Yan Fu as A Transmitter and A Creator: A Conceptual Perspective

Yan Fu嚴復 (1854-1921) is regarded as the watershed figure in the transitional period ferrying Chinese thoughts across from the traditional to the modern. His subjectivity is explored through retrospectively elaborating on his motivations for choosing one Chinese rendering over another for the three concepts: evolution, liberty and logic. It is concluded that his hermeneutic acts involve exegesis, interpretation and reconstruction. Yan Fu turns out to be subjectively symbiotic with the transmitter of the Western ideas and the creator of his own conception of Heavenly Evolution.