Translating Western (?) Esotericism (?): The People’s Republic of China

This presentation is a first attempt at studying the Chinese academic production of what is commonly understood as “Western esotericism”; as such, it aims to de-westernize a field that has for too long suffered from essentialism and Euro-/America-centrism. Despite its insularity, a growing interest in “Western esoteric” themes is noticeable in mainland China both among the educated public and within academia. This presentation offers several Chinese approaches to themes and lexica often understood as integral to an allegedly Western esoteric corpus. Of particular importance in this regard are Chinese scholars’ perspectives on the difficulties of translating the field’s technical vocabulary (e.g. “esoteric/ism”, “occult/ism”, “alchemy”, etc.) from European alphabetic languages into logographic ones, such as Mandarin. The study of contemporary Chinese translingual and meaning-making strategies will reveal how contemporary Chinese scholars involved in the translation of “Western esotericism” are not just studying foreign (Western) terms and discourses, but also generating new religious theoretical spaces within their indigenous tradition.