Appropriated Ironies: The Translation and International Circulation of Chinese National Humiliation Maps during the Early Twentieth Century

The early twentieth century witnessed the transnational production and reproduction of a series of political caricature maps concerning China’s defeat in the Opium Wars and the Sino-Japanese War. These maps featured various animals representing Western powers leasing territories in China. After examining twenty maps of this type located at archives in the U.S., U.K, and China, I chose two examples as case studies: a British-made map translated and published in the Chinese newspaper Alarm of Russian Invasion (Eshi Jingwen) in 1903, and a Japanese-made map that appeared in the monthly New Reports of China (Zhongguo Xinbao) in 1906.

This paper will be an extension of my dissertation which looks at translated cartographical representation. I will compare the text-image relationship of the two Chinese translations with their originals, to understand what textual and visual elements were appropriated within the translation processes. This allows me to explore the transformation of the map-makers/translators’ visual rhetoric as the artifacts circulated through different political and media environments. I will also analyze Chinese translators’ and printer-publishers’ strategies to expose the national humiliation. Moreover, I will trace the circulation and reception of these two translated maps, and explore how they eventually became icons of the nation’s shame.