Article ID: CBB453375389

The Evolution of Evolutionism in China, 1870–1930 (2020)

unapi

The earliest references to Darwin in China, which came by way of the network of Protestant missionaries, emerged in the early 1870s: the principle of general transformism and ideas about human origins were transmitted to the Chinese intellectual landscape. Only with the “evolutionary sensation” aroused by Yan Fu, in the mid-1890s, did Chinese readers begin to learn of Darwinian principles like the “struggle for existence” and “natural selection.” Translation of the Origin began much later, in 1902, and the initial effort was misleading. In his translation of the first five chapters of the Origin, published before 1906, Ma Junwu used linguistic strategies to modify Darwin’s texts so as to reflect Yan’s progressive transformism. But in his 1920 translation of the book in its entirety, Ma redid his earlier work. The complete Chinese Origin did not generate a sensation in the biological community. Even so, the deliberate selection, absorption, and appropriation of Darwinian ideas by the Chinese over the next several decades assimilated the new evolution into their own cultural setting. The case of “Darwin in China” details a specific Chinese context that deepens our understanding of how audiences for new scientific theories can be actively involved in the processes of appropriation and universalizing, while also disseminating, modifying, and assimilating Darwinian ideas in local context.

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Authors & Contributors
Hall, Brian K.
Jin, Xiaoxing
Yu, Xiaobo
Jesse J. Chapman
Zarimis, Maria
Lin, Yii-Jan Chen
Concepts
Evolution
Darwinism
Biology
Natural selection
Science and culture
Cross-cultural interaction; cultural influence
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
Places
China
United States
Greece
Americas
Argentina
South America
Institutions
Panepistēmio Athēnōn
Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.)
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