Harvard-Yenching Institute

Mencius: A New Translation Arranged and Annotated for The General Reader by W. A. C. H.
Dobson
Review by: Lien-sheng Yang
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 25 (1964 - 1965), pp. 292-296
Published by: Harvard-Yenching Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2718353 .
Accessed: 12/07/2013 23:38

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Harvard-Yenching Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 202.65.183.3 on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:38:58 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
292 REVIEWS

Page 125: B; W2fiEtI S'il faut bondir par-dessus un

torrent, son elan est souple et rapide. Qu'il y ait des rebelles a reduire,
il fonce en droite ligne . . . .- The first four characters refer to the
horse Ti-lu ft~4'i ("eWhite Forehead"), which saved its master, Liu
Pei flJfI, in an emergency by jumping across a stream. (See San-kuo
chih, Shu 2.6a.) The other four characters refer to a steed on which
Li Mi S of T'ang rode to suppress rebels. It is said that to ride on
this steed one had to wear a fur coat and cover one's head with floss,
presumably to prevent oneself from being hurt. (See Hsii Po-wu chih
Rt4Itu. [Ts'ung-shu chi-ch'eng ed.], ts'e 1343, p. 119.)
Page 127: -13JtiSi!1?:A` [pour lui], on fond l'escargot jaune, afin
qu'il vomisse de l'eau.- This seems to be an allusion to a story about
the T'ang emperor Jui-tsung, who, as Prince of Chi, one day saw
traces of a snail forming the character t'ien :k on the wall of his night
chamber. After being wiped off, the traces reappeared in a few days.
Later, this incident was interpreted as a good omen, and snails carved
of jade and cast of gold were placed in front of Buddhist and Taoist
deities to commemorate the event. (See Yu-yang tsa-tsu MAMAf.1
[SPTKed.] 1.2b.
Attention is also called to the following misprints:
Page xiii: For Ott read XC.
Page lo: For .X..1*k read ?1Jk1.
Pages 35-36: For 7ii read Itfi.
Page 41: For JF1P0-M
read Jfrfi.
Page 56: For YiIt read
Page 81: For Tch'en Po 1R read Tch'en T'ouan 4i^.
LIEN-SHENG YANG
Harvard University

MENCIUS: A new translation arranged and annotated for the general

reader by W. A. C. H. Dobson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1963. Pp. xviii + 215. $5.00.

This new translation of the Works of Mencius rearranges the text

under seven topics: Mencius at Court, Mencius in Public Life, Men-
cius and His Disciples, Mencius and His Rivals, Comments on the
Times, The Teachings of Mencius, and Maxims. In a note on page
2o8, the translator states that the definitive translation of Mencius is
still that of James Legge and that while his own version is not intended

This content downloaded from 202.65.183.3 on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:38:58 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 REVIEWS 293
to supplant Legge's, it is "a new translation made in the light of
recent textual and philological research, but with the general reader
in mind." Since Professor Dobson has been reading the Works of
Mencius with university students for nearly twenty years (page vii)
and since he has used Mencius as a basic text for his study of late
archaic Chinese, students of Sinology naturally may expect the new
version to be both readable and authoritative. This may explain in
part why the book has been given a mixed reception. While Dr. Hum-
mel praises it as "an excellent rendering which in places corrects
Legge and in parts surpasses him" (JAS 23 [1964].463), Professor
Dubs criticizes it as "not a translation upon which a student may rely
to discover the meaning of the original" and points out that "In vari-
ous places, there occur unfortunate inaccuracies" (JAOS 83 [1963]
.520-521). Perhaps the divergent views can be reconciled by one
speaking for the general reader and the other for the serious student.
As will be discussed below, two of the inaccuracies pointed out by
Dubs are not mistakes. On the other hand, I have noted a number of
other inaccuracies, most of which seem to be the result of deviating
from Legge's version.
On page 521 of his review, Professor Dubs writes:

On p. 51, Prof. Dobson appears to follow Legge into a misunderstanding

of the text. When Mencius announces that he will retire, the King offers to
build Mencius a house in chung-kuo,which term Legge and Dobson trans-
late as "ethemiddle of the kingdom" (Bk. II, ii, ch. x, v. 3). But it is now
well-known (although Mathews' Dictionaryfails to list this meaning), that
chung-kuoactually meant "the central part of China," i.e., the ancient cen-
ter of civilization. Here it very likely denotes the neighboring state of Lu,
where Mencius was born, although the King too thought of his own king-
dom as chung-kuo!

It is common in archaic Chinese to use chung-kuo to mean kuo-chung

-a usage which justifies Legge and Dobson. Strictly speaking, Men-
cius was born in the state of Tsou, not Lu (see Legge, "Prolegomena,"
page 15). Another point is that Mathews' Dictionary is not particularly
suitable for classical Chinese. Why not Couvreur?
On the same page, Dubs writes: "Passage 2.13, for example, starts
well, but, in the second paragraph, instead of translating chung as
'measures of wine,' this word is left untranslated and uninterpreted."
Legge uses chung also, and explains it correctly on page 580 as "The
name of a measure, containing sixty-four tdu ([)." Mathews' Dic-

This content downloaded from 202.65.183.3 on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:38:58 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
294 REVIEWS

tionary does define chung as "a cup, a goblet," but also as "an ancient
measure equal to 4 [read 64] 4+." It is obvious that here it is a measure
of grain.
The following are examples contrasting the versions by Legge and
Dobson. In each case, the Legge version is more accurate, although
not often more readable:
1. (Legge, page 177): his favourite, one Tsang Ts'ang [identified as
a male].
(Dobson, page 39): a courtesan, Tsang-ts'ang [identified as a
female].
Although the character p'i has the nu (female) radical, it may refer to
either a male or a female. Traditional commentators have always
identified Tsang Ts'ang as a male.
2. (Legge, i8o): Tseng Hsi is identified as the grandson of Tseng
Shen.
(Dobson, 83): Tseng Hsi is identified as the grandson of Con-
fucius.
3. (Legge, 183): Kao-ko (i.e., Chiao Ko).
(Dobson, 84): Chiao Chi.
4. (Legge, 200) : If from the occupiers of the shops in his market-place
he do not exact the fine of the individual idler, or of the hamlet's
quota of cloth.
(Dobson, 178): The merchants should not be allowed to farm the
poll and village tax.
5. (Legge, 218): He then repeated the conversation to the king.
(Dobson, 47): I plead for him.
6. (Legge, 227-228): It happened that there was a mean fellow, who
made it a point to look out for a conspicuous mound, and get up
upon it. Thence he looked right and left, to catch in his net the
whole gain of the market. The people all thought his conduct
mean, and therefore they proceeded to lay a tax upon his wares.
(Dobson, 52): Then, an official of mean disposition took for him-
self the profits of the markets by selling his favours. Thus mer-
chants were taxed.
7. (Legge, 245): Let the supernumerary males have their twenty-five
mau.
(Dobson, 37): For the rest, twenty-five acres.
8. (Legge, 256): and with shoes which were of the same size.
(Dobson, 119): If the quality of shoes were standardized.

This content downloaded from 202.65.183.3 on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:38:58 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
 REVIEWS 295

9. (Legge, 256): If large shoes and small shoes were of the same price.
(Dobson, 119): If shoes of good and poor quality were similarly
priced.
io. (Legge, 262-263): his favourite Hsi [identified as a male].
(Dobson, 94): his courtesan, Hsi [identified as a female].
i. (Legge, 357): Shun withdrew from the son of Yao to the south of
the South river.
(Dobson, 65): Shun fled to the south of the Southern River to
escape the sons of Yao.
12. (Legge, 358): Yu withdrew from the son of Shun to Yang-ch'ang.
(Dobson, 62): Yu fled to Yang-ch'eng to avoid the sons of Shun.
13. (Legge, 396): white is white.
(Dobson, iii): whiteness is the thing that whitens.
Here attention may be called to the observation by Dr. Waley:
Ccewhite is white'. Chao Ch'i says 'white things are white'; which is
certainlywhat is meant" (AM 1 [1949-1950].104).
14. (Legge, 414): the fourth finger.
(Dobson, 146): the little finger.
Wu-ming chih chih refers to the ring finger, normally the third finger
in English, but always the fourth finger in Chinese.
15. (Legge, 424): But I can do nothing but eat my millet.
(Dobson, ioi) : This is merely a matter of what one eats.
16. (Legge, 493): The man said, "I apprehend not. But you, Master,
having arranged to give lessons, do not go back to inquire into the
past, and you do not reject those who come to you. If they come
with the mind to learn, you receive them without more ado."
(Dobson, 38): The lodge-keeper said, "Probably not." Mencius
replied, "When I give instruction, I neither run after those who
leave, nor do I rebuff those who stay. If they come with a mind to
learn, then I teach them. There is nothing more to it than that."
This review makes no attempt to list the places where Dobson ap-
pears to have perpetuated mistakes in Legge; e.g.: fu-k'u )1f) trans-
lated as "treasuries and arsenals" (Legge, 247) and "arsenals, and
storehouses" (Dobson, 1 i6) should be "treasuries and storehouses";
Po-i A#4translated as "gambling and chess-playing" (Legge, 337)
and "to gamble, play chess" (Dobson, 59) should be "to play the
games of liu-po and wei-ch'i; shih-se ti translated as "To enjoy food
and delight in colours" (Legge, 397) and "food and colour (the taste
and senses)" (Dobson, iii) should be "food and beauty or sex."

This content downloaded from 202.65.183.3 on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:38:58 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
296 REVIEWS

Nor does this review discuss such technical problems as the Hsia
calendar and the Chou calendar, which affect the interpretation of
several passages in Mencius. There are also about a dozen mistakes in
romanization in the Dobson version which need not be listed.
LIEN-SHENG YANG
Harvard University

This content downloaded from 202.65.183.3 on Fri, 12 Jul 2013 23:38:58 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions