On the afternoon of May 15, 2025, our school hosted an academic lecture titled “The Linguistic Pathway of Civilizational Dialogue: Chinese-Arabic Translation Practices and Mutual Cultural Learning”. Professor Nahed Abdulla Ebrahim from the Chinese Department of the Faculty of Languages at Ain Shams University, Egypt, was invited as the keynote speaker. The event was chaired by Associate Professor He Hua, Director of the MTI Center, with participation from students and faculty representatives specializing in country and region studies. Professor He Hua began by introducing Professor Nahed’s academic background and extending a warm welcome.
Professor Nahed first explained the historical development of Chinese and Arab civilizations, comparing their similarities and differences. By reviewing the long-standing interactions between China and the Arab world, she highlighted the close economic, technological, and cultural ties between the two countries since ancient times—particularly through the Silk Road as a “bridge of civilizations” that facilitated bidirectional exchanges of goods and ideas. She emphasized that Arab contributions to fields such as mathematics, medicine, and philosophy positively influenced the development of ancient Chinese science and technology, while Chinese classics like Confucian texts were widely translated and studied in the Arab world.
Using the Maritime and Overland Silk Roads as a historical framework, Professor Nahed outlined the history of translation in Sino-Arab civilizational interactions. She noted that translators’ efforts—from the Tang Dynasty’s translation activities to the Arab “Century of Translation”—served as keys to civilizational dialogue. By showcasing Arabic numeral manuscripts from the Dunhuang archives and the Chinese-translated Treatise on Mercury (a medical text), she vividly illustrated how ancient scholars facilitated mutual exchanges in astronomy, calendars, and medical knowledge through translation. Persian translators in Chang’an during the Tang Dynasty and Chinese scholars at Baghdad’s House of Wisdom collectively formed a “translation community” in the pre-modern world.
Professor Nahed also focused on modern and contemporary times, analyzing the transmission trajectories of Chinese translations of One Thousand and One Nights and Arabic translations of The Analects of Confucius to reveal how translation shapes cultural perceptions. She highlighted works by Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, praising their Chinese translations for retaining Arab literary essence while resonating with Chinese readers’ aesthetic preferences. Regarding Chinese literature’s Arabic translation practices, she cited the reception of Mo Yan’s works at the Cairo International Book Fair, stressing that “cultural transcoding” must balance linguistic fidelity with target contexts and proposing a translation principle of “prioritizing imagery over literalness.”
In closing, Professor Nahed emphasized that mutual learning between Arab and Chinese civilizations relies on translation as a cultural bridge. Translation not only facilitates exchanges in science, technology, literature and art, but also deepens mutual understanding and respect between peoples. Moving forward, she asserted that translation will remain vital to Sino-Arab cultural dialogue amid technological and global advancements.
During the Q&A session, faculty and students raised questions about Chinese literature’s Arabic translations, the application of machine translation in literary texts, and cultural mutual learning between China and the Arab world. Professor Nahed provided detailed responses and constructive insights, offering valuable references for future research. This lecture enhanced participants’ understanding of Arab language and culture, broadened academic perspectives on Sino-Arab civilizational exchanges, and strengthened mutual cultural trust through scholarly interaction.
Reporter: Hu Gang
Reviewer: He Hua
School Homepage
中文
