David Wang
Research
My doctoral research project, tentatively titled “Translating Empires: Translators of Chinese and Diplomacy at the British and French Legations in Peking, 1861–1912”, examines the translators and translation practices of these two nations in China. During the period studied, since the Qing government lacked competent translators of European languages, diplomacy between China and European countries was largely facilitated by the latter’s translation personnel. Rather than focusing solely on prominent translators or on the translation of major texts and concepts, my research engages with a wider group of translators, including Chinese staff, and examines their processes of document translation, interpretation in everyday diplomacy, and the handling of China-related information. As Britain and France were the main European treaty powers in China, this study also intends to compare their different approaches to and understandings of Chinese translation. In a world of increasingly intercultural communication, this research analyses the interplay between translation and diplomacy.
My research is supervised by Dr Song-Chuan Chen and Dr Ross G Forman, and is generously funded by the Chancellor’s International Scholarship.
David (Tianwei) Wang
王天卫
David.Wang.2@warwick.ac.uk
Academic Background
- History PhD Student (2025 onwards)| University of Warwick
- Histroy M.A. | Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou)
- History B.A. | Jinan University
Award & Grant
- Chancellor International Scholarship, University of Warwick (2025–2029)
- First Class Scholarship for Master Students, Sun Yat-sen University (2021, 2023)
- Outstanding Bachelor Dissertation Award, Jinan University (2021)
- China National Scholarship (2019)
- Outstanding Student, Jinan University (2019)
Publication
- ‘Governance of the Areas Surrounding the Shamian Concession in Canton during the Late Qing Dynasty’, (co-author)Lishi yanjiu 历史研究[Historical Research], 2024(7), 100-22.
Teaching
- Teaching Assistant: Modern history of Japanese literature (Fall Semester, 2022), Sun Yat-sen University
- Teaching Assistant: History of China's Reform and Opening Up (Spring Semester, 2023), Sun Yat-sen University
Presentation
- 'The Governance of Canton during the Anglo-French Occupation (1857-1861)', 13thYoung Scholar Form of the Institute of Qing History, Renmin University of China, 2023.
- 'Negotiation for the Hong Kong Plague Patients' Returning to Canton in 1894', 12th Spring History Symposium, The University of Hong Kong (Online), 2023.
- 'Between Sino-Western Boundary and Land-Water Interface: Preliminary Research on the Governance of the Areas Adjacent to the Shameen Concession at Canton during the Late Qing', (co-author) Workshop of the History of Land Use and Urban Life at Canton from Ming Dynasty to the Republican Era, South China Normal University, 2023.
- 'Operation and Contemporary Reflections on Xiushenke(Self-Cultivation Education) in the Late Qing: An Examination Based on Newspaper Records (1904-1911)', 12th National Undergraduate Forum in History Studies, East China Normal University, 2020.