An Overview of the English-Chinese Translation of Biographies in the Period of the Democratic Revolution

The main focus of this study is on the translations of biographical works in the period of the democratic revolution (1919~1949), with classification and statistics of the Chinese translations. Taking into account the socio-historical background, cultural context, and the main translation theories of the time, examples are given to demonstrate the characteristics of translators’ choice of biographers and their choice of translations into the original texts. Through quantitative and qualitative studies, the paper concludes that the characteristics of Chinese translations of biographical literature in the past thirty years include: specialization of translators, wide selection of biographers, popularization of translated languages, and diversification of translation purposes. Finally, it points out the shortcomings of translations of biographical literature in this period.