International Journal of English Linguistics; Vol. 6, No.

1; 2016
ISSN 1923-869X E-ISSN 1923-8703
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education

Translation of Ren and Li in Lunyu

Qianqian Wei1
1
Foreign Languages Department, Binzhou University, Binzhou, China
Correspondence: Qianqian Wei, Foreign Languages Department, Binzhou University, Binzhou, China. E-mail:
[email protected]

Received: January 2, 2016 Accepted: January 22, 2016 Online Published: January 31, 2016
doi:10.5539/ijel.v6n1p195 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v6n1p195

This study was supported by Shandong Provincial Key Project of Art and Science (No. 1506368), Scientific
Research Fund of Binzhou University (No. BZXYRW1408) and Serving Region Project of Binzhou University
(No. BZXYFB20150908).

Abstract
Lunyu (《论语》), a record of Confucius’ sayings and deeds compiled by his disciples, had great influence not
only on the Chinese but also on the whole world. It was translated into many languages, among which there are
more than 50 English versions. In Lunyu, Confucius employed a good number of terms to express his ideas on
what good ethics and politics were, such as ren (“仁”) and li (“礼”). Due to cultural differences, it is a great
challenge for translators to find English equivalents of these culture-specific items. The paper will discuss the
translation of two main concepts in Lunyu—ren and li through the comparison of five English versions and try to
find out the proper method to translate the Chinese culture-specific items in the book.
Keywords: ren, li, Lunyu, translation, culture-specific items
1. Introduction
Lunyu, known as the main text of Confucianism, is the “Bible of China”, and also one of the world’s classic
writings. It expresses Confucius’ ideas of politics, education, etc. The core of the book is ren, which Confucius
thought was loving people or having loyalty and consideration. To achieve it one had to use li as a norm because
“to subdue one’s self and return to propriety” (Legge, 2009) is ren.
For more than two thousand years, Lunyu and Confucianism were regarded as the foundation of Chinese
social-cultural life. It not only cultivates individual’s morality but also tells people how to run a country.
Sometimes even a word or two can benefit a person for a lifetime.
Its influence has extended abroad and Confucianism has held a leading position in the East Asian cultural circles.
It might be said that East Asian civilization would not come into being without Confucianism. What is more, its
influence on the whole world is apparent since Confucius is considered as one of the greatest thinkers who have
changed the world. Thus, it is of great significance to study the translation of Lunyu.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Translation History of Lunyu
The circulation of Lunyu in the whole world follows such a process—from the near to the distant, and first in
East Asia and then in Europe and America. By the end of the 16th century the translation of Lunyu into Western
languages had begun.
Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), an early Italian missioner, had translated The Four Books from Chinese into a western
language and sent them to his homeland. When his countrymen read them, they felt enjoyable; they came to
know that the Chinese classics might lead people to the true origin. The so-called Western language refers to
Latin. Matteo Ricci started with the translation of The Four Books in 1591, the nineteenth year of Wan Li Reign
of the Ming, and he finished his translation in 1594. Unfortunately his translation was scattered and lost before
publication in the first years of the Qing dynasty.
Almost a century later, Prosper Intercetta (1625-1696), an Italian Jesuit and Ignatius da Casta (1599-1666), a
Portugese Jesuit, jointly translated Lunyu into Latin. Philippus Couplet (1624-1692), a Belgian Jesuit, published

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their translation in Paris in 1687. This is the first publication of Lunyu in Europe. The abridged French and
English versions were separately published in France and England in 1688 and 1691. So the ordinary people
might come into contact with the Confucian thought, and this aroused a praise of Confucius in the whole
Western Europe.
Towards the end of the 18th century or at the beginning of the 19th century, The Four Books, including Lunyu,
spread to America, and there were translations of English, French, Latin and other languages. In 1809, J.
Marshman (1768-1837), an English missioner, published his translation of Lunyu that includes the first ten
chapters. This is the first version where Chinese was directly rendered into English. In the recent two centuries,
there are some other people who translated Lunyu into English. For example, there are David Collie, an English
missioner, James Legge, Sir T. F. Wade, William Jennings and Gu Hongming. James Legge (1815-1897) is a
Scottish missionary. In 1861 his translation of Chinese classics including Lunyu was published in Hong Kong.
Dissatisfied with Legge’s version, Gu Hongming published The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius in 1898.
He translated Lunyu with the aim of transmitting Confucian values to the whole world. He is the first Chinese
who put Lunyu into English and before him it was all translated by westerners.
In the first half of the 20th century, many scholars, such as Lionel Giles, Leonard A. Lyall, William E. Soothill,
Arthur Waley, & Lin Yutang, translated Lunyu into English. Fascinated by ancient Chinese civilization, apart
from Lunyu, Arthur Waley (1889-1996) translated seven or eight books of Chinese culture.
And since then, with China’s opening-up, Confucianism is popular in the world and more than 40 English
versions appeared with this trend. Pan Fuen & Wen Shaoxia issued their version in 1993 and Lin Wusun
absorbed the latest research materials and published his “new translation” in 2010. And some translators
published more than one version, such as, D. C. Lau, & Ding Wangdao. D. C. Lau, a professor in Hong Kong
Chinese University, has already translated seven books including Lunyu. Until now, the English translation of
Lunyu has experienced more than two centuries and there are more than 50 English versions.
2.2 Translation Studies of Lunyu
2.2.1 Translation Studies Abroad of Lunyu
There is a long history in translation studies abroad of Lunyu and it is mainly by translators and sinologists, such
as Matteo Ricci, Joshua Marshman, David Collie, James Legge, Ezra Pound, & Edward Slingerland, who were
intoxicated by Chinese culture. They commented on the previous versions in the preface or appendix and
illustrated why they retranslated Lunyu, which is an important part of translation studies of Lunyu. For example,
Roger T. Ames & Henry Rosement pointed in their version that the method of using western philosophical and
religious words to replace the key words in Confucianism could not express the philosophy specific to China
(Ames & Rosemont, 1998). Moreover, there are book reviews in some journals of sinology and philosophy, such
as, Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews, The Journal of Asian Studies and Philosophy East and West.
And in recent years, the book reviews involve more aspects and the analyses are more elaborate.
The person who analyzed translations of Lunyu most is David Schaberg, whose comments involved many
perspectives of language, philosophy, history and style. Cheuk-Woon Tamm (1953) had a brief comment on all
English versions before WWII. And Alice W. Cheang (2000), Stephen W. Durrant (1981), John Henderson
(1999), Edward Slingerland (2000), Lauren Pfister (1990, 2004) and Norman J. Girardot (2002) all expressed
their opinions on different versions.
2.2.2 Translation Studies of Lunyu in China
Translation studies of Lunyu in China started in 1990s, which can be classified into five types according to the
study topics: the study of translation version, including the study of one version and the comparative analysis of
several versions, the study of translators, the statements in prefaces of their translations, the transmission history
of the translation and the study of the key words in the book.
Judging from the study perspective, most of them belong to the linguistic level and scholars mainly focused on
the equivalence in translation, some of whom discussed its translation methods on the basis of different theories
such as Li Shuang (2004) and Ni Jihua (2007) and some focused on appreciations, such as Yuan Jinxiang (1990),
Liu Zhongde (2001), He Gangqiang (2005).
In addition, because of the profound connotations of the key words in Lunyu, which is a difficult point in
translation, it becomes one of the research orientations. For example, Wang Hui (2001) put forward the
combination of accuracy and unity of translation. Yang Ping (2008b) said that when ren was translated,
transliteration should be adopted.

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With the cultural turn in translation, some scholars began to reflect on the extratextual factors. Yang Ping (2008a)
and Wang Hui (2007)’s studies well represent the tendency who concentrated on the Christian ideology in
missionary translations.
Furthermore, some translation studies took the integrated perspective. Yan Zhenying’s book (1971) about
Legge’s translation is a case in point, which systematically studied Legge’s translation and briefly introduced all
the other versions. And the integrated perspective can also be found in some articles. For instance, Wang Yong
(2007) introduced Edward Slingerland’s 2003 version.
From the above, it can be seen that Confucian classic Lunyu attracts numerous scholars at home and abroad and
its translation studies have obtained many achievements. However, the study angles are still limited to a certain
extent and some key words that carry Confucianism always arouse misunderstandings of target readers and need
deeper analysis.
3. Confucius and Lunyu
Confucius (511-479BC) is a great philosopher and educator of ancient China who lived in the Spring and
Autumn period, which was a transition period from slavery to feudalism. Vassals annexed territories from each
other; wars broke out frequently and there was a decline in social morality. To reform society, Confucius
established a grand system of thinking, which was mainly contained in Lunyu.
Lunyu is a Confucian classic which appeared in book form in the early years of the Warring States Period. There
are 20 chapters, which are broken down into 492 passages. It is a record of the words and deed of Confucius and
of his disciples, as well as the discussions they held, expressing Confucius’ profound thought.
For thousands of years, Confucianism has exerted a far-reaching influence on Chinese society, culture and
psychology. The position of Lunyu in Chinese culture is just like that of the Bible in western culture. Han Wudi
rejected other schools of thoughts but held Confucianism in esteem and so its leading position in Chinese history
was established. Lunyu was worshipped as a classic in the period of the feudal society and every scholar was
required to read it. Its influence was so extensive in China that Lunyu is indispensable even now, either for
studies on Confucius himself or for studies in Chinese history. Lunyu is a sound textbook on ethics and politics.
Quotations from it are common in China, being used as guidelines for the people’s everyday lives, as they are
gems of wisdom and philosophical thought.
With China’s rapid development of economy, there is a widespread interest in Lunyu and Confucianism around
the world. Actually, when it was first introduced to the western world, it was already highly praised by some
scholars. R. W. Emerson (1803-1882) and H. D. Thoreau (1817-1862) are two representatives of American
transcendentalism. The moment they saw these books they both took a fancy to them and would not let them go.
V. Lindsay (1879-1931), a poet, sang heartily to express his ardent love of Confucius: May we be students of the
Confucian times. Today, the general impression of Lunyu is higher than any other best sellers; it is only next to
the Bible. Alongside the spreading of the classics of the Confucian school headed by Lunyu, Confucianism has
already become a hot spot of the humanities in this world.
4. Translation of Ren and Li in Lunyu
There are numerous culture-specific items in Lunyu that reflect Confucianism, such as “仁”, “义”, “礼”, “智”,
“信”, “忠”, “孝”, “温”, “良”, “恭”, “俭”, “让”, etc. Many of these terms appeared in earlier classics, like The
Book of Songs, Yi Ching and Spring and Autumn, but Confucius endowed them with new meanings. However,
since Confucius only described but never defined them and since he gave different answers to the same terms
depending on his disciples’ individual characters and level of understanding, it is very difficult to find their exact
definitions. Besides, as classical Chinese is very concise and leads to different interpretations, there are no
English equivalents of these terms.
As for the fundamental thought of Lunyu, people have invariably insisted that there are two points of view. One
is ren (“仁”). The other is li (“礼”). Then the paper will discuss the translation of the two main concepts in Lunyu
through the comparison of five English versions by foreign and Chinese scholars in different periods of history:
The Analects of Confucius by James Legge (hereafter referred as Legge), The Discourses and Sayings of
Confucius by Gu Hongming (hereafter referred as Gu), The Analects by Arthur Waley (hereafter referred as
Waley), The Analects of Confucius by Pan Fuen and Wen Shaoxia (hereafter referred as Pan & Wen) and Getting
to Know Confucius—A New Translation of The Analects by Lin Wusun (hereafter referred as Lin) and tries to
make a comparison between them.

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4.1 Translation of Ren

According to the author’s statistics, the word “仁” (ren) appears for 109 times in Lunyu. It is the most frequently
used word, which reveals its status in the book—ren is central to the Confucian system of thinking. In Chinese,
this word means “kind”, “gentle”, “humane” and in Lunyu it means “good” in an extremely wide and general
sense. Different translators understand this word in different ways that is clearly shown in the following table.

Table 1. Translation of ren in the five versions

Translators Translations
Legge (perfect) virtue, benevolence
Gu a moral life, a moral man, the true moral character
Waley (the) Good, Goodness
Pan & Wen perfect virtue, human-heartedness
Lin humaneness, humane

From Table 1, we can see that there are different interpretations of the word ren, which is the core of Lunyu.
Then what is the true meaning of it? We have to go back to Lunyu. It can be found that Confucius explained ren
to his disciples for many times, from which we can see Confucius’ understanding of it.
Confucius, in answering his student Fan Chi’s question, said ren is to love men and “in private life, courteous; in
public life, diligent; in relationships, loyal…” (Waley, 1999) and “to restrain oneself and observe the rituals”
(Lin, 2010). And in answering his student Zizhang’s question, he also explained that in order to achieve ren one
has to practice five things: “gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness” (Legge, 2009) and
“if a man is firm, enduring, simple, and modest, then he is near to virtue” (Ibid.). Fulfilling one’s filial and
fraternal duties constitute the basics of ren and in order to achieve ren, one should not hesitate to sacrifice his all.
Confucius’ explanations evidently display that ren does not refer to only one thing. Extensively speaking, it
means to apply a policy of benevolence in all lands under heaven. Intensively speaking, it means to love people.
It refers to loyalty and consideration, and the fundamental way to be a real human being, namely, filial piety to
one’s parents and love and respect to one’s elder brothers.
Ren is the highest goal and the most ideal state that man may reach. Righteousness, loyalty, forbearance, filial
piety, and loving consideration are concrete items under the extensive concept of ren. If one may be able to
“extensively confer the benefits on the people,” he is more than a “benevolent” person; he may be called a
“sage” now. Maybe Yao and Shun were not able to accomplish so much. This tells us that sage contains ren, and
ren is in accordance with sage. In Lunyu, Confucius was asked several times to make a comment on other people
to say whether they can meet the standard of ren. Confucius gave us the answer. He thought that Zilu, Ran You,
Gongxi Hua, Chen Wen and Minister Ziwen, did not achieve the state of ren, and what Yan Yuan reached is
only “not contrary to the benevolence” (Waley, 1999). According to Confucius’ standard, only the three men
(Viscount Wei, Viscount Ji, & Bi Gan) in Yin dynasty and Guan Zhong can be called “man of virtue”. Guan
Zhong helped the prince Huan to bring about a stable situation in the whole country for a rather long period so
that people might recuperate and multiply, although Confucius thought that Guan Zhong was not parsimonious
and did not know the rules of propriety. To be a man of ren in a true sense is very difficult, but everyone can do
something to achieve it, that is to say, to do good, it is the practice of keeping the benevolent virtue. It may be
accumulated bit by bit in everyday life and the way to carry it out is to put oneself in the place of another, and
from the near to the distant.
From the above, it can be seen that actually there is no equivalent of ren in English. Every translator can just try
their best to find the approximate meaning of ren on the basis of their own understanding.
James Legge chose the words “(perfect) virtue” and “benevolence”. Virtue means moral goodness of character
and behavior (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2004), which is not as extensive as the meaning of
ren. Just as what Lin Wusun rendered, it is more proper to be translated into de (“德”) instead of ren. And
benevolence means kind and generous, which is little different from the meaning of ren, because Guan Zhong is
a man of ren, but he is a man of narrow capacities, according to Confucius.
Gu Hongming preferred the word “moral” that concerns principles of right and wrong behavior, whose meaning
is not as extensive as that of ren. It can be said that ren contains morality and has far more connotations than the
word “moral”.
Waley translated ren into “Good” or “Goodness”, capitalizing the first letter. While translating shan (“善”), he

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also used “good”. To show the distinction, the latter was not capitalized. Obviously, however, “good” is too
general to reflect the connotation of ren, no matter whether it is capitalized or not.
Pan Fuen and Wen Shaoxia used “perfect virtue” and “human-heartedness”. They took James Legge, Leonard A.
Layall, & Arthur Waley’s versions for reference. And they also found that due to cultural differences, it is hard
to find equivalents in English for many important concepts of Confucius. Therefore, they had to retreat for a
similar word and adopted the translation method that added Pinyin in brackets when the word first appeared and
also made some notes.
Lin Wusun put ren into “humaneness” or “humane” that means treating people or animals in a way that is not
cruel and causes them as little suffering as possible (Ibid.), which is inadequate to reflect the essence of ren.
Furthermore, in western culture, humaneness is usually connected with the concept of democracy and equality,
which is different from the connotation of ren. Thus, it may arouse misunderstandings of western readers. Being
aware of the untranslatability of the culture-specific item, Mr. Lin added Pinyin in brackets when they first
appeared and also some notes for better understanding, as what Pan and Wen did. Moreover, Chinese characters
were supplemented in brackets together with Pinyin to transmit Chinese culture of language.
4.2 Translation of Li
The word li (“礼”) is the second important term that carries Confucius’ thought. It appeared in Lunyu for 74
times, which is just next to ren. Li were norms and regulations guiding the behavior of the nobles and relations
among them, and the conducting of certain ceremonies, formulated by the founders of the Zhou Dynasty. In
Confucius’ day, li was generally ignored, and he wanted to revive it. According to Confucius, ren and li are
inseparable from each other like content and form. Just like ren, it is also a difficult point in translation and
different translators have different interpretations.

Table 2. Translation of li in the five versions

Translators Translations
Legge the rules of propriety, what is proper, ceremonies, the rites of propriety
Gu (fine) art(s), courteous, good manners, propriety, civilization, honour, the arts and civilization, judgment, correct
forms, a man of propriety, the principle of the rite, loyalty, courtesy, real courtesy and good manners, etc.
Waley (the) rites, ritual
Pan & Wen the rules of propriety
Lin rituals, etiquette, rules, regulations

Li was rather broad in content. It included rituals, etiquette, regulations and rules of proper behavior. During
Confucius’ time, there was no official law as we understand it today, but people would be punished when they
violated the rules and regulations. Confucius paid great attention to li which was set down when the Zhou
Dynasty was first established. He believed that the neglect of li was the cause of all troubles of his time. The
ministers were neglecting it without any sense of shame, and their stewards and the society at large were
following their example. Confucius therefore considered it his mission to advise the powers-to-be to correct their
ways through following ren and restoring li. The two concepts are closely related; the former is the root, the
latter the branch; the former is the “ins”, the latter the “outs”; the former is the content, the latter the form. Ren is
the ultimate aim, li is a kind of binding force and norms and system which guarantees the achievement of the
purpose. Ceremony, propriety, system, discipline and law all serve the aim—“all under heaven will converge at
benevolence” (Waley, 1999).
From Table 2, it can be seen that most translators chose “rite”, “ritual” or “rules of propriety”. Rite means a
ceremony that is always performed in the same way, usually for religious purposes, and ritual is similar to rite.
And propriety means correctness of social or moral behavior (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English,
2004). They all express one of the connotations of li, which has a wide range of meaning—not only refers to the
regulations and norms from the country’s perspective but also the social behavior from the individual aspect.
Only Gu Hongming used “art” and some other words in different contexts. Gu Hongming’s version has evident
features, which receives a lot of praise and criticism too. Gu Hongming translated Lunyu because he thought that
Legge was just a sinologist who lacked the training of literature and the ability of criticism and the sensation of
literature. He severely criticized Legge’s version, holding that Legge could not get across the limitation of his
stiff and narrow mind so his translation gave readers a strange feeling. Dissatisfied with Legge’s translation, Gu
Hongming decided to translate it by himself 40 years after the publication of Legge’s version. And in order to get
rid of the strange feeling of English readers, he removed the Chinese culture-specific items and added some

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notes and quotations from famous European writers to make target readers understand it thoroughly. This is a
feature of his translation. The above table clearly reveals his characteristics of translation. He admitted that li is a
word not easily rendered in another language and adopted different words or phrases in different contexts. When
li first appeared, he explained it in the notes of more than 300 words, holding the opinion that the word “art” can
express the meaning of li. Just because of his obvious characteristics, his translation was studied by many
scholars and was also severely criticized by some who think that some of his translations belong to
mistranslation. Many scholars believe that his use of “art” may be misleading to target readers.
5. Conclusion
Based on the above statement, it seems impossible for us to find an equivalent in English of the culture-specific
items in Lunyu, since they all carry profound Chinese traditional culture. In this case, some translators had some
nice tries to make them accepted by target readers. For example, Gu Hongming crossed out these culture-specific
items and added some notes and quotations from famous European writers that western readers are familiar with.
Pan Fuen and Wen Shaoxia also used some notes and when the word first appeared, they added Pinyin to it in
brackets. Lin Wusun used Pinyin together with Chinese characters. Actually, with our increasing awareness of
transmitting Chinese culture to the world, Pinyin is used more and more frequently than before. There are
numerous examples, such as, jiaozi and loong. In the past, people tended to use dumpling and dragon, but now,
realizing the cultural differences and the misunderstandings that may be roused, Pinyin is preferred. Additionally,
when western readers come across Pinyin, they may realize that it is a culture-specific item and pay special
attention to it. And to help target readers understand it, explanatory translation and the notes can be adopted too.
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