Knowledge Production and Travelling Memory in Retranslation: A Case Study of British Sinologist Samuel Beal’s English Translations of Foguo Ji

Abstract

Against the backdrop of cross-cultural communication and overseas dissemination of Chinese Buddhist classics, the 19th-century British Sinologist Samuel Beal (1825–1889) completed two successive English translations of Foguo Ji. His retranslation practice goes beyond routine textual revision; it embodies continuous knowledge accumulation, historical interpretation and memory reconstruction shaped by over a decade of engagement with Sinology and Buddhist studies. Centering on Faxian’s pilgrimage to the Western Regions, Beal’s retranslation reconstructs the historical and geographical context of medieval Buddhist civilization, and reinterprets the philosophical connotations of diverse Buddhist schools for Western academic circles. Compared with the earlier one, his retranslated version makes remarkable progress in textual form, stylistic presentation and cultural interpretation. Adopting an introductory monograph style, the retranslated version paves the way for Western reception of Chinese Western Regions travel narratives. It replaces indiscriminate transliteration with standardized Sanskrit and Pali expressions to enhance cross-cultural academic legitimacy. By sorting out Buddhist terminological systems and constructing a holistic cognitive framework of Eastern Buddhist culture, Beal’s retranslation realizes the cross-border circulation of cultural knowledge and the reshaping of collective cultural memory, offering a valuable paradigm for the global dissemination and cross-cultural reconstruction of traditional Chinese classics.