity and stability, maintaining social order, and promoting cultural communication. Even for now, in the transformation of modern Chinese society, the Chinese legal system also plays an irreplaceable role in constructing a socialist country under the rule of law and enriching the system of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics. The traditional Chinese legal classics have stood the test of time, offering the world with such inspiring and everlasting ideas and arguments concerning the law and national governance as ‘people being the foundation of the state’, ‘combination of etiquette and laws’, ‘the law does not favor the rich and powerful’ and otherwise. According to the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Major Issues Pertaining to Comprehensively Advancing Law-based Governance passed at the fourth plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on October 23, 2014, the construction of a socialist country under the rule of law must be proceeded from China’s reality. While drawing on other countries’ useful experiences concerning the rule of law, the quintessence of traditional legal culture shall also be re-evaluated, appreciated and absorbed, since indiscriminate copying of others’ concepts and modes of the rule of law can never bring us any satisfactory outcome.In the same year, Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Symposium on Literary and Art Work, pointed out that there is a growing interest in China among the international community … literary and art workers shall promote our excellent cultural works to the world, show the charm of Chinese culture to the foreign people and deepen their appreciation and understanding thereof. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, cultural diplomacy has become a concern for the overall diplomatic strategy in China and President Xi Jinping has referred to ‘cultural confidence’ on multiple momentous occasions, with a view to advancing the progress of traditional Chinese culture. As stated in the report delivered at the 19th National Congress of the CPC, ‘we will improve our capacity for engaging in international communication so as to tell China’s stories well, present a true, multi-dimensional, and panoramic view of China, and enhance our country’s cultural soft power’.The strategy of Chinese culture ‘Going Global’, a national strategy concerning cultural construction put forward early in the 21st Century, has been steadily implemented for nearly 20 years, scoring tremendous achievements. Since Chinese legal classics are of great significance in improving the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system and directing our practices in comprehensively promoting the rule of law, the foreign promotion of these classics undoubtedly becomes a pivotal task in the implementation of Chinese culture ‘Going Global’. However, on the international level, it should be acknowledged that there is still an obvious ‘deficit’ between the outward communication of Chinese legal classics and the inward infiltration of western legal culture; while on the domestic level, little research has been done with respect to the systematic and comprehensive introduction and promotion of legal classics comparing with other cultural classics and the foreign translation still faces certain difficulties and challenges both theoretically and practically. The traditional Chinese legal classics carry and contain the legal wisdom of the Chinese nation. The translation and promotion thereof will not only enhance our cultural soft power, but also contribute Chinese wisdom to global governance. This paper analyzes the significance of translation of Chinese legal classics from the perspectives of rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system, discusses the current research status and the problems and challenges encountered, and verifies the feasibility pertaining to the promotion and acceptance of Chinese legal classics in foreign cultures, with a view to presenting excellent Chinese legal culture to the world, rejuvenating the Chinese legal system, enhancing China’s discourse power concerning the rule of law, and contributing Chinese legal wisdom to global governance. II. THE CHINESE LEGAL SYSTEM AND ITS INFLUENCESA. The Chinese Legal System and the World’s Legal SystemsLegal system can be referred to as the basic form of the global legal culture ecosystem. Speaking of the legal system, Hozumi Nobushige, one of the greatest jurists in modern Japanese history, was the first one to propose this concept. In an essay entitled On Five Major Legal Systems published in the Journal of Law Association in 1884, he compared and analyzed the legal traditions and commonness of different legal cultures around the world and then categorized them into five major legal systems, which are ‘the Indian legal system, the Chinese legal system, the Islamic legal system, the English legal system and the Roman legal system’, inspiring legal scholars and researchers to make comparison among different laws and legal cultures. Later, John H. Wigmore, in A Panorama of the World’s Legal Systems published in 1928, classified world legal systems into 16 major kinds in chronological order, among which the Chinese legal system is the third oldest legal system in the world, as well as the one that has continued to function as an effective mean of national governance for the longest period of time, that is, over 2,000 years. In 1950, Rene David, French comparative jurist, argued in Traite Elememtaire De Droit Civil Compare that, on the basis of different ideologies and legal techniques, legal systems in the world shall be classified as the Western legal system, the Socialist legal system, the Islam legal system, the Indian legal system and the Chinese legal system. Many jurists have offered their own classifications by all kinds of research methods and standards, but no matter how they approach this task, the Chinese legal system is indeed an integral part of the overall world legal systems that can never be overlooked.To form a legal system, three essential conditions must be satisfied. First of all, there should be a parent country, where the laws and institutions lay the legislative foundation for other member countries. In history, countries as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam have all been the dependent states of China; these countries have transplanted and localized Chinese laws and institutions to establish their own legal framework. As stated in History of Korea, ‘the overall institution of Korea was merely an imitation of that of Tang, the laws and regulations of which were also adopted to deal with all kinds of criminal conduct’. Secondly, all countries under a legal system shall share the same legal traditions and have consistent legal institutions. For example, in 701 AD, Emperor Mommu promulgated the Taiho Code, the first statutory code in the history of Japan, which is formulated exactly based on the Tang Code. In fact, from the 6th to 12th Century, due to frequent exchanges between Japan and China, Chinese laws along with its legal traditions and spirits were fully absorbed and transplanted by Japan. Thirdly, all countries under the legal system, though having a lot in common, should still have their own legal culture individuality. One necessary step that each member state would take after transplanting laws and institutions of China is localization, with a view to making the legal framework so constructed more suitable.It is generally recognized in domestic academic circles that the Chinese legal system ‘mainly refers to the system of laws and institutions in feudal China’. As early as 407 BC, Li Kui formulated and promulgated Fa Jing (also called The Book of Law), the first systematic statutory code in the history of China, laying the foundation for the Chinese legal system. In 1740, the government of the Qing dynasty, after more than 100 years of hard work and repeated amendments, complied and enacted the Great Qing Legal Code (namely, the Ta Tsing Leu Lee). It is the last feudal code in Chinese history, epitomizing the overall traditional legal thoughts and legislation experiences. In a word, the development of the Chinese legal system can be summarized as ‘sprouted in the pre-Qin period, thrived in Sui and Tang Dynasties, matured in Ming and Qing Dynasties and collapsed in the late Qing Dynasty’.B. Characteristics of the Chinese Legal System1. Under the Profound Influence of Confucianism. — Confucianism is the guiding ideology of the Chinese legal system. With respect to the views on the universe or the world, the Chinese legal system follows the principle of ‘unity of man and nature’ and pursues the harmony between human and nature, human and society, as well as nature and society. The Confucianists believe that humans and nature are somehow interlinked and we can find the basis of law regulating human beings in the laws of nature. Anyone violating the law will violate the laws of nature and is bound to be punished. So, every member of society should revere nature and obey the laws, therefore forming the harmony-oriented legal spirit. With respect to national governance, Confucianism advocates the combination of propriety and law. In the Analects of Confucius, there is a saying ‘Lead the people with administrative injunctions (zheng政) and keep them orderly with penal law (xing刑), and they will avoid punishments but will be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence (de德) and keep them orderly through observing ritual propriety (li礼), and they will develop a sense of shame, and moreover, will order themselves’, which emphasizes the guiding function of propriety towards law. In the Chinese legal system, ‘propriety’ and ‘law’ are two different but indivisible concepts. Both are evolved from social conventions and customs. Propriety functions as the standard of law while law facilitates the enforcement of the law. What is allowed by propriety shall never be prohibited by law, and, in turn, what is forbidden in law will surely be against propriety. The combination of propriety and law is the most salient feature that distinguishes the Chinese legal system from other legal systems in the world, without which no true understanding of the Chinese legal system may ever be reached.With respect to the value of life, the Chinese legal system shows a strong inclination for humanism. ‘Benevolence’ is the core concept of Confucianism, as well as the highest moral principle. ‘The benevolent love others’ advocated by Confucianists focuses on the discovery, respect and appreciation of human value. As stated in Mengzi, ‘Of the first importance are the people, next comes the food of land and grains, and of the least importance is the ruler’, stressing the value of human being in the overall governance structure of a state. The Chinese legal system, being deeply influenced by such ideology, develops such legal principles as ‘put people first’, ‘morality guiding and punishment supplementing’, ‘integrate punishment with education’ and otherwise. 2. Family-oriented Law Being of Vital Importance in Overall Legal System. — Throughout the history, the family-oriented law has always been a fundamental part with indisputable importance. Karl Marx argued that each production mode would create its corresponding legal right relation and government form. Proverbially, Ancient Roman law is established on individualism and right orientation, ancient Chinese law, on the contrary, is established on collectivism and obligation orientation. Xunzi once said, ‘In physical power, humans are not as good as an ox, in swiftness they do not equal the horse; yet the ox and horse can be put to their use. Why is that? I say it is because humans alone can form societies and animals cannot’. In other words, the reason for humans being the only species at the top of the food chain is that humans can unite as one and use the power of ‘group’. While in feudal society, the ‘group’ equals family. Family is the most basic unit in social production and living, as well as the smallest organization bearing the obligations of paying taxes, performing military service, implementing infrastructure construction and otherwise. The characteristic of family orientation in the Chinese legal system is formed by natural selection rather than logical selection. In feudal times, the static and self-sufficient economy with poor productivity decides that humans must form the group in order to conduct production activities, therefore developing a labor organization form on the basis of the family. Multiple independent families unite as a clan through patrilineal consanguinity and, under the leadership of the patriarch, carry out a series of activities. In a big family, the patriarch is supreme in his power, but shall also assume great responsibilities. As an old saying goes, ‘nothing can be accomplished without norms and standards’. In order to ensure the justice and equity of management and establish authority within the family, the patriarch must establish reasonable and effective rules for the reward and punishment of the clan members. Such domestic rules exercised by the head of a feudal household with an aim to regulate the conducts of members thereunder are, to some extent, the earliest laws in ancient China. With the innovation of production tools, the productive force further develops. In order to exploit more resources for production and ensure the security and prosperity of the family, big patrilineal families start to look for allies and the alliance so established is exactly the embryo of a feudal state. Since the state is the unity of families, ‘the law of the state’ is nothing but extraction and integration of social conventions at the time and ‘rules of the family’. To sum up, family rules lay the theoretical foundation for state laws while state laws enhance the validity of family rules. Mencius said, ‘the world is based on the state, the state on the family, and the family on the individual’. As the patriarch helps the local government to fulfill certain responsibilities and functions, the state, in turn, acknowledges the absolute control of the patriarch over the family and endorse the patriarchal family system by law. Taking the Tang Code as an example, in the ‘ten categories of major crimes’, there are four categories of crimes directly involving family relationships, which are E’ni (premeditated assault and murder of elder kin), Buxiao (curse, sue or refuse to support one’s grandparents and parents; conceal the death of grandparents and refuse to hold a funeral; hold the wedding ceremony and organize recreational activities during the funeral of elder kin), Bumu (assault, denounce or murder one’s spouse, elders or relatives), and Neiluan (commit adultery with the concubine of grandfather or father’, vividly reflecting the family orientation of Chinese legal system. Within such a legal system, there are no firm boundaries between the ethical obligations for the family and legal obligations for the state, both family rules and state laws are adopted to maintain social order and enhance autocratic rule. The two kinds of laws, though having different theoretical bases, share the same spirit and supplements each other in implementation. In a word, obvious family orientation is one of the unique features of the Chinese legal system. 3. Emperor Holding Both Legislative and Judicial Powers. — The legislative system and judicial system are two major branches in the framework of a legal system. It is thus necessary to analyze and summarize the features of these two systems in the discussion about the characteristics of the Chinese legal system. On one hand, the emperor controls the paramount power of legislation. Since in the Zhou dynasty, there is a dominant argument, ‘ritual propriety (li礼), music (yue乐), and punitive campaigns are initiated by the emperor’, indicating that the will of the emperor is the primary source of law. The edict issued in the name of the emperor is a form of law with supreme status, as well as the most authoritative doctrine guiding judicial practices. Where there is a conflict between the edict and the law, the former shall prevail. In the Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong once expressly announced that ‘With respect to the issuance of decree and enactment of the law, the ultimate decision shall lie with the sovereign’. In the Ming Dynasty, the legislative power, in principle, remained to be the exclusive power of the emperor. When the first draft of The Great Ming Code (Da Ming Lv) is completed, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, also released a special edict, requiring the officials participating in the formulation of the Code to ‘report the detailed terms and conditions so formulated on a daily basis to let him decide in person’. Relevant examples are too numerous to mention. In a word, once the legislative power is controlled by the emperor, the nature of law has changed from a governance tool owned by the state to that owned by the emperor himself. The core values of law, which are fairness and justice, are ruined since the imperial power is above the law.On the other hand, the emperor holds absolute judicial power as the most powerful judge. First of all, the emperor owns the most comprehensive jurisdiction since all cases involving capital felonies, of significant social impact and with major disputes shall be judged and approved thereby. Taking the approval of the death penalty as an example, during the Wei and Jin period, when it comes to the determination of the death penalty, no punishment may ever be executed without submitting to the emperor for approval in advance. If not, the law officer in charge will be punished. What is more, the emperor may, at will, impose punishment on anyone under his rule regardless of any law or statute. The old saying that ‘To be in the emperor’s company is tantamount to living with a tiger’ seems to be true. People could be deprived of their properties or even have the whole family be executed simply for saying something provoking discontent of the uppermost ruler. Examples of arbitrary punishment ordered by the emperor without judgment in accordance with laws abound in history. Last but not least, the emperor also enjoys the power of absolution, which enables him to set free any offender violating the law. This power, to some extent, is like an ancient counterpart of the modern president pardon, but a limitless version. Originated in the Han Dynasty, the ‘Danshu Tiequan’ is a certificate of the privilege granted by the emperor to his subjects making meritorious contributions to the state. The holder of such a certificate can be spared from the death penalty for 1 to 3 times. For all intents and purposes, the law loses its independence and becomes a vassal of imperial power the very moment when the emperor seizes the judicial power. 4. An Uninterrupted and Purified Legal System Created by Multiple Nationalities. — On one hand, the Chinese legal system is a legal system with strong national features. It is widely known that the Chinese nation is a big family comprised of multiple nationalities of all ages. The Chinese legal system, thus, has integrated the legal consciousness and legal wisdom of different nationalities. According to The Shu King, ‘The people of Miao were unmerciful in their regulations regarding punishments. They instituted five kinds of terrible inflictions and called them laws ...’, the five penalties so formulated were then adopted by the ruler of Huaxia people, namely, the Han nationality, and gradually developed into a prevailing system of punishment in Xia, Shang and Zhou Periods. The overall structure and the fundamental contents of laws in the Sui and Tang dynasties were designed and constructed by reference to the code implemented by the ruler of Xianbei nationality. Not only would the Han nationality learn from the legislation experiences of the minorities, the minorities, in turn, would also absorb the essence of the legal system constructed by the Han nationality. Almost every regime established by minorities like Xixia, Liao, Jin and Yuan have formulated legal framework based on laws and institutions of the Tang and Song Dynasties. And the rulers of the Qing Dynasty have even declared that all laws and regulations shall be formulated in accordance with the basic principle of ‘referring to the laws of the Han nationality and considering the actual situations of the Jurchen nationality’. Thus, it could be concluded that the Chinese legal system is a unified combination of legal cultures and spirits of multiple nationalities. The incessant exchanges and mutual learning between different nationalities have endowed the Chinese legal system with ever-lasting vitality and rich diversity, making it stand towering in the world legal system community.On the other hand, created and developed by the Chinese nation, prospered and thrived in the mainland, the Chinese culture is an indigenous culture to the backbone. As an important branch of the Chinese culture, the traditional legal culture in China has treated Confucianism as its only orthodoxy. ‘In the Han and Tang Dynasties, Buddhist culture was introduced and spread in China. In the Qing Dynasty, minorities even ruled the state. However, the legal system of China remained unchanged. It had neither incorporated or mixed with doctrines of other legal systems, nor existed parasitically on any other legal system. The reason for such independence might be the purity of culture’. Among all legal systems in the world, the Chinese legal system is the only legal system not mixing any foreign element or feature and all the institutions and ideologies thereof are invented and developed endogenously. It is widely held in the academic circle that ‘purity’ is the essential feature that makes the Chinese legal system stand out. And such purity is formed due to a variety of underlying causes: as for the geographical conditions, China is an East Asian country with a large territory. The favorable geographic location and abundant natural resources created perfect conditions for long-term, stable development and autonomy; as for the economic type, ancient China was an agricultural country. It developed an agriculture-oriented legal system regarding the protection and development of agriculture as its absolute and primary task and the closeness of agricultural production also resulted in the closeness and conservatism of the legal system; and as for the cultural elements, the Chinese culture stems from the Huaxia culture created by the Huaxia nationality. And the Huaxia nationality itself, in the first place, was an alliance of several different tribes. Such diversity in nationality composition has exerted propounding influences on legal culture. Therefore, the Chinese legal system becomes a self-contained, purified legal system with inner openness and diversity.C. The Influence of the Chinese Legal System1. The Influences of the Chinese Legal System on East Asian Countries and Regions. — The western culture had truly influenced and threatened the Chinese culture at the last reign of the Qing Dynasty when the great west powers intruded on this ancient oriental empire. But before that, China has always been the leader among all East Asian countries and regions and the Chinese culture is also the only source for cultures developed in this area. Countries like Japan, Korea and Vietnam are all member states under the Chinese legal system. The legal institutions and systems of these countries have all inherited the core legal spirit and tradition created and developed by the Chinese nation. The East Asian legal culture formed on the basis of the Chinese legal system has flourished and developed into a powerful legal culture standing with the legal culture dominating the western world, that is, the Roman legal culture, as an equal.As for state-to-state relations, there was a leader-member relationship between China and East Asian countries in ancient times since China used to be the suzerain state of its East Asian neighbors. Japan, Korea and Vietnam have all, in history, been the vassal states of China. A typical example thereof is Korea. As noted in the History of Former Han Dynasty, ‘After the end of the Shang Dynasty, Jizi went to Korea, educated people thereof with rite and morality, brought about techniques of agriculture and textile, and established eight major prohibitive provisions’. This indicates that Korea was the fief of Jizi in the Zhou Dynasty. The superior-subordinate administrative relationship has resulted in Korea’s transplant of the Chinese legal system. As argued by Angus Hamilton, ‘The principles and character of Korean law presented no very marked deviation from that which had been upheld in China through so many centuries. The rigid and conservative legal system established and implemented by China has dominated Korea for so long ...’. Professor Yang Honglie also pointed out that all laws and regulations enacted by Korea before 1905 are imitations of Chinese laws. Thus, it can be concluded that, in ancient times, the leader-member relationship between China and other East Asian countries has laid a solid foundation for the top-down spreading of Chinese legal culture.As for the degree of influence, the laws in East Asian countries are deeply influenced by traditional Chinese legal culture in all aspects. With regard to the historical origin of law, East Asian countries have all developed their own laws and regulations on the basis of the Chinese law. With regard to the ideology of law, these countries, under the guidance of Confucianism, have formed an ideology integrating human sentiment, natural justice and legislation, which is radically different from that of other legal systems. With regard to the implementation of the law, administrative organs and judicial organs at the central government level assumed different functions and responsibilities while, below this level, the administrative organs took overall control of both administrative and judicial affairs. With regard to the knowledge type, legal science in these countries was more of science focused on interpretation and annotation of law in accordance with feudal rites and imperial politics compared to western legal science.As for the method of influence, the Chinese legal system has exerted its influences on the East Asian countries mainly by official communication and learning activities led by the government. Among these countries, Japan is the one most affected by the Chinese legal culture. ‘Japanese law has belonged to the Family of Chinese law for more than one thousand six hundred years. Though dramatic changes have taken place after the Taika Reform, the moral philosophy and the ancestor worship custom and feudal system of China still function as the foundation of the Japanese legal system’, said Hozumi Nobushige in the Civil Code of Japan. The communication between China and Japan can be traced back to the 1st Century AD. From the beginning of the 7th Century to the end of the 9th Century, Japan had assigned its diplomatic mission to visit China multiple times. The diplomats, also called Kentoushi, stayed in China in order to get a full experience and thorough understanding of Chinese culture. They then brought back the advanced legislation and legal construction experience to Japan and facilitated the rulers to redesign their legal framework and reform the political institution. At this stage, the traditional legal culture of China has revolutionized the way in which the Japanese ruling class governed the society and resulted in the famous Taika Reform in history. Speaking of the successful transplantation and application of the Chinese legal system, the contributions of official cultural exchanges initiated by the government cannot go unnoticed. Such communication activities not only boosted the mutual understanding and cooperation between countries, but also enhanced the influences of the Chinese legal system. 2. The Influences of the Chinese Legal System on the Western World. — It was in the Middle Ages when Chinese legal culture aroused obvious attention of the western world. In The Travels of Marco Polo, there are clear descriptions of the Chinese family law and the penalty system of the Yuan Dynasty. After the 16th Century, western scholars had carried out deeper studies on Chinese legal culture and proposed tremendous critics and profound insights regarding all aspects of the Chinese legal system. G. W. Leibniz, the great German philosopher and jurist, have introduced laws of China in his Novissima Sinica: Historiam Nostri Temporis Illustratura published in 1679, in which he argued that ‘China is a great country with the smaller territory but larger population and superior national governance than that of the civilized Europe’ and recommended that Chinese legal culture and the western legal culture can complement and balance each other. F. M. Voltair, as a sincere advocate of Confucius and Confucianism, also had very high regard for Chinese law, ‘The two things that Chinese people make the greatest efforts to understand, cultivate and complete are morality and law’. As he argued, ‘in other countries, laws are applied to punish crime. But in China, the function of law extends as it is also used to reward good deeds’, the combination of morality, politics and law has endowed the Chinese legal system with eternal vitality. As there are tremendous differences between the East and the West, the influences of the Chinese legal system on the western world are limited mainly in the academic circle and the institution and legal practices therein are barely affected. The promotion of the Chinese legal system therein exhibits three basic features. First of all, the promotion of the Chinese legal system in western countries is mainly achieved by peaceful communication instead of by war or conquers. Guided by the Confucian doctrine, the central government of each dynasty in Chinese history basically followed the principle of ‘subdue men by virtue’ when handling relations with other countries and tried to promote an international relation framework of ‘treating foreign nations with courtesy and guiding the people with kindness’, under which the interactions among different countries shall be in conformity with rite and law. These two constitute the general code of conduct universally observed by all Chinese and the standards implemented by the central government in dealing with international relations. And the promotion of Chinese legal culture is no exception. What is more, foreign missionaries were the main force in the promotion of traditional Chinese legal culture in the western world. They are the well-deserved pioneers and founders for Sino-West legal cultural exchanges. Whether the Jesuits came to China from Portugal, Italy and Spain in the middle of the 16th Century or the protestant missionaries from Great Britain and America in the 19th Century have all acted as an important intermediary in the cultural communication and promotion between the East and the West. Many missionaries stayed in China for over 20 years and devoted themselves to the study and translation of Chinese classics. The introduction and arguments related to Chinese law were perhaps the first-hand materials for the western academic circle. If we take a careful examination on the historical materials concerning Chinese legal culture cited by the European jurists, philosophers, ideologists and writers at the time, we will find that the classics so cited were all translated by the missionaries. Western scholars in the past barely visited China and their understanding and perception of China were generally formed by the descriptions and introduction made by missionaries and the Chinese classics so translated. Therefore, missionaries’ travel in the ancient oriental empire is of great significance for the spreading of traditional Chinese legal culture in the western world. Last but not least, the outland promotion of traditional Chinese legal culture is relatively passive as it is realized mainly by conscious learning and arbitrary implementation of westerners in China. Whether in dynasties with a high level of cultural openness like the Han and Tang or in dynasties when the central government adopted a foreign policy of seclusion like the Ming and Qing, very scarcely did the rulers in China actively promote their laws and culture to the outer world. Foreign countries and regions, no matter in or outside the Chinese cultural circle, have to be the active carrier of Chinese culture and complete the overall process of cultural transmission, that is, contact, selection and input, while China, the owner of its culture, stands by and only focuses on development and perfection of its own. 3. Conclusion. — Given the above, the promotion of the traditional Chinese legal system in the foreign world can be divided into two categories, one is the equal exchange among different legal systems and the other is the absorption and transplant of superior legal culture by the backward culture within the same legal system. The former mainly refers to the interactive relationship between China and Europe in respect of legal culture exchanges. In the Age of Exploration envoys, merchants and missionaries adventured to China from distant Europe, bringing in western culture. In the meanwhile, the philosophy, history and legal culture were also transmitted to Europe. Unlike the East Asian countries, European countries inherited the civilization of ancient Greece and Rome and had developed a relatively comprehensive legal culture. There were the Roman Law, the Germanic Law and the Canon Law growing in the Continent, constituting an integrated legal system. Both the Chinese legal system and the European legal system are cultivated and matured in their unique political and cultural environment and both held the unquestionable leading position within their own turfs. Therefore, the influences of the Chinese legal system on Europe are bound to be equal communication and exchange. In addition, Europeans, like the Chinese favoring their legal culture, also possess strong confidence in and a sense of superiority towards the legal culture of the Continent, which has resulted in an inevitable preference and subconscious inclination in their understanding and comprehension of the traditional Chinese legal system. Whether the result is objective or not, the comparative studies concerning Sino-west legal systems carried out by the westerners have confirmed the influences of the Chinese legal system on the foreign world. The latter appertains to the imitation and localization of legal thoughts, culture and institutions by member states within the Chinese legal system. Before the rise of Western colonialism, there is an outstanding regional order in the Asia called ‘Chinese rule-of-rite system’. With the feudal government of China being the center of authority and rule-of-rite as the guiding principle, this system has played a positive role in maintaining and stabilizing bilateral and multilateral relations between and among China and its neighboring countries and region. In this system, China is the one dominating the development of the whole area in all aspects. Politically, there is a suzerain-vassal relationship between China and the East Asian countries and regions. Economically, China is the biggest economy with abundant resources, strong productivity and well-developed economic system. Culturally, as an integral part of traditional culture, the Chinese legal system lies at the heart of East Asian legal culture and has become the standard for member states’ imitation and transplantation. Comparing with China, these countries during the same period lagged behind as they usually did not have independent and integrated legal institutions and frameworks. So, in order to realize effective national governance, they all made the choice of transplanting and internalizing the Chinese laws and legal institutions based on their special national situations to establish their own. Such all-around imitation is the most prominent presentation for the influences of the traditional Chinese legal system on the outer world. D. The Significance in Rejuvenation of the Chinese Legal SystemBy the early 20th Century, the feudal society of China finally fell apart. The Chinese legal system, as a derivative of feudal system culture, lost its foundation of independent existence and became a ‘dead legal system’. Nowadays, many people hold that the Chinese legal system has lost its original vitality and become obsolete as it failed to keep abreast of the time, but the in-depth impacts imposed by the legal consciousness and ideology derived from traditional legal culture on a nation’s social structure can never be eliminated in the short run. The essence and ultimate value goal of the Chinese legal system may be a useful historical reference for the facilitation of Chinese legal modernization, promotion of ‘the Belt and Road Initiatives’, and contribution of Chinese legal wisdom to global rule-of-law construction. The rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system can facilitate the inheritance of the excellent traditional legal culture and identify the roots of the modern Chinese legal system. With the deepening of economic globalization, legal globalization has also been considered an integral part of global development. ‘During the process of global legal modernization, the legal life of China has gradually integrated into the global legal system’. Such concepts in the western legal culture as ‘human rights’, ‘separation of powers’, ‘democracy and freedom’ and ‘inviolability of private property’ have brought about a strong dash to the Chinese legal culture, but the impact is rather limited because it cannot or will not touch the inherent qualities thereof. ‘Even in the time of globalization when the world gradually integrates as a whole and the commonality in development of law tends to increase, the modernization of a world legal system, to the contrary, shows a high degree of diversification instead of integration. The specificity in the development of law is exactly the significance of global legal modernization. The laws with national characteristics and local traits are, to all intents and purposes, laws with globality and internationality’. During the construction of a legally modernized country, prudent and reasonable absorption and utilization of the traditional legal culture would bring something inspiring to the modern Chinese legal system, enrich the Chinese legal culture, enhance the national cultural soft power, improve legal literacy of Chinese people and promote the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity.The rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system can upgrade the rule of law of China and boost the development of ‘the Belt and Road Initiatives’. On one hand, it cannot be denied that China, as the parent country of the Chinese legal system, still has a long way to go with respect to its rule-of-law construction comparing to England, the parent country of the common law system, and France, the parent country of the civil law system. Therefore, the most fundamental goal of rejuvenating the Chinese legal system lies in promoting the rule-of-law construction of China, putting it on par with that of parent countries of other modern legal systems in the near future. On the other hand, the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system also includes the construction and development of the member states. The parent country and the member states all belong to one legal system and thus can be referred to as a ‘modern rule-of-law community’. The commonalities between the rule of law in the parent country and that of the member states can provide the basis for positive communication and friendly negotiation. Currently, the rule of law in countries that have echoed the ‘the Belt and Road Initiatives’ varies considerably and such unevenness has already brought about some side effects for the economic and trade cooperation. Therefore, in order to narrow the gap of rule of law, guarantee fair and even exchange, improve regional cohesion and increase efficiency in communication and cooperation, we should strive to construct the member states of the Chinese legal system in a new age and promote the establishment of a regional rule-of-law community composed of countries joining the ‘the Belt and Road Initiatives’.The rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system can push the global rule-of-law construction with Chinese wisdom. It may not only revitalize this old and ‘dead’ legal system and turn it into a new and modernized one, but also expand the family of global modern legal systems and alter the existing setup thereof. In today’s world, there are only two modern legal systems, the common law system and the civil law system, that are of considerable practical significance, while ‘the Indian legal system, the Islamic legal system, and the Chinese legal system headed into extinction silently’. As we can see, the parent countries of the two living legal systems are western countries, which means no parent country for the modern legal system in the east. By rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system, it may be possible to change the status quo and establish a new and independent modern legal system completely different from its western counterparts, therefore enhancing the diversity in form and organization of modern world legal systems. In addition, the contribution to the world legal system construction is, in fact, a contribution to the global rule-of-law construction. Thus, the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system aims at constructing a rule of law different from the rule of law in other countries, that is, a socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, and transforming China, the country representing one fifth of the total world’s population, into a country under the rule of law.
III. TRANSLATION OF CHINESE LEGAL CLASSICS: SIGNIFICANCE, HISTORY AND PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVEDA. Legal Classics and Their Legal Cultural Significance1. Definition of Legal Classics. — ‘Classics is a kind of special social products reflecting certain thoughts and consciousness of human beings, including human science, social science, science and technology and otherwise’. Our ancestors have accumulated rich experiences and lessons during national governance practice of thousands of years and produced an immense number of legal classics. As we can see, there is a duality in the internal structure of legal culture, ‘one is the institutional legal culture, such as laws and regulations, legal system and otherwise; another is the conceptual legal culture, such as legal theories, legal psychology and legal customs’. Therefore, legal classics, as the carrier of legal culture, will inevitably be composed of substantial systems and codes and ideal legal thoughts and theories. In a broad sense, traditional Chinese legal classics not only involve laws, legislation, legal institution, but also cover ideology, culture and sociology. Thus, legal classics shall contain ‘written materials generated in legislation, judicial acts, law popularization, law interpretation, academic activities and otherwise, including official statutes, laws, regulations, decrees, orders, administrative and judicial instruments, judgment documents, legal science literature, practice reference, village rules, service guidelines, and otherwise’, as well as materials and contents relating to law in all cultural and art classics. According to the statistics of General Catalogue of Ancient Books of China, there are over 200,000 ancient books in China, among which ‘Books of Penal Code’ alone accounts for nearly 800 therein. An Annotated Bibliography of Chinese Legal History edited by Zhang Weiren has categorized legal documents by norm, system, theory, and practice and recorded 2,352 books and works in total, which is the most detailed and complete summary of legal documents. As for the cultural and art classics involving law and legal affairs, the actual figure is too difficult and innumerous to be counted.In a narrow sense, legal classics refer to the ancient codes and laws enacted or confirmed by the state with the enforcement of which being guaranteed by the coercive power of the state, including the official code and its different supplementary forms. In accordance with incomplete bibliographic statistics, there are 160 official codes in China if we take the Nine Chapters of Law as the first and the Great Qing Legal Code as the last. In addition to official codes, there are multiple supplementary legal forms such as ‘lv’ (律), ‘ling’ (令), ‘ge’ (格), ‘shi’ (式) and ‘chi’ (敕). ‘lv’ refers to the ‘laws that are considerably representative and relatively stable’. It is the major form of ancient law but not the only form, which means the function and effect thereof are often supplemented and restricted by other legal forms. For example, there are ‘ling’, ‘ke’ (科) and ‘bi’ (比) in the Han Dynasty; ‘ge’, and ‘shi’ in the Sui and Tang Dynasties; ‘chi’ in the Song Dynasty; ‘li’ (礼) in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. These supplementary legal forms are generally established in consideration of special national conditions and historical background and therefore possess stronger flexibility comparing to the official codes. Additionally, ancient China is a unitary multi-national country. Though the Han nationality has played a major role in the establishment of the Chinese legal system, many minority ethnic groups have also made nonnegligible contribution thereto and achieved outstanding achievements in ethnic legislation, for instance, the Mongolia Law, General Principles of Tibet, Regulations of Unger Xinjiang, and otherwise formulated in the Qing Dynasty are all legal wisdom contributed by minority ethnic groups to the Chinese legal system. In short, these precious ancient Chinese legal classics recorded the struggles and successes of legal practitioners, inherited and passed on the Chinese spirit of the law, and molded the legal cultural memory of the Chinese nation as well as the overall East Asia region. 2. The Legal Cultural Significance of Legal Classics. — ‘Legal culture, as a constituent part of human culture, integrates all activities in relation to law, legal thoughts, legal systems, legal enforcement in the social superstructure and the results thereof. It is the product of human legal activities as well as the manifestation for status and completion degree of real legal practices’. From a spiritual perspective, ‘legal culture can be construed as the spiritual part of the legal phenomenon, that is, the integration of collective cognition, evaluation, mental state and behavior pattern concerning law and legal life accumulated during the process of social progress, which depends on the social economic basis and political structure’. Like culture, legal culture is also characterized by nationality, regionality and diversity. Legal classics are those classical texts written by intellectual elites specialized in law, politics and social governance, containing major legal wisdom of that nation and at the same time constituting the visible part of the legal culture. In such classics, records of institutions and regulations, descriptions of legal events, and assessment of legal phenomenon can be found. We may catch a glimpse of the overall legal system of such a nation from those legal classics and they, undoubtedly, are of great legal cultural significances. Firstly, ‘classics are major books and literature written in characters passed down from history’. Ancient Chinese have summarized experiences and created countless cultural works. These works, in some sense, can be deemed as a comprehensive conclusion of practical experiences and public values and a concentrated reflection of how generations of Chinese people gradually develop their knowledge classification, value judgment and survival skills during their understanding, contact and transformation of the outer world. They are the precious spiritual legacies left by the ancestors. Additionally, the cultural creation of classics is never a one-time effort as the classics possess strong cultural adaptability and can be deconstructed, interpreted and processed over and over again. Therefore, learning from classics and exploring the cultural connotation contained therein will not only facilitate personal growth, but also benefit the sustainable development of the Chinese nation. Secondly, the classics function as a carrier of legal culture. The values and ideology so contained constitute the core of Chinese legal culture and have played such cultural roles as establishing legal infrastructure, guiding public behavior, evaluating legal phenomenon, and facilitating the development of rule of law. For example, the ‘rule-of-rite’ system strongly advocated in Confucian classics suggests that an excellent rule shall use moral education as the dominant method and punishment as the supplementary method. The legislation in all dynasties of China is subject to such ideology of ‘morality given priority over punishment’, which led to a special legal framework of ‘lv’ and ‘ling’. In this framework, ‘lv’ is functioning as the negative and ex post punishment tool that protects the target behavior pattern by exerting different levels of deterrence on the guilty ones during the execution of punishment while ‘ling’ sets up the positive standards for people’s behaviors and promotes such by means of moral education. All in all, it is the traditional legal ideology in the classics that influences the design and application of such a special ‘lv-ling’ system and supports the evolvement thereof. Thirdly, classics also play an important role in the transition of legal culture. The transition always takes place in an outside-in manner, which means the outer legal infrastructures, legal texts, organization and system changes from time to time while the inner core legal cultural ideology remains relatively stable. Hence, as the expression media of core legal cultural ideology, classics used to and will continue to perform such legal cultural function in order to realize the smooth transition of a value system and man-made environment. For example, in the late Qing Dynasty, Chinese society had undergone radical changes. The old legal forms were abandoned to the ground and the implantation of western discourse had led to the creation of plentiful western-style laws and regulations. However, the expression form of law may have changed a lot, people’s apprehension and values shaped by the legal culture contained in those classics can hardly ever be in sync with the change of times. In the application of new laws at that time, since people were still deeply influenced by traditional legal values in the classics, such values were then mixed in the new laws to improve public acceptability. Thus, the legal cultural change and reconstruction of China at that time shows a distinct feature of the ‘westernized Chinese style’.In conclusion, classics formed during the historical development can be called the paramount manifestation of a culture. It covers all institutional design, organization and agency settlement, legislation standard, enforcement pattern and application methods in relation to the law. The evolvement and transition of legal culture take place when the ethical values and instructional rules expressed by legal classics act on the legal system. However, the legal implantation and cultural transition of China in modern times reflect a one-sided tendency of negating the traditional. Under the mass legislation, there is a crisis of value fragmentation caused by the excessive disavowal of traditional culture. And people, due to the absence of united values, will not voluntarily respect and obey the specific laws and regulations in their daily life. Therefore, the demands for the reconstruction of united legal values and elimination of the unsuitability of ‘westernized’ laws and regulations have made the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system and reinterpretation and promotion of traditional Chinese legal classics imperative. B. Translation and Research Status of Chinese Legal ClassicsThe history of communication among different civilizations is actually a history of translation since it is neither appropriate nor possible to carry out cultural exchange without translation. To survey comprehensively on the foreign translation of Chinese legal classics, the interest of the western world in the Chinese legal system and rule-of-law culture can be traced back to more than 500 years ago. In the 16th and 17th Centuries, European merchants and missionaries traveled to China, wrote down their experiences and feelings about different aspects of China and brought such travel notes, which contains description and evaluation of Chinese legal culture, back to Europe. The Sino-foreign cultural exchange from thereon to the mid-18th Century undergone twists and turns and developed in a relatively small scale and slow speed. After the 18th Century, the foreign translation of Chinese legal classics finally ushered in a spring owing to the vigorous Sino-foreign cultural exchange. The legal translation since modern times has been focused on four major legal classics, which are the Great Qing Legal Code, The Washing Away of Wrongs (Xi Yuan Ji Lu), The Tang Code (Tang Lv Shu Yi), and The Great Ming Code. The foreign translation of Chinese legal classics can be classified into three types in accordance with the purposes of translation, degree of completion and identity of the translator. 1. Preliminary Understanding of Chinese Legal Classics. — In the first place, the western missionaries and merchants learned about the Chinese language and culture and studied classics for the purposes of carrying out transactions and preaching their religious belief in China, they tried to find the origins of Chinese culture. After years of living in China, they got to know the Chinese language and culture well. They introduced what they saw and experienced in China either by travel notes or oral description to their compatriots, removing some of the mystery of this ancient oriental empire and further deepening westerners’ understanding of China. Marco Polo, the world-famous Italian explorer, traveled through Persia to China in 1275 and lived therein for 17 years. In his travelogue, The Travels of Marko Polo, he described China as a rich and advanced nation where the judges fulfill their duties with loyalty and selflessness and transactions are implemented in perfect order. Later, Juan Gonsales de Mendoza, a Spanish monk, compiled a book titled Historia del Gran Reino de la China in 1585 based on diplomatic reports, documents, correspondences and writings by order of Pope Gregory XIII, giving a relatively comprehensive description of the legal culture of ancient China. The book ‘touches on the essence of life in ancient China. Its publication marked the beginning of an era when a set of standards applicable for knowledge of China and its institutions can be utilized by the European academia’. The book has promoted the political systems and laws of China to Europe, attracting the intense interest of Europeans in China, but unfortunately, it fails to directly refer to the original text of Chinese legal classics, rendering the contents concerning law nothing but subjective hearsay and reducing the authenticity to a great extent. During the latter half of the 16th Century, Matteo Ricci, an Italian Catholic missionary who preached in China for 28 years, praised ancient China for multiple aspects of its political and legal culture.By the end of the 18th Century, trade bustled between western countries and China, more and more foreigners came to China. In the coastal regions of that time, foreign sailors and merchants often conflicted with local people and criminal crimes involving foreigners took place occasionally, urging them to pay attention to the most important code of China, namely, the Great Qing Legal Code, and other relevant provisions governing criminal cases. After the Opium War, westerners started to build factories and churches in China, resulting in relevant civil disputes. In order to achieve an efficient settlement, westerners then shifted their attention to the terms and provisions concerning civil disputes in the Great Qing Legal Code. However, foreign society at that time still judged the Chinese law under constant suspicion and criticism, or even institutional superiority and prejudice. Essentially, their translation of the Great Qing Legal Code served for nothing but profiting by invasion and preaching. 2. Abridged Translation of Chinese Legal Classics. — After getting the whole picture of the Chinese legal culture and system, the westerners started to translate certain legal works to deepen their understanding of Chinese legal life and better facilitate their actions in China. During this process, a group of people who had great enthusiasm for China stood out. They were later given a name, sinologists. A sinologist refers to ‘a western scholar engaging in humanistic and social sciences researches of ancient and modern China’, a typical example of which is Matteo Ricci, one of the earliest pioneers and popularizers who had a great interest in China and stayed herein for a long time. These sinologists selected and translated certain chapters and sections of contents concerning the Chinese legal system and delivered a description of China’s social status to the western world. At this stage, selected works and abridged translations have dominated the translation and promotion of ancient Chinese legal classics. There are two reasons for such dominance. On one hand, the main purpose that motivates these sinologists to translate legal classics is to assimilate Chinese culture. As the Industrial Revolution dramatically improved social productivity, the rapidly expanded national power, the far more advanced technologies, as well as the fact that China at that time was rich but backward have altogether given rise to the superiority complex with respect to institution and culture within the western world. Such western cultural centralism is so strong that these sinologists only chose to translate the parts that they are interested in and can help achieve their goals. As we can see from a handful of relevant review reports, the editors were eager to publish such abridged translation or introductory articles with personal preferences, showing their disapproval, expressly or impliedly, for the large number of capital cases, frequent execution of punishment and cruelty of public execution.On the other hand, the Chinese legal classics generally have such characteristics as great length, complex structure, extensive contents and a high degree of specialization. And, most importantly, they are written in classical Chinese, which means the translator has to do both the intralingual translation to convert classical Chinese into vernacular Chinese and the interlingual translation to convert Chinese into other languages, enhancing the difficulty of translation. This explains why there is so little translation of Chinese legal classics. In the preface of the Great Qing Legal Code, Sir George Thomas Staunton bluntly described the language as obscure and the structure as intricate. In a word, it is the subjective cultural superiority in combination with the objective linguistic difficulty that resulted in incomplete translation and poor promotion of the Chinese legal classics on foreign soil. Though foreign readers are bound to have a prejudice against the legal institution, wisdom and culture presented by Chinese legal classics due to all sorts of differences between China and the west, the fragmented, misunderstood or even biased translation by the sinologists can hardly absolve itself from the blame. 3. Complete Translation of Chinese Legal Classics. — The translation of Chinese legal classics has finally entered into a new stage of complete translation since the 19th Century, more specifically, the latter half of the 19th Century. At this stage, not only sinologists had published complete translation and research papers, but the domestic scholars also joined in, giving a relatively authentic and comprehensive view of China and promoting Chinese legal culture in the western world. Though they have put great effort and energy therein and indeed obtained certain achievements, there is still a long way to go as so far only four Chinese legal classics had been translated into English and other languages in a complete manner. As for the first Chinese legal classic being translated in a full version, the Great Qing Legal Code and represents the summit of traditional Chinese legal culture. In 1810, the complete English version translated by Sir George Thomas Staunton is published in London, marking the advent of the full-translation stage. This translation has aroused great repercussion within the academic community. Later, Paul-Louis-Felix Philastre and P. Gui Boulais had delivered their French translation respectively in 1876 and 1924. In 1994, the Oxford University Press published another English version translated by William C. Jones, which is titled the Great Qing Code.The Washing Away of Wrongs is a systematic medical jurisprudence monograph written by Song Ci in 1247, which is over 350 years earlier than the first forensic literature, the DeRclationluc Medicorum, in western history. In 1779, certain chapters of this book were translated and introduced by a French translator and published in Paris; in 1862, De Grys translated the full text in Dutch and the forensic scientists there has attached great importance thereto; in 1873, Herbert A Giles delivered his translation, The His Yuan Lu, or Instructions to Coroners, and published in installments in The China Review or Notes and Queries on the Far East; then in 1981, Brain E McKnight, professor of the University of Hawaii specialized in the history of China, punished another English translation titled The Washing Away of Wrongs: Forensic Medicine in Thirteen-century China. The book has made a groundbreaking contribution to the development of modern forensic science since it witnessed the birth of a new discipline, forensic science. It has been introduced to many countries and regions such as Netherlands, France, the UK, America, Japan and translated into 19 languages in total ever since its inception.As for the The Tang Code and The Great Ming Code, the full translation of the former one is made by Wallace Johnson. The Princeton University Press had published his translation, The Tang Code, in two volumes respectively in 1979 and 1997, which jointly constitute the only complete translation in the foreign language of The Tang Code. On the other hand, the translation of The Great Ming Code came out as the latest one. The University of Washington Press published the full English version translated by Jiang Yonglin, The Great Ming Code, in 2005.Overall, western academia’s concern for Chinese legal classics had gone through hundreds of years. Different sinologists and scholars, though with different purposes, had exerted their utmost effort to study, translate and promote great legal works of ancient China in the western world and published four representative works in total, facilitating foreign readers in capturing a panorama of the Chinese legal system and providing important first-hand materials for researchers interested in the traditional Chinese legal institution. However, neither the quality nor the amount of complete translation can meet the current demands of academic research and cultural dissemination and there are certain problems and obstacles to be solved in order to improve the current situation. C. Problems to Be Solved in the Translation and Research of Chinese Legal ClassicsSpeaking of research on the translation of Chinese legal classics, the result so far leaves much to be desired. As for research abroad, the achievements are limited to a full translation of the four legal classics mentioned above and academic papers written by the translators or sinologists, for instance, the doctoral dissertation written by Wallace Johnson based on the first three chapters of his translation and 12 papers written by American scholars specialized in the study of Chinese legal history, which used to be published on English journals and now included in the Recent American Academic Writings on Traditional Chinese Law published on 2004. As for research at home, upon consulting relevant keywords on the CNKI official website, there are approximately 40 articles and papers relating to the translation of traditional Chinese legal classics published in academic journals and newspapers within the recent 30 years. The researchers coming from different areas of expertise generally carried out discussion and analysis on Chinese legal classics and the translation thereof from the research perspectives of and by the research paradigms of their own discipline. Scholars specialized in linguistics and translation studies basically focused on comparison and review of different translation and exploration of available translation methods and strategies; jurists and legal practitioners laid emphasis on comparison of Chinese and western legal culture; and historians preferred to analyze the history of translation and communication between the east and the west. In a word, there still lacks adequate attention and resources for study on the translation of traditional Chinese legal classics. And there is an obvious asymmetry, both in quantity and category, between the Chinese legal classics and their translation, resulting in several problems to be settled. First of all, the toughest problem is that the existing translation of Chinese legal classics is too scarce to meet the demand of research, which is also the major cause for the overwhelming concentration of studies on the aforesaid four codes. There is no need to repeat the abundance of legal classics, but the translation available for research remains scant. In 1995, China launched the Library of Chinese Classics Project, which is the first national publishing project systematically and comprehensively promoting foreign language editions of traditional Chinese cultural classics to the rest of the world. So far, the Project has published over 110 ancient Chinese classics. However, among all these works, there are no true legal classics, not even one. On that account, it is not surprising that foreigners know little about the legal traditions and wisdom of China. Therefore, some scholars have advocated that, in the process of translation, the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as other literature, may not fully represent the ‘Chinese culture classics’, such classics of law, medical science, historical science, ethnic culture and traditional skill shall also be included.What is more, researches in a single discipline accounted for the vast majority of current researches on the translation of Chinese legal classics and cross-disciplinary and systematic study have not even started. On one hand, more than half of the domestic research articles and papers relating to the translation of legal classics placed emphasis on conversion on the textual level. Failing to transcend the usual limitations of the original text, these papers usually downplay the communicating effect, cultural influence and historical significance of translation of legal classics. To actively respond to the strategy of Chinese culture ‘Going Global’ and facilitate the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system, comprehensive researches from such perspectives as mutual learning among civilizations and spreading of legal culture must be made, by which the new cultural connotation and communication value of the old legal classics can be truly appreciated and presented to the world. On the other hand, due attention has not been given to many potential translations of legal classics delivered by foreign sinologists as it should be. For instance, in the 1970s, western missionaries have founded a series of English journals in China and introduced and translated several Chinese legal classics thereon. ‘George Jamieson and J. W. Jamieson have respectively translated certain provisions of the Great Qing Legal Code; Herbert A. Giles has translated the first two volumes of the The Washing Away of Wrongs; and George Jamieson also translated 9 cases of the Cases in Chinese Criminal Law (Xing An Hui Lan) and published in The China Review’. These dust-laden historical materials are all precious resources for the study of translation relating to Chinese legal classics. Their significance, in the new era, should be reviewed, redefined, reinterpreted and renewed. Last but not least, there lacks a mature and effective mechanism for the cultivation of professional translators of legal classics. The translation of traditional legal classics involves both intralingual translation and interlingual translation. The translators should not only possess extensive knowledge in the field of law and foreign language, but also master the ancient Chinese texts. Hence, the translation of legal classics ‘puts forward a high demand of accuracy and legal translators, to some extent, are social elites’. To deliver a successful translation, one should at first find a qualified translator or a competent translation team. However, we are still facing such problems as lack of scientific guidance in teaching practices, improper arrangement of teaching content and curriculum provision, students’ lack of professional legal knowledge and legal culture literacy, deficiency in competent faculty, outdated teaching methods and otherwise in the process of cultivating professional talents for translation of legal classics. Additionally, the translation of legal classics and the cultivation of professional translators are still in the start-up stage. In China, few colleges and universities have offered legal translation courses and even fewer of them have established relevant majors and disciplines. Taking Jiangsu province as an example, there are 134 colleges and universities in total. Only comprehensive universities like Nanjing University, Southeast University, Nanjing Normal University and Suzhou University have developed translation majors and, among these universities, just Nanjing Normal University offered courses of legal translation. What makes things worse is that almost all of the legal translation courses currently offered is about the translation of modern legal texts and none of them focuses on the translation of ancient legal classics. To break this deadlock, an efficient and effective mechanism shall be established to cultivate professional translation talents for the translation of ancient Chinese legal classics. IV. TRANSLATION OF CHINESE LEGAL CLASSICS AND REJUVENATION OF THE CHINESE LEGAL SYSTEMA. Practical Needs for the Translation of Chinese Legal Classics1. The Need to Rejuvenate the Parent Country of Traditional Chinese Legal System. — In the late Qing Dynasty, Shen Jiaben, one of the most outstanding jurists in China’s modern history, carried out all-around amendment of the Great Qing Legal Code and created a series of new statutes and codes after being designated as the Minister of Law Reform, opening the new chapter of legal modernization. During this period, the introduction of western law based on the translation of legal literature forms an essential part of China’s legal construction. In the 19th and 20th Centuries, there is neither much Chinese legal literature available for output translation, nor any competent legal translator. At this stage, China was in a lack of both awareness of and capital for output translation of legal classics while western countries, motivated by commercial profits and political interests, grabbed the initiative in the interpretation of Chinese legal culture and translation of legal works. Thus, the traditional legal images so created are disconnected from the actual legal practices and needed to be rectified and endowed with new meaning. With the new century coming, China has established a relatively complete legal system and framework and cultivated batches of excellent legal talents. The importance of legal classics is gradually acknowledged and addressed. In the 19th National Congress of the CPC, a great political judgment announcing ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era’ had been proposed, pointing out the new historical development direction for China’s modernization of rule-of-law with Chinese characteristics and rejuvenation of the traditional Chinese legal system. The transition in concepts of legal construction reflects the grand picture of establishing the traditional legal cultural discourse system. Since the previous discourse system is not sufficient to provide a solid theoretical foundation and ample interpretation room for both ancient and modern Chinese legal practices. It is time for the domestic scholars to carefully explore Chinese legal culture in the ancient legal classics, develop a strong belief in our splendid culture, rethink the long-living legal traditions, extract representative legal concepts, establish the unparalleled legal discourse system and promote valuable traditional Chinese legal culture to the world, with the ultimate goal of rejuvenating China, the parent country of the traditional Chinese legal system. In this process, the translation of legal classics may be the most effective and convenient method.2. The Need to Seek Roots for the Modernization of Rule-of-law with Chinese Characteristics. — As stated in Laozi, ‘the tree big as a man’s embrace began as a tiny sprout, the tower nine storeys high began with a heap of earth, the journey of a thousand leagues began with what was under the feet’. Though we have learned and ‘borrowed’ many factors from the western legal culture and institution when establishing our modern legal framework, the inner spirit and principles are deeply rooted in our local born and bred Chinese legal culture. Now, to complete the modernization of rule-of-law with Chinese characteristics, we must turn to our past and find answers and solutions in history. Only when we know what the real Chinese culture is, will we know how strong we can be; only when others know what the real Chinese culture is, will we be able to communicate fairly and effectively. The translation of traditional legal classics offers a valuable opportunity for current scholars to reconnect with our own legal culture, has a conversation with the past, and obtains an impartial evaluation towards the current modernization of rule-of-law with Chinese characteristics. Besides, the research on output translation of Chinese legal classics and summarization of relevant practices and experiences may also contribute to the formation of holistic Chinese experience and lay the foundation for the construction of ‘Chinese discourse’. Only when China has established its own discourse system and taken the initiative in promoting its own legal culture, will the modernization of rule-of-law with Chinese characteristics be recognized and accepted universally. 3. The Need to Improve Diversity of the World Legal Culture. — The Chinese legal classics represent the essence of Chinese people’s beliefs, thoughts, theories and practices about law and form an integral part of human civilization. Not only showing the unique ethnic features of the Chinese nation, but the Chinese legal classics also contain multiple common values shared by human species, starkly confirming the famous saying, ‘the more ethnic-oriented, the more universally accepted’. The communication between different legal cultures requires the translation of legal classics in different languages. With the improvement of the comprehensive national power, Chinese culture ‘Going Global’ has become a common demand of our times and output translation of legal classics shoulders this critical mission of Chinese culture ‘Going Global’. After the initiative of Chinese culture ‘Going Global’ was proposed, more and more scholars have recognized that the translation of legal classics is not only about rejuvenating our own legal culture and system, but also about creating a fair and objective communication channel for the Chinese and western legal cultures. Thus, the primary task for output translation of Chinese legal classics is to promote excellent legal traditions and culture, claim a place for ancient Chinese legal philosophy and theories in the world legal philosophy system and improve the diversity of world legal culture. B. Principles to Be Followed in the Translation of Chinese Legal Classics1. Proceeding from China’s Specific Situations. — In the process of translating Chinese legal classics, the first and the most important principle to be followed is sticking to the actual situations of China. One thing that differentiates culture from civilization is that culture shows the differences and diversities among different nations and represents the personality and characteristics of a nation while civilization reflects the commonality and universality in behaviors and achievements of human beings, which would cause the reduction of ethnic uniqueness. The greatest merit of culture is that it can keep the special quality of every nation and protect the nation from being assimilated by any other nation. In the western civilization system, Christianity and modern legal institutions are two basic standards for evaluation of a civilization. This system is essentially a system using western culture as a standard to deny the uniqueness and rationality of other nations’ cultures. In other words, it is a system aiming at controlling discourse hegemony. Therefore, translators and scholars, when carrying out translation and research of traditional legal classics, must not take versions and results made by western sinologists and scholars as the starting point and base of study or blindly rely on the western theories, methodologies and research paths. Limited by different standpoint and interest needs, we can never use these theories and methodologies to give an accurate and objective description of traditional Chinese legal culture or summarize the basic features of ancient Chinese law. To start the translation and study of Chinese legal classics from such a biased stance, no wonder the results would be unconvincing. Therefore, one should, when carrying out translation and study of Chinese legal classics, proceed from the ancient judicial practices and actual national situations, examine and rethink the strengths and weaknesses of western theories, innovate and create new theories and methodologies suitable for interpreting and expressing Chinese legal culture. 2. Jumping Out of the Western Discourse System. — In the light of present situations, traditional Chinese legal culture has been attached with such conceptual labels as uncivilized and backward by the westerners. This is an image shaped by others instead of ourselves and, of course, it is neither objective nor friendly. Thus, another principle to be observed in the translation of Chinses legal classics is breaking the image shaped by the western world and jump out of the established western discourse system. The only way to get rid of the influences of such a discourse system is to express concepts in traditional Chinese legal culture in a Chinese way. More specifically, there are three steps to be completed. Firstly, in defining the specific traditional legal concepts, one should pay attention to the differences between traditional legal concepts and the modern ones, fully understand the connotations and denotations of the traditional legal concepts and avoid misperception and misinterpretation resulted from mechanically using modern words and expressions to elucidate traditional legal culture. Secondly, one should give full play to his or her subjective initiative to eliminate misleading concepts. Thirdly, one should summarize and extract new concepts and new expressions that can truly represent Chinese legal culture upon prudent review of ancient legal practices and careful consideration of Chinese culture and Chinese experiences. If the translators and researchers can finish these three steps flawlessly, it would be much easier to construct our discourse system and shape a new image of our own legal culture in the international community. 3. Establishing Self-expression of Traditional Legal Culture. — President Xi Jinping argued that ‘those who falling behind would be oppressed; those who are in poverty would suffer from starvation, and those who lose the discourse power would be abused.’ Since we have already solved the first two problems, which are backwardness and poverty, the remaining issue before us is to find an effective way to obtaining discourse power in the international community. Thus, in translating and promoting Chinese legal classics, one should follow the principle of establishing self-expression. To tell the story of excellent Chinese legal culture well, accuracy, conciseness and understandability are only the most basic requirements. It should be recognized that there would inevitably be discrepancies in both understanding and judgment. In order to stimulate the audience’s interests in Chinese legal culture to the greatest extent and minimize the influences of the audience’s inherent biases, one must study the habits and preferences of different audiences, create new expression methods, and use simple but appropriate expressions to convey the wisdom, ideas and propositions of traditional legal culture. However, the establishment of self-expression is not done for the sake of itself. The main aim thereof is to convey the thoughts behind the expressions efficiently to the audiences, show them what is the real traditional Chinese legal culture by refined and wonderful translation, and improve acceptance and identification of the Chinese legal system and legal culture among the international community. C. Significances of the Translation of Chinese Legal Classics1. Supporting China’s Rule-of-law Construction and Further Improving the Modernization of Rule-of-law. — Speaking of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the first comes the rejuvenation of culture, which including the rejuvenation of legal culture. President Xi Jinping once argued that ‘there is a wealth of wisdom and resources in our ancient legal institution and the Chinese legal system has distinguished itself from other legal systems in the world. We should pay attention to study our ancient legal traditions, learn from the successes and failures of legal practices, explore and inherit Chinese legal culture, assimilate the essence and discard the dregs’. The modern legal culture under socialism with Chinese characteristics has been deeply influenced by traditional legal thoughts and the origins of multiple practices relating to legislation, judicature, law enforcement, and legal supervision can be found in the ancient legal culture. There may be two major advantages for carrying out translation and study of ancient Chinese legal classics. One is that such translation and study can encourage and stimulate current scholars to review and reinterpret excellent legal cultural resources, distill the refined essence of traditional legal culture in a more comprehensive and scientific manner, activate the long dormant Chinese legal system and endow it with new cultural values meeting the needs of the times. Another is that the translation and study of legal classics can effectively eliminate the inadaptability resulted from learning and transplantation of western laws and theories in the modernization of rule-of-law, promote the integration of ancient and modern legal cultural resources, consolidate the historical foundation of rule-of-law construction, and energize the construction of a modern eastern legal system with Chinese characteristics. 2. Increasing the Public’s Confidence in the Nation’s Rule-of-law and Shaping Legal Cultural Identity Both at Home and Abroad. — The Chinese legal classics are cultural products in the spiritual dimension, recording and summarizing the experiences and reflections of our ancestors relating to legal practices and social governance. The ideologies, theories, values contained therein shaped how we Chinese people think of fairness and justice, how we value right and wrong and how we judge ourselves. In other words, the Chinese legal classics form the Chinese nation’s collective memory of law, rules and justice. They are the roots and foundation for Chinese people’s confidence in our rule-of-law modernization. The translation is an important tool for acknowledgment, exchange and mutual learning among different cultures and a perfect approach for shaping collective, national or even transnational legal memory. Hence, the translation of Chinese legal classics in the new era will undoubtedly facilitate the spreading of Chinese legal culture in the international community, deepening Chinese people’s self-consciousness of and confidence in Chinese legal culture and socialist rule-of-law with Chinese characteristics, and promoting legal cultural identity and acceptance in the international community as well. 3. Contributing to the Spreading of Chinese Legal Culture and Promoting the ‘Westward Transmission of Chinese Legal Culture’. — Since modern times, numerous people with lofty ideals worked arduously to save the Chinese nation when the very existence was at stake and tried a variety of ways to return this great country to its former glory. On that account, they built up a new modern legal system on basis of western legal thoughts and institutions. Such thoughts and institutions opened up a new world of a progressive philosophy of law, inspiring legal values and advanced legal framework for the domestic legal academia, but the influences thereof are so strong that many people start to question the epochal value and historical significance of traditional Chinese legal culture, which greatly hinder the progress of the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system. Under the excellent historical situation of the establishment of the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, the translation and study of traditional legal classics is an inevitable course if we want to better show the special charms of Chinese legal culture, reverse the stereotyped image of international society toward the Chinese legal system and dispel the long accumulated institutional bias. Further, output translation of Chinese legal classics may also exert positive effects on spreading core values of Chinese legal culture, facilitating the fair communication between the Chinese legal system and other legal systems, gradually realize ‘westward transmission of Chinese legal culture’ in the process of mutual learning among civilizations and ultimately increase China’s discourse power in international rule-of-law construction. As the only ancient legal system with an uninterrupted history of over 2,000 years, the Chinese legal system once dominated entire Asia and became the indubitable model for legislation and organization of multiple Asian countries, forming a splendid and influential eastern legal culture formidable enough to compete with the Roman legal culture, the dominating legal culture in the western world. The countless Chinese legal classics recorded the rich experiences and achievements made by our ancestors during the long history of national governance, telling us who we are, what we have and what we should do as a responsible Chinese. Since 1810 when Sir George Thomas Staunton delivered an English version of the Great Qing Legal Code, the output translation of Chinese legal classics has undergone a tortuous history of over two centuries. However, neither the amount nor the quality of translation and researches completed during this period seemed to be satisfactory. It is observed that there still exist certain problems to be solved. For instance, the overwhelming concentration of studies on certain major codes, the dominance of researches in a single discipline, the lack of professional legal classic translation talents and mature talent cultivation mechanism, and otherwise. These problems have hindered the progress of legal classics translation and need to be solved practically and creatively. All in all, the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system in the new era can never be achieved without the support and nurture of traditional legal culture. The translation of legal classics ‘shoulders the important burden of memory shaping, promotion and classification of the legal culture’. At the domestic level, the translation of legal classics can enrich the research materials of scholars, enabling them to carry out academic innovation from different perspectives. Furthermore, the translation of legal classics can be conductive for the popularization of traditional legal culture, deepen the public’s awareness and understanding thereof, and enhance their cultural confidence in China’s construction of modernized rule-of-law. At the international level, since the legal classics are the first-hand materials for the outer world to access to Chinese legal culture and form perceptions of Chinese rule-of-law, they have contained great legal wisdom with distinguished national features. However, ‘with regard to the translation and communication of ancient Chinese cultural classics, professional western sinologists have played a leading role while Chinese scholars carried out study and research in this field much later’. Actively carrying out translation and study of legal classics in the new era is positive for China to seize the initiative in output translation firmly, solve such problems as a cultural misunderstanding, misinterpretation or bias made by foreign translators in the process of translation, show the true colors of Chinese legal classics objectively, improve acceptance and identification of Chinese legal culture by the international community, and foster a sound environment for the rejuvenation of the Chinese legal system.
