TITLE:
A Diachronic Study of Translators’ Roles in the Spread of Chinese Culture: An Area Studies Perspective
AUTHORS:
An Xiang, Xiaoyu Xing
KEYWORDS:
Area Studies, Translators, Border Residents, Migrants, Cultural Communication
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.4,
April
22,
2026
ABSTRACT: This paper starts from an area studies perspective and examines the diachronic roles of translators in the overseas spread of Chinese culture. Based on the diachronic line of identities from border residents to migrants and then to overseas Chinese, translators are key carriers of cultural transmission. The prototype of translators is the border residents living in areas where different groups meet, who are also early shapers of regional culture. As population movement becomes large-scale, migrants become mobile carriers of cultural communication. In the process of language adjustment, they continuously engage in cultural negotiation, allowing Chinese culture to integrate into local contexts and continue in localized forms. In this cross-linguistic practice, “overseas Chinese,” as a concept of cultural identity, gradually becomes clear. From an area studies perspective, the spread of Chinese culture is not a one-way output, but a dynamic process that is continuously activated through translators’ language practices in different regional contexts. Therefore, placing translators within a diachronic context of population movement provides an analytical perspective of “human as medium” for area studies.