Why is ″Sino-graphic Cultural Sphere″ the Synonym of ″Confucian Cultural Sphere″ ——A research on the Westerners’ translation and introduction in the 1830s of Thousand Character Classic in Chinese, Korean and Japanese

Linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt once said that the national language is the same as the national spirit, while the national spirit is the same as the national language. In the 1830s, Samuel Kidd, Walter Henry Medhurst, E.C. Bridgman, and J. Hoffman translated with introductory notes Thousand Character Classic into English, Latin and German for their missionary work and Oriental studies. Each of their translated versions with interpretation, having their respective merits, conveys the message: Along with Chinese characters introduced into China's neighboring countries in East Asia, Chinese culture, especially Confucian culture conveyed by Chinese characters were also absorbed by these countries and nationalities, becoming part or even the principal part of their national spirits. Based on the these European and American translators' understanding of Thousand Character Classic and Chinese characters, we may believe that the Chinese characters are not only a kind of signs for recording the Chinese language but also a kind of language with its own property and its own signified and significant. Saussure argued that the natural language is combined by the concept and the acoustic image. Then, this author thinks that the language of Chinese characters is combined by the concept and the written image. As Chinese characters are entirely different from alphabetic handwriting, which is characteristic of the acoustic image, they can be borrowed by other nations to record their national languages. When Chinese characters are on loan by a foreign nation, the signified of the Chinese characters would inevitably be implanted into the native language of the nation, thus extending their influence over its culture and ideology. Furthermore, since it is Confucian culture, regarded as China's mainstream ideology, that is used to interpret the Chinese characters and Sino-graphic culture, the dominant culture and ideology of the nations which borrow the Chinese characters would inevitably be dominated by Confucian culture. Therefore, the argument is justifiable that Sino-graphic culture is the synonym of Confucian Culture. In this connection, some philosophers say that China, North Korea and South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore have formed the Confucian cultural sphere, which is acknowledged by the world. Some linguists say that the Sino-graphic culture sphere includes all the dialectal areas of the Han nationality, some of China’s ethnic areas, such China’s neighboring countries as Vietnam, Korea and Japan, and the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia (Nanyang) and Americas. Usually, most common people do not distinguish between the Sino-graphic cultural sphere and the Confucian culture sphere. Very often they take the two concepts to refer to the same notion. If our view is based on the understanding of these Westerners who had introduced Thousand Character Classic, we will not fail to understand why the Sino-graphic cultural sphere is usually regarded by these philosophers and linguists as the synonym of the Confucian cultural sphere.