Rousseau in China’s Transformative Era—— A Study of Chinese intellectuals’ Reprinting and Interpretation of the first Chinese translation of Du Contrat Social

Nakae Chomin’s Minyaku Yakukai was the first Chinese translation of Rousseau’s Du Contrat Social.The annotated translation is a text of political thought with extremely rich meanings.It had attracted quite a few modern Chinese intellectuals in their search of freedom and equality.Since 1898 Chinese intellectuals had been motivated by different political missions,ranging from anti-Manchu revolution to the rebuilding of the Republic of China after Yuan Shikai’s dictatorship,to read and reread Nakae’s translation.They reprinted,commented on,and quoted the translation to share their understanding of Rousseau’s theory with their compatriots.Their reprinted versions became the most important media for spreading Rousseau’s theory in China.Moreover,their creative interpretations of the translation provided opportunities for Chinese intellectuals to embrace not only constitutional democracy but also more radical political projects,such as anarchism,socialism and communist revolution.