摘要
CLASSIC foreign literature is big business in present-day China, with countless editions by small publish-ing houses competing with versions released by long-established state pub-lishing firms. Literature from overseas is nothing new in China; late Qing Dynasty scholar Lin
CLASSIC foreign literature is big business in presentday China, with countless editions by small publishing houses competing with versions released by long-established state publishing firms. Literature from overseas is nothing new in China; late Qing Dynasty scholar Lin Shu （1852-1924） published 222 Chinese versions of foreign works in his lifetime, including 160 novels. Lin was the first to publish a local translation of a classic Western novel, with the release of The Lady of the Camellias in 1900. His other translations included works by famous novelists such as Charles Dickens and English playwright William Shakespeare. Lin had to rely on oral translations of others, however, as he did not understand foreign languages himself.
