Presented by Qing Li (University of Calgary)

The paper investigates how the history presented in bilingual heritage museums in China, can be written, translated, and interpreted with constraints. The translation activities discussed in the paper include inter-

lingual translation from Chinese into English, and inter-semiotic translation by directly producing introductory texts in English. Through a Foucauldian discourse analysis of power relations in the writing and translation processes, the research sketches the power relation in the process of historical interpretation.

The research methods consist of the semi-structured interviews with heritage museum administrators and English language service providers, the document analysis of policies regarding culture identify/culture

diplomacy/heritage preservation etc., as well as the discourse analysis of English introductory texts in use. In short, this paper argues that the historical interpretation produced within the constraints of curatorial powers in museums aims to serve the goals of the national identity establishment and publicity. The paper adds a philosophical perspective to the current interface between translation studies and museum studies. In a broader sense, the paper draws attention to the politics behind the representations of “the other” that requires the audiences to be aware of to distinguish representations and interpretations from the truth.