The phenomenon is that of literary translation generated within the source-language culture, ostensibly for the consumption of a readership situated in another country or other countries with a different language and culture. Though such a practice seems to go against the common belief that ideally translators should work out of a second/ foreign language into their mother tongues, it is by no means uncommon. In most Asian countries, for example, career translators are required to work out of their mother tongues. However, where texts of high culture are concerned, the mechanisms of selection, transfer and reception are sufficiently different from those governing professional work for us to examine the situation more closely. Since China is a leading practitioner in SL culture-generated literary translation, the problems facing such work, and the possibility of success, are naturally issues of general concern to the present audience.

To understand the issues at question, one can do no better than look to history for illumination. China's historical cultural translation activities provide many examples of people engaging in cultural transfer from their mother tongue into a foreign language. The most prominent among them were those who participated in the Buddhist sutra translation movement (2nd to 11th century), and the Jesuit (16th-18th century) and Protestant translation activities (19th-early 20th century). These activities, which would have been impossible without the initiative and participation of non-Chinese translators, ended up changing Chinese culture forever. If we measure the success of cultural translations by their impact on the target culture, the above mentioned were among the most successful translation activities in world history.

Are China's current attempts at 'self-translation' comparable to the historical work done by Inner Central Asian and sub-continental Indian monks and European and American missionaries? To answer this question, we will examine the nature as well as positioning of the translators and their work, their linguistic and cultural abilities, and perhaps most importantly, their modes of operation.