Adam Smith in China

Abstract

Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations were first mentioned in China in 1894 in a Chinese translation of An Outline Modern History of the West, serialized in the Wan Guo Gon Bao (Review of the Time) in Shanghai. The book was originally translated by Richard Timothy, a British missionary working in China, and put down in Chinese by others under the title Tai Xi Jin Bai Nian Da Shi Ji (Chronicles of the Last Century in the West). The title of Smith’s work was rendered into Chinese as Fu Guo Ce (Ways to Enrich a Country) in the translation. The book refers to Smith and his work many times. When dealing with the disadvantages of Britain’s mercantile system in Chapter IX, it says that fortunately the publication of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith in 1776 helped shape new guidelines on trade and enabled Britain to replace its old trade policies by new ones, which resulted in a rapid growth of its economy.¹