Reconstructing Chan Master for Contemporary English Readers: A Digital Humanities Approach to the Comic Translation of Chan Shuo

Minying Ye; Xi Chen

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Journal of Translation Studies ›› 2025, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (1) : 49-86.

Reconstructing Chan Master for Contemporary English Readers: A Digital Humanities Approach to the Comic Translation of Chan Shuo

Minying Ye, Xi Chen

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Abstract

The English translation of the Chinese classic comic Chan Shuo 禪說 has garnered significant attention as a vital medium for introducing Chinese Chan Buddhism to English readers. This study investigates the representational meaning that emerges through the comic translation of Chan Shuo. In a digital humanities (DH) approach, the study first creates a self-built database of bilingual texts and images of Chan Master and then utilizes two tools developed at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, UAM CorpusTool and ImageTool, to annotate the database systematically, culminating in an analysis of the multimodal representational realizations of Chan Master. Based on the analytical framework combining visual grammar and visual narrative, it scrutinizes the participants, processes, and circumstances through both quantitative and qualitative methods. Moreover, it seeks to explore the multimodal translation methods to adapt Chan story for contemporary readers by examining the representation of Chan Master’s image through the text- image interplay. The findings indicate that such a multimodal translation adeptly conveys the inclusiveness and dynamism of the Chan Master, effectively transmitting core concepts of Chan Buddhism to the English- speaking world.

Key words

Chan Master / Chan Shuo / representational meaning / multimodal translation / digital humanities

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Minying Ye, Xi Chen. Reconstructing Chan Master for Contemporary English Readers: A Digital Humanities Approach to the Comic Translation of Chan Shuo[J]. Journal of Translation Studies. 2025, 9(1): 49-86

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