Ever since its publication in 1919, the Mandarin Union Version (hereafter abbreviated as Mandarin UV) has served as the predominant version of the Bible used by Chinese-speaking Protestant communities across the world. The concurrence of its release and the promotion of the written vernacular based on Mandarin Chinese during the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement in China's Republican Era played a significant role in the favourable reception that the Mandarin UV received after its publication. While there were several Mandarin Bible versions published afterwards, some of which claimed to provide Chinese readers with better Bible translations, none has superseded the UV in terms of influence and popularity amongst Chinese-speaking churches. Many scholarly studies have explored different aspects of the Mandarin UV and according to George Mak these include, “the version's history, its linguistic features, its translators’ hermeneutical stances, and its authoritativeness as the Bible of the Chinese Protestant community”.Footnote 1
The Mandarin UV, therefore, undoubtedly represents the “canonised” Bible translation in the Chinese-speaking world today. One significant consequence of this has been the standardisation of terminology in Chinese Protestantism, which, in some senses, has fulfilled its missionary translators’ original aim of launching the UV project as “a common Bible translation” in nineteenth-century China.Footnote 2 This article, however, investigates the ongoing linguistic influences of the Mandarin UV by comparing two twenty-first century Chinese translations of William Paul Young's 2007 global bestseller The Shack: the Traditional Chinese version Xiaowu 小屋 (Taipei, 2009) translated by Chen Jingmin 陳敬旻 and the Simplified Chinese version Pengwu 棚屋 (Beijing, 2010) translated by Zhu Ziyi 朱子仪. In pointing out ways in which these two translations vary, this article highlights how far the translation of Christian-themed texts has been conditioned on the linguistic level by the canonised translation of the Bible in its target language. Furthermore, drawing on the response obtained from online conversations with Chen— translator of Xiaowu — the article will also show how a Christian translator's own ‘Christianised’ language in their translation may be viewed as an unintended product resulting from their personal involvement in Christianity.
The Mandarin Union Version in Twentieth-Century Chinese Churches
This article begins by exploring what I describe as the ‘canonisation’ of the Mandarin UV within the Chinese Protestant community in order to explain the formation of Christian linguistic norms in Mandarin. Translation scholar Chong Yau Yuk draws on Itamar Even-Zohar's polysystem theory to discuss relevant effects surrounding this canoninisation process of the Mandarin UV.Footnote 3 Considering Chinese Bible translations as a polysystem, Chong applies Even-Zohar's idea of centre-periphery relation between various elements within a system to note that along with the canonisation of the Mandarin UV there has occurred the peripherisation of four other types of Chinese translations of the Bible: (1) translations into classical Chinese; (2) translations into dialects other than the lingua franca Mandarin; (3) translations performed through individual works instead of collaborative efforts; and (4) translations infused with unconventional theological ideas.Footnote 4
Following Even-Zohar's statement that canonicity is “no euphemism for “good” vs. “bad” literature”, Chong points out that within the religious community the canonised translation of the script does not necessarily represent the best version.Footnote 5 Chong further lists a number of Mandarin Bible translations published after the UV that were regarded as having the potential to challenge its superiority yet to no avail. The examples include Lu Chen-Chung's translation 呂振中譯本 (1970), Today's Chinese Version 現代中文譯本 (1979) and the Chinese New Version 新譯本 (1992). The translation by the biblical scholar Lu Chen-Chung (hereafter Lu's version) is known for being rendered directly from the Hebrew and Greek texts. Today's Chinese Version (hereafter TCV) features the application of Eugene Nida's dynamic equivalence and also the aim to produce a unified Bible that can be shared by Protestant and Catholic Christians. The project for the Chinese New Version (hereafter CNV), launched by a group of Chinese Christian leaders and scholars with the aim to present a better translation that can replace the Mandarin UV, is described by Chong as the version that posed the greatest challenge to the Mandarin UV. Although these mentioned Bible translations were all claimed by some people to be versions of better quality than the Mandarin UV, none of them has successfully replaced the central position occupied by the Mandarin UV in the polysystem of Chinese Bible translations.Footnote 6
In Jost Oliver Zetzsche's account of the reception of the Mandarin UV over the several decades after its publication, tensions surrounding its use are mentioned. Zetzsche lists Gu Dunrou's 顧敦鍒 criticisms of the Mandarin UV, namely “(1) errors in the choice of words; (2) grammatical and stylistic problems; and (3) mistakes in translation”.Footnote 7 Zetzsche also refers to another critic Liu Yiling 劉翼凌, who called for revision of the Mandarin UV. Interestingly, however, Liu's take on the Mandarin UV was not merely negative, and he later even defended the Mandarin UV against the criticisms by the translators of the CNV: “[t]o the churches, to the average Christian, and to Bible classes, the influence of such public criticism would be devastating, [Liu] claimed, because criticism of the Union Version was criticism of the Chinese Bible”.Footnote 8 Zetzsche notes that this reverence towards the UV was rather prevalent amongst Chinese-speaking churches. This corresponds to Chong's discussion on the authoritative status given to the Mandarin UV by the majority of Chinese-speaking Protestants.
Chong treats the canonisation of the Mandarin UV within the Chinese-speaking Protestant circle as a whole, without specifying the situation in different countries or regions. But since this article presents a comparative textual analysis of two different Chinese translations of The Shack that are published in Taiwan and China respectively, with the focus on the Christianised translation in the Traditional Chinese version, it is first necessary to provide some historical information about the publication, dissemination and use of the Bible in Taiwan.
The Mandarin Union Version as the Authoritative Version in Taiwan
When discussing the popularity and primacy of the Mandarin UV in Taiwan's Protestant community, it is important to consider the ways in which guoyu 國語 (national language) has been promoted since the 1940s and how the government's language policy at the same time has influenced the use of the Bible in Taiwan's churches. Following the surrender of Japan at the end of the Second World War, the Japanese colonisation of Taiwan ended in 1945. Taiwan was placed under the rule of the Republic of China (ROC), which was governed by the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party. After its defeat by the Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the KMT retreated to Taiwan and made the main island Formosa the new base of the ROC.
Mandarin, the Chinese dialect authorised as the national language during the Republican Era, was promoted in Taiwan by the Mandarin Promotion Council established by the ROC government in 1946 to address the fact that Mandarin was not used, nor even not understood, by the majority of Taiwanese people at that time.Footnote 9 In 1956, the Guoyu Movement 說國語運動 was launched across Taiwan, which entailed making Mandarin the only legitimate language and forbidding the use in public of Hoklo/Hokkien, Hakka, aboriginal languages, and the former coloniser's language–Japanese–too. Students whose first language was not Mandarin would be punished if they spoke their mother tongue in schools. There were also restrictions placed on the use of languages in the media. Moreover, people who could not speak Mandarin properly were usually regarded as second-class citizens. The KMT's language policy also affected Taiwan's Christian practice due to government restrictions on language use in churches. It was not until the late 1980s when the democratisation of Taiwan finally took place that these discriminatory language plans implemented by the earlier one-party government were removed.Footnote 10
The Curriculum Vitae of Christianity in Taiwan
Christianity was first brought to Taiwan by Dutch missionaries in the seventeenth century and then the first Bible translation appeared on the island: The Gospel of Matthew in the Sinkan language 新港語. Sinkan was the language spoken by the Siraya, one of the Taiwanese plains aborigine tribes. As part of their rule, the Dutch romanised the Sinkan language to create a writing system so as to educate the Siraya people. The Sinkan version of The Gospel of Matthew was, therefore, composed in the Roman alphabet.
By the time that the KMT forces retreated to Taiwan, the Hoklo Taiwanese made up the majority of the population there. This meant that Taiwanese Hokkien was the language spoken by most people in Taiwan at that time, and hence why Taiwanese Hokkien has been commonly called “Taiwanese”.Footnote 11 When a number of Bible translation projects were being carried out in China during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, there were also Bible translations being conducted in Taiwan. Since a large number of Taiwanese people could not read Han Chinese characters, the missionaries who worked amongst Hoklo Taiwanese people considered it essential to enable them to access the Bible through romanised vernacular Taiwanese Hokkien. Again, they believed that it would be easier for illiterate people to learn romanised letters than Han Chinese characters.Footnote 12
Before the first Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan, James Laidlaw Maxwell, arrived on the island in 1864, the The Gospel of John in romanised Amoy vernacular had been published in Amoy/Xiamen (1852). This specific orthography for the varieties of Southern Min Chinese was called pe̍h-ōe-jī 白話字, and it was first used by missionaries working in the Southern Min area. Pe̍h-ōe-jī was later borrowed by Maxwell and another Presbyterian missionary, Thomas Barclay, to translate the Bible for the Hoklo Taiwanese. In 1873 the New Testament in romanised Taiwanese Hokkien, completed under the aegis of Maxwell, was published. So was the Old Testament in 1884. Indeed, this Bible has been widely referred to as the first “Taiwanese Bible”. A later translation of the New Testament into pe̍h-ōe-jī by Barclay and other assistants—which was the product of the translation project intended to provide a more accurate version—was completed in 1916. And in 1933, Barclay's translated Old Testament was also published. Nowadays, Maxwell and Barclay are revered as important figures who made contributions to the preservation of Taiwanese Hokkien.Footnote 13
The use of pe̍h-ōe-jī faced some difficulties during the period of Japanese control and then the KMT before the late 1980s. In the 1930s the Japanese government prohibited church schools from using languages other than Japanese in classes and services. In 1942 The Taiwan Church News 台灣教會公報 printed in pe̍h-ōe-jī was banned from publication due to the policy to make Japanese the only legitimate language in Taiwan.Footnote 14 When the KMT regime retreated from the mainland to Taiwan, their prohibition on languages other than Mandarin being used in public, led to several incidents that marked its conflicts with Taiwanese-speaking churches, primarily the Presbyterians.Footnote 15 In 1955, all churches were banned from using the romanised alphabet. In 1957 the use of the pe̍h-ōe-jī Bible was not allowed at church, and copies were confiscated. The same happened to the highland aboriginal group Tayal when in 1974 Bibles and hymn books in romanised Tayal were forcibly removed by the police during Sunday services. In 1975 the police confiscated 2,200 copies of the newly-translated Taiwanese Bible in the romanised alphabet.Footnote 16 In 1984, the Ministry of Education urged all missionaries in Taiwan to use Mandarin in missionary activities.Footnote 17
All these factors contributed to the elevated status that the Mandarin UV has held in Taiwan since the mid twentieth-century. Today the Mandarin UV dominates in Taiwan's Protestant churches, and it is the Bible version most widely-used by Taiwanese Protestants for both public worship and personal study. This in turn means that the terminology used in Taiwan's Protestant community is based on the Mandarin UV. When it comes to the use of Bible verses, be this in the church or in non-church settings, the Mandarin UV is usually the standard reference. Grounded in Chong's description of the contemporary use of the Mandarin Bible translations amongst Chinese-speaking churches, this is also common practice amongst other Protestant communities across the Chinese-speaking world. The inevitable outcome is that this phenomenon, as will be shown below, has encouraged certain norms or rules for translators who are translating biblical allusions in literature from foreign languages into Chinese. The various Chinese translations of The Shack thus serve as ideal examples for this study since their translators apparently possess different degrees of familiarity with these linguistic norms, and so they provide us with an opportunity to compare how standardised translational norms of Christian language have been applied.
The Shack as a Christian-Themed Novel
The Shack, first published in 2007, was Canadian author William Paul Young's debut novel. Young submitted the manuscript to more than twenty publishers but was rejected by all of them—“both by Christian publishers, who found it too controversial, and secular publishers, who thought it was too Christian”.Footnote 18 The novel ended up being published by Windblown Media, the self-publisher newly established by Young and his friends. The Shack then, perhaps surprisingly, topped the New York Times best-seller list for 52 consecutive weeks, which in turn contributed to its being translated into more than 40 languages.Footnote 19 In 2017 its film adaptation was released, and film tie-in editions of the novel in different languages were also published.
The Shack is subtitled ‘Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity’. With the ‘shack’ symbolising the place where an individual's secrets, pain and shame are hidden, the novel tells the story of the protagonist Mackenzie (Mack) who has been overwhelmed by the loss of his six-year-old daughter and is experiencing a great faith crisis. The police claim that Missy, the youngest daughter missing on a family camping trip, has been abducted and murdered by a serial killer. Mack's healing process and reconstruction of his relationship with God begins with an invitation that he receives from ‘Papa’ to meet up at the shack, where Missy's bloodstained clothing has been found while her body remains undiscovered. The essence of the story lies in Mack's encounter with the manifestation of the Triune God in three different persons: ‘Papa’ as an African American woman whose name is Elousia, Jesus Christ who is a Middle-Eastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit physically presented as an Asian woman called Sarayu. Through his conversations with these three figures, Mack comes to grips with ‘The Great Sadness’ in his life and restores his broken relationship with God.
Several mainstream media outlets released stories and articles on this Christian-themed blockbuster that caused controversy. For example, USA Today’s 2008 article, “Aim at ‘spiritually interested’ sparks ‘The Shack’ sales”, described the novel as “a wrenching parable about God's grace”. At the end of the article, Publishers Weekly’s senior Religion editor Lynn Garrett was quoted as describing the success of The Shack as a self-published novel as “most unusual”, commenting that “People are not necessarily concerned with how orthodox the theology is. People are into the story and how the book strikes them emotionally”.Footnote 20 The following month, USA Today published another article entitled ‘‘Shack opens doors, but critics call book “scripturally incorrect”’, which provided a more detailed account of how the novel had come to existence as a bestseller, as well as the circumstances surrounding its publication. One noteworthy fact concerning the composition of the novel was the revision process in which theological jargon was removed.Footnote 21 This editing process suggests that the publication of The Shack was not only geared toward a wider readership rather than merely the Christian community, but also that it was the producers’ intention to break religious conventions in terms of language use. Judging from the novel's status as a global bestseller, their objectives were apparently achieved.
Chinese Translations of The Shack
The Traditional Chinese edition of The Shack, Xiaowu, was produced by Solo Press 寂寞出版社 under The Eurasian Publishing Group 圓神出版集團, one of the largest publishers in Taiwan.Footnote 22 Although Xiaowu targeted mainstream readers, its translator Chen, according to her introduction in the book, is a self-proclaimed “blessed Christian”. And, to be sure, her translation contains a significant number of phrases that specifically belong to Chinese Protestant terminology—even in places where the original author did not include an overt biblical expression. These phrases were clearly shaped by the Mandarin UV since it is the predominant Bible translation used in contemporary Taiwan. Interestingly, Xiaowu’s Simplified Chinese counterpart Pengwu published in China represents the opposite with regard to the Christianisation of the text.Footnote 23 This article will now highlight some of the most visible contrasts between these two Chinese translations.
It can be argued that the translators’ familiarity with Christian terminology certainly affected their language use.Footnote 24 The differences between what appears in the Christianised Xiaowu and the less Christianised Pengwu can be categorised into three types: (1) instances where biblical allusions in the original are retained in Xiaowu but not in Pengwu; (2) instances where the biblical references are translated in accord with existing Christian terminology in Xiaowu but not in Pengwu; and finally, and perhaps most interestingly, (3) instances where the expression in the original does not contain Christian jargon yet is rendered with specific diction moulded by the Mandarin UV in Xiaowu. Each pair of examples under these different categories is presented in parallel with the source text. For the second and third groups, I also examine whether the particular Christian expressions found in Xiaowu also exist in the other three Mandarin Bible translations, which Chong has mentioned as versions that, when compared with other existing Chinese Bible translations, now occupy relatively influential positions, that is Lu's version, TCV, and the CNV.
Christian allusions retained in Xiaowu but not in Pengwu
Example 1
The Shack: We're not justifying it. We are redeeming it. (127)
Xiaowu: 我們不是在證明，而是在救贖。 (159)
(Back translation: We are not justifying it. We are saving and atoning for it.)
Pengwu: 我们不是要证明，我们要付诸行动。(141)
(Back translation: We are not justifying it. We are putting it into action.)
This sentence is extracted from Papa's response to Mack's comment on the evils in the world. The difference between the two Chinese versions lies in the translators’ renditions of the verb ‘redeem’. In Xiaowu it is translated as 救贖 (jiushu), meaning ‘to save and atone for sins and mistakes’, which indeed has a religious connotation. In Pengwu the translation 付诸行动 (fu zhu xingdong) means ‘to put it into action’. Apparently the translator of Pengwu adopts the definition ‘to carry out a promise’ for the verb ‘redeem’ in the passage. Since the conversation is about what Papa, Sarayu and Jesus can do in the midst of affliction and suffering, and has explicit Christian content, the translation in Xiaowu should be closer to what the original author means.
Example 2
The Shack: He believed, in his head at least, that God was a Spirit, neither
male or female,[…]. (93)
Xiaowu: 至少他的理智相信：上帝是個「靈」，既非男也非女，[⋯⋯] 。(121)
(Back translation: At least in his head he believed: God is a ‘Spirit’, neither male nor female, […].)
Pengwu: 至少在理智上，他相信上帝是一种精神，既不是男人也不是女人。 (102)
(Back translation: At least in his head, he believed God is a kind of spirit/ a way of feeling or thinking, neither male nor female.)
This sentence is about Mack's presumption about God before encountering Papa in the story. The translation of ‘Spirit’ in Xiaowu 靈 (ling) is the Chinese equivalent of ‘spirit’ appearing in the source text, which denotes the form of existence beyond the physical realm. It is the exact word used for ‘spirit’ in the Chinese translation of the well-known Bible verse: “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).Footnote 25 In Pengwu the translation of ‘a spirit’ is一种精神 (yizhong jingshen), which refers to “a way of feeling or thinking” and so does not represent the meaning of ‘spirit’ in the original text.
Biblical references translated according to Christian terminology in Xiaowu but not in Pengwu
Example 1
The Shack: They find their identity and worth in their brokenness […]. (189)
Xiaowu: 他們[⋯⋯]在破碎中找到自己的身份和價值[⋯⋯] 。(232)
(Back translation: They[…]find their identity and worth in their brokenness[…].)
Pengwu: 他们在跟上帝的离异中找到了自己的身份和价值[⋯⋯] 。(217)
(Back translation: They find their identity and worth in their departure from God […].)
Posui in Mandarin Protestant terminology appears in the Mandarin UV’s translation of Psalm 31:12, whose English translation is “I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery”. Posui can also be found in Lu's version, TCV and the NCV, although the term is not always applied to the same verses in these versions.
This example is extracted from Papa's description of those people who keep themselves away from God. The concept of man's ‘brokenness’ is constantly mentioned in Christian teachings. It is mostly linked with the Christian belief that people are ‘damaged’ due to their sins, and it is translated as 破碎 (posui) in Mandarin Protestant terminology. Xiaowu uses this exact term. However, in Pengwu it is translated as 跟上帝的离异 (gen shangdi de liyi): “the departure from God”. On the theological level, this perhaps should not be considered as a mistranslation but merely a non-standard Christian phrase.
Example 2
The Shack: Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all
about relationships of love and respect. In fact, we are submitted to you in
the same way. (145)
Xiaowu: 順服無關乎權柄，也不是服從，一切都是關乎愛與尊重的關係 。 事實上，我們也用同樣的方式順服你 。(180)
(Back translation: Submission is not about authority, and it is not obedience. It is all about relationships of love and respect. In fact, we are submitted to you in the same way.)
Pengwu: 恭顺与权威无关，它不是顺从，它只跟爱和尊重相关 。事实上， 我们对你们也同样恭顺 。(165)
(Back translation: Humble submission is not about authority, and it is not obedience. It is only about relationships of love and respect. In fact, we are also humbly submitted to you like this.)
This is one of places in the novel criticised by Christian leaders as representing unorthodox teachings since nowhere in the Bible does it say that God is submitted to man. 順服 (shunfu), the phrase representing ‘submission’ in Xiaowu, is a fixed term in Mandarin Christian language. As shown in this example, it can be used both as a noun and as a verb. In addition, shunfu can be used as an adjective, denoting ‘obedient’. In Pengwu, another synonymous phrase 恭顺 (gongshun) is used to render ‘submission’ as well as ‘be submitted’. The character 恭 (gong) means ‘humble’. As for the translation of ‘authority’, Xiaowu also adopts an existing Christian term 權柄 (quanbing), while Pengwu uses 权威 (quanwei), which is not specifically a Christian term and more commonly used in non-church settings. Shunfu is applied abundantly in the Mandarin UV and the other three later Mandarin Bible versions mentioned in this article.
Example 3
The Shack: Jesus is both the promise and its fulfillment. (203)
Xiaowu: 耶穌既是應許、也是應許的實現 。(247)
(Back translation: Jesus is not only the promise, and also the fulfillment of the promise.)
Pengwu: 耶穌既是許諾又是諾言的實現 。(234)
(Back translation: Jesus is the promise and also the fulfillment of the promise.)
Here is another example where Xiaowu adopts a standard Christian expression but Pengwu does not. 應許 (yingxu) in Xiaowu, and 許諾 (xunuo) and 諾言 (nuoyan) in Pengwu all bear the same meaning: ‘promise’. However, 應許 (yingxu) is the particular Mandarin phrase used to refer to ‘promise’ in biblical contexts. Like shunfu, yingxu can be found in many verses in all four Mandarin Bible translations.
Expression precisely influenced by the Mandarin Union Version
The Shack: And remember, I am bigger than your lies. I can work beyond them. (233)
Xiaowu: 而且你要記得，我比你的謊言還大。我動的工可以超越謊言，[⋯⋯] 。 (232)
(Back translation: And you've got to remember, I am bigger than your lies. The work I do can go beyond your lies.)
Pengwu: 要记住，你的谎言再大也大不过我 。我能够不受它们的影响 。(216)
(Back translation: Remember, no matter how big your lies are, they are not bigger than me. I can be unaffected by them.)
As shown in the back translations, the two Chinese translations of Papa's words regarding lies both have the original meaning in the source text transferred. The difference lies merely in their wordings. The translation of “I can work beyond them”, 我動的工可以超越謊言 (wo dong de gong keyi chaoyue huangyan) in Xiaowu clearly suggests that Chen was influenced by the Mandarin UV. The first four characters 我動的工 (wo dong de gong), “the work I do” or “the work I have begun to do”, is the focus for discussion here. Chinese-speaking Christians commonly use 動工 (donggong), “do the work”, to express that God works/has worked. In secular language, donggong is typically, if not only, used in the construction field. The source for this specific expression is the translation of the following Bible verse in the Mandarin UV: “that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus’ (Philippians 1:6).Footnote 26 In the other three Mandarin Bible versions, the verb 動 (dong) ‘move’ is replaced with 開始 (kaishi) ‘begin”. The latter translation would be more relatable to contemporary readers.
The Language of a Faithful Translator
The above comparisons highlight a representative selection of the Christianised translations in the Traditional Chinese version. This raises the question of whether the Taiwan-based Christian translator Chen was conscious of her use of standardised Christian language during the translation process.Footnote 27 In our online conversation, Chen responded as follows:
There are many overlaps between the story of The Shack and things frequently addressed at church. I did the translation over the first two years when I [had] just converted to Christianity. It was the time I felt especially passionate about Christian faith and was keen on knowing more about its contents, including healing and deliverance. Therefore, I was rather familiar with church culture. On the other hand, many English terms [appearing in the novel] were concepts that the church commonly talked about, so it was quite easy [for me] to translate these terms without further pondering on how to make the translations more accurate. It was rather natural for me to use certain words [in my translation]. But you reminded me that perhaps at that time I did deliberately choose to apply the language used by Christians. After all, our [Christian] language has so many expressions that are different from ordinary usage. It's just that maybe it didn't really occur to me to think if those words were authentic Christian expressions. I just thought it was how people communicated at church.
I then asked Chen which Bible version was used in her church and which version had she used for her personal study during that particular period of time. Chen's answer to these two questions — unsurprisingly — was the Mandarin UV. Apparently, Chen had unknowingly reproduced Christian terms used almost only within her Protestant circle, and the source of these terms, as mentioned, was the Mandarin UV. Chen's response points to the translator's ‘habitus’ and its relation to translational norms, yet that discussion is beyond the scope of this article since its aim is to explore the continuing linguistic impacts of the Mandarin UV through this particular case study.
Conclusion
With reference to Chong's application of polysystem theory in her study of the canonisation of the Mandarin UV, this article has sought to demonstrate that the Mandarin UV, as the canonised Chinese translation of the Bible, continues to contribute significantly to the formation of the linguistic repertoire of contemporary, twenty-first century, Chinese-speaking Christian translators. In another sense, the authoritative standing of the Mandarin UV has also given rise to the existence of linguistic norms for translating Christian-themed texts into Chinese. When analysing Chen's Christianised translation of The Shack – especially in relation to places where the original text does not use any particular Christian diction – and taking into account Chen's own reflection on the language specifically used in her Protestant circle, it is possible to argue that what is featured here is a faithful translation that complies with the linguistic norms derived from modern Chinese Christian terminology grounded in the Mandarin UV. But more than that, we have encountered a faithful translator whose use of language proves to be an unwittingly product of her personal engagement in the church community.
