【Preface】

‘Cherish one’s own beauty, respect other’s beauty, and when both beauties are respected and cherished, the world will become one”（各美其美，美人之美，美美与共，天下大同——费孝通）, said Fei Xiaotong, a famous Chinese sociologist at a cerebration party in honor of his eightieth birthday about thirty years ago. In a time of growing interest in intercultural communication today, these words sound especially wise and far sighted. Translation, as one of the most important means for cultural communication, is usually done into one’s mother tongue from other languages by native translators. This largely guarantees the quality of translated text, so far as the linguistic readability is concerned. However, this method implies a one-sidedness in correspondence, as only the translator’s ‘respect for other’s beauty” is concerned, regardless, though not completely, of how the local people look upon and cherish their own beauty. It should be compensated by translations on the other way, that is, works selected, interpreted, and translated by the local people themselves into languages other than their own. This approach may go directly against the prevalent views in modern translation theories but, in my opinion, is worthy of practicing. It is perhaps an even more effective way to bring about successful communication in cultures, and the beauties of the world can really be shared by the world’s people. It is with such understanding that the Shanghai Foreign Languages Education Press is organizing a new series of books, entitled Readings of Chinese Culture, to introduce Chinese culture, past and present, to the world, with works selected and translated by the Chinese scholars and translators. 

The series will cover a wide range of writings including but not restricted to works of different literary genres. For the first batch, we are glad to provide three books of essays and two books of short stories, all written by authors of the 20th century. They will be continued by a batch of serious academic writings on premodern Chinese classics in philosophy, literature, and historiography, written by influential scholars of our time. Later, we will offer more books on classical Chinese drama, classical Chinese poetry, etc. 

Some of the books in the series have been published before, but they have been revised and rearranged for the new purpose to meet the current needs of broader readers. We are looking forward to hear comments and suggestions on the series for future improvement.

【译者简介/About the translator】

张春柏

华东师范大学退休教授，主要研究方向为翻译理论与实践，成果包括40余篇论文和2部较有影响力的翻译教程，以及数十部其他英语教材。他是国内影视翻译的主要专家之一，译作包括300余部（集）影视作品。

Zhang Chunbai is a retired professor of English of East China Normal University (ECNU). He is a scholar of translation studies and translator. His publications include over 40 papers and 2 influential textbooks of translation, as well several dozens of other English textbooks and dictionaries. As a translator he is best known for his translation of over 300 films and TV dramas for dubbing or subtitling.

【目录】

Introduction.

Chapter One

The Origin and Evolution of the Annals

1. The Origin of the Annals

2. The Improvement of the Annals during the Warring States Period 

3. The Slow Development and Stagnation of the Annalistic Style of Historiography in the Han and Tang Dynasties

Chapter Two

Sima Guang and His History as a Mirror for Governance

1. A Biographical Sketch of Sima Guang

2. The Writing of History as a Mirror for Governance

3. The Characteristics and Value of History as a Mirror for Governanc

Chapter Three

History as a Mirror for Governance and History-Mirrorology

1. The Sequels of History as a Mirror for Governance

2. The Annotations of History as a Mirror for Governance

3.Corrections and Supplements of History as a Mirror for Governance

4. Criticisms on History as a Mirror for Governance

Chapter Four

History as a Mirror for Governance and New Styles of Historiograph

1.History as a Mirror for Governance and Histories in the Event- focused Style of Important Events

2. History as a Mirror for Governance and Histories in the Outline Style

Chapter Five

The Social Influence of History as a Mirror for Governance

1. Emperors of the Feudal Dynasties and History as a Mirror for Governance

2. Ancient Chinese Literati and History as a Mirror for Governance

3. Military Generals of the Feudal Dynasties and History as a Mirror for Governance

4. Common People and History as Mirror for Governance

Chapter Six

Conclusion

Appendices

I. Bibliography

ll. Glossary