The Giant Forge and the great Ironsmith: Revisiting the implications of the Wu Xing physics of the Zhongyong

摘要

In their Introduction to Focusing the Familiar: A Translation and Philosophical Intopretadonrnoft he Zhongyon$ Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall critique thernChristianization of Chinese texts done by early translators, saying that suchrnpractices "have not served us well" (Ames and Hall: 5). 1 They call attentionrnto the translation of key Chinese concepts that they believe are freightedrnwith connotations from Christian theology: dan ~ (heaven), yi ~ (righteousness),rnli ~ (rites), and de ~, (virtue). As a corrective to these past errors,rnthey say: