“Internal translation” of “poisonous” foreign literature in 1960-80s China – with special reference to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany and Nineteen Eighty-Four

Abstract

From the early 1960s to the mid-1980s, a large number of writings primarily from the USSR and the US-led capitalist camp were translated into the People’s Republic of China (PRC). These writings were metaphorically condemned as “poisonous weeds” for deviating from the mainstream PRC doctrine, and their translations were restricted to party officials and a few other privileged groups deemed to have strong political awareness. This activity is what I call “internal translation” in this thesis. It was a response of Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist Party of China, to the Sino-Soviet split during the Cold War and the perceived threat of “poisonous” foreign ideas among the increasing revisionism within the Party. It was meant to acquire knowledge of enemies (the USSR and the US-led capitalist bloc), and strengthen the ideological immunity of party elites. Its translation products, however, were leaked to a broader Chinese readership and allowed those unintended readers to see the abnormalities and repression prevailing in their own circumstances. This thesis explores the strategic, constructive role of Chinese translators and publishers in the officially organised “internal” translation, and illuminates the power of translation in provoking subversive readings within the PRC’s historical and sociopolitical context. This thesis investigates the “internal” translations of two books by the same Chinese translator Dong Leshan (1924–1999), a victim of Mao’s rule: William L. Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (1960) and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), with the former being translated at the height of Maoism (1965) and the latter in the first post-Mao decade (1979/1985). Through contextualising the selection, translation, and publication of both works, this thesis elucidates how Chinese translation agents were able to leverage “internal” translation to implicitly resist the party-state’s authoritative control and influence Chinese readers. By analysing these cases, this thesis also highlights the power of translation which transforms our understanding of ourselves in relation to the foreign Other.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 July 2031.

Date of Award	Jul 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Queen's University & China Scholarship Council
Supervisor	Piotr Blumczynski (Supervisor) & Kathleen Kaess (Supervisor)