A feminist translation approach in twentieth-century China: Bing Xin's《园丁集》translation of *The Gardener* by Tagore

The paper situates Bing Xin’s translation practice within the rise of feminism in China from the late Qing through the May Fourth/New Culture Movement, when intellectuals advocated women’s education, liberation, and vernacular writing. Although formal feminist translation theory emerged in the West in the 1980s, the study argues that Bing Xin’s 1950s translation of Tagore’s The Gardener (published 1961) exhibits feminist consciousness and practices. The research question asks how Bing Xin, as a female translator shaped by May Fourth ideals and modernist aesthetics, applies feminist translation strategies to reinterpret Tagore’s poems, amplify women’s presence, and subtly counter patriarchal tendencies, thereby contributing to gender discourse and translation theory in the Chinese context.

The study reviews feminist translation as a socio-political praxis challenging patriarchal language, author/translator hierarchies, and the ideal of translator invisibility (Chamberlain 1988; Simon 1996; Flotow 1991; Massardier-Kenney 1997). It contextualizes Chinese feminism’s earlier emergence tied to national crisis and reform (late Qing to May Fourth), the New Woman discourse, and the vernacular movement enabling broader literacy and gender-inclusive expression. It traces women’s roles in Chinese literary translation history (e.g., Xue Shaohui’s 1900 translation) and characterizes early Chinese feminist translation as moderate, emphasizing reshaping female images and consciousness over radical language reform. The paper outlines classic feminist translation tools such as supplementing/amplifying and “hijacking,” used to foreground women’s voices and counter male bias, framing Bing Xin’s work as a Chinese interpretation of feminist translation shaped by historical and cultural specificities.

The research employs a qualitative case study of Bing Xin’s Chinese translation 《园丁集》 (The Gardener), using close textual analysis and comparative commentary. Selected poems from Tagore’s English text are juxtaposed with Bing Xin’s Mandarin renderings to identify feminist translation strategies (amplification, supplementation, intervention, tampering, hijacking, rewriting). The analysis focuses on pronoun choices, honorifics, lexical selection, tone-modifying particles, semantic shifts, and narratorial perspective to assess how Bing Xin constructs women’s visibility, decodes a woman’s worldview, and articulates emotional consciousness aligned with free choice in love and gender equality.

- Feminist visibility via language reforms: Frequent, deliberate use of the modern female pronoun “她/她的/她们” foregrounds women’s presence in a language that historically lacked a dedicated feminine pronoun. - Status-marking and respectful address: In Poem #1, rendering “you” as the honorific “您” elevates the Queen’s status; adjectives like “嫩柔的/纤腕” aestheticize without objectifying, reflecting appreciation rather than male gaze. - Strengthening female agency and dignity: In Poem #36, “What a shame!” becomes “不要脸!”, intensifying the woman’s rebuke and asserting self-respect in interaction. - Softening imperatives and negotiating tone: Use of modal particle “吧” (e.g., Poem #48 “放出来吧”) recasts demands as requests, adjusting power dynamics and voice to a more dialogic, gender-aware tone. - Reframing male desire and mutuality: In Poem #48, lexical choices like “爱抚”“诱惑”“贡献” highlight consensual intimacy and the man’s supplicatory stance toward the woman, countering patriarchal norms. - De-centering male universals: In Poem #59, translating “men” as “人” inclusively avoids male-default language; replacing “form” with “身形” and verbs like “献上/奉上” amplifies reverence toward women, deliberately diminishing masculinist inflection. - Re-gendering neutral roles: In Poem #77, changing “tiny servant” to “小丫头” marks feminine identity and affectionately acknowledges girls’ labor and social value within the family. - Installing a feminine narratorial viewpoint and tone: In Poem #12 “来吧” and color nuance “蔚蓝” add tenderness and sensory precision; in Poem #13, “搂在腰上…走来” naturalizes Chinese usage and strengthens women’s assertive presence while diluting male gaze. - Reimagining affect and embodiment: In Poem #34, “eyes” becomes “脸,” and “start up” → “惊起,” producing an aestheticized, feminine sensibility; in Poem #41, “心儿…跳到唇上” uses diminutive and dynamic verbs to convey a heroine’s perturbance. - Elevating reverence and care: In Poem #46, “供养在我的心里” recasts devotion in sacred terms; adding “吧” systematically softens imperatives to considerate invitations. - Feminine lexis and personification of nature: In Poem #55, choices like “束起”“嬉戏”“颊,” personifying fields and doves (“喘息”“呼唤”), align with Bing Xin’s humanistic, nature-attuned aesthetics often associated with feminine voice. - Nuancing romance vocabulary: Systematic preference for terms like “爱情/爱恋/爱怜/热恋/爱恋的渴想/爱娇/情人/爱人/我的爱人/我爱” modernizes address, removes hierarchical and gendered spouse titles, and centers affectionate equality. - Playful courtship dynamics: In Poem #16, “娇羞” (vs. neutral “害羞”) and “抵拦” capture consensual, playful resistance in romance; in Poem #18, “使…心魂缭乱” amplifies the lover’s emotional response. - From possession to cherishing: In Poem #35, “prize” → “珍爱” shifts from ownership connotations to relational care. Overall, Bing Xin consistently applies amplifying, supplementing, intervening, tampering, hijacking, and rewriting—moderately—to foreground women’s subjectivity, refine tone, and counter latent patriarchy in Tagore’s text.

The findings demonstrate that Bing Xin’s translation enacts a feminist reinterpretation of Tagore’s The Gardener by enhancing women’s linguistic visibility, rebalancing power and intimacy through tone and lexical shifts, and reframing universal “man” language. These strategies directly address the research aim: to show how a female translator’s feminist consciousness reshapes a male-authored work and corrects (often unintended) patriarchal tendencies. The work underscores dual authorship and translator agency, challenging the traditional hierarchy privileging original male authorship. Significantly, the study situates feminist translation within Chinese historical and linguistic specificities—vernacular reform, evolving gender roles, and post–May Fourth humanism—thereby enriching gender and translation studies with a non-Western, context-sensitive exemplar of feminist praxis.

The study concludes that Bing Xin’s 《园丁集》 exemplifies a feminized, gender-reconstructive translation of The Gardener. Through moderate but purposeful techniques—amplification, supplementation, intervention, tampering, hijacking, and rewriting—she elevates female subjectivity, softens directives into invitations, modernizes and equalizes romantic address, and infuses a woman-centered worldview. Although predating formal feminist translation theory, her practice anticipates its core tenets, reframing translator identity as co-author and resisting translator invisibility. The work advances the historic mission of enlightenment regarding women’s status and translation’s agency. Future research should expand inquiry into Chinese women translators, linking feminist consciousness with linguistic change and socio-historical development, and fostering continued dialogue among gender studies, feminist linguistics, and translation studies.