The Establishment of the Concept of"Jiefang"(Liberation)between Modem Chinese and Foreign Cultural Exchanges
In ancient Chinese,"jiefang"served as a verb representing"to untie,to release",whereas in its modern usage,it has acquired the new meaning of"to pursue freedom".The modern concept of"jiefang"derives from the English terms"emancipation and"liberation.However,several English-Chinese dictio-naries of the 19th century translated these terms as"shifang"(to release)rather than"jiefang"(to pursue freedom).Until 1888,two English-Japanese dictionaries first translated"emancipation"into Japanese as"kaihou",imbuing the term with its contemporary connotations of"breaking free from bondage and achiev-ing freedom".With the growing Sino-Japanese cultural interactions,the influence of the Japanese term"kaihou"became evident in Chinese publications through phrases like"nuli jiefang"(the emancipation of slaves)and"furen jiefang"(women's liberation),marking the establishment of the modern and politically charged concept of"jiefang"in Chinese.The evolution of"jiefang"precisely reflects the ideological and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries from the late 19th to the early 20th century.
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