Interpreting Studies by Chinese Scholars (1949–2017)

The development of interpreting research in China has not been steadily paced since 1949 with some years witnessing more rapid growth while others experiencing a slowdown or even a deadlock, and with the last two decades seeing a surge in the number of publications. Since the first review article devoted to interpreting in China in 1990, there have been a number of journal papers reviewing literature on interpreting published over the previous 5 or 10 years, but so far none has given a thorough study on interpreting research since 1949. In order to gain a better understanding of the development trend of interpreting research in China, this study purports to examine a large number of literature (mostly journal articles, other types of literature also included) on interpreting released home and abroad over the past almost 70 years. It loosely divides interpreting research by Chinese scholars into four stages, namely, the early period of sporadic writings (1949–1966), the take-off period (1971–1995), the period of relatively rapid development (1996–2005), and the period of vigorous growth (2006–2017). Through content analysis, the study identifies the major themes, research methods and features of the publications in each stage. While major attention is given to the publications by researchers in China’s mainland, there is also discussion on literature by scholars from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. The weak areas and potential topics for future research are pointed out as well.