Qun Xue Si Yan 群學肆言 [The Study of Sociology] 1903. 4 volumes. The landmark in introducing sociology to China

著者(Author)：嚴復 Yan Fu, Herbert Spencer

出版元(Publisher)：上海文明編譯書局, Shanghai

刊行年(Publishing Date)：1903

裝幀(Binding)： Thread-bound

コンディション(Condition)：Very Good

サイズ(Size)：25.5x15cm

Qun Xue Yi Yan (群學肄言), the Chinese translation of Herbert Spencer’s The Study of Sociology, was produced by Yan Fu (1854–1921), the leading late Qing enlightenment thinker and a pioneering figure in the introduction of Western social thought to China. First published in 1903, it represents the earliest Chinese rendering of Spencer’s sociological work and constitutes the landmark in the introduction of sociology to China.

In translating Spencer, Yan Fu adopted and systematized the term qunxue (群學, “the study of groups/society”), a neologism he had earlier coined while translating Thomas Huxley. The concept deliberately fused classical Chinese philosophical vocabulary—particularly ideas of social order and collective life drawn from the Xunzi—with Western sociological theory. Through Qun Xue Yi Yan, Yan explicitly equated qunxue with the Western discipline of sociology, thereby establishing the first sustained conceptual bridge between traditional Chinese social philosophy and modern social science.

Although the Japanese-derived term shehuixue (社會學) later became the standard Chinese translation of “sociology,” Yan Fu’s formulation of qunxue marked the initial stage of disciplinary translation and intellectual adaptation. The publication of Qun Xue Yi Yan is therefore widely regarded as a foundational event in the formation of modern Chinese sociology and the broader reception of Western social theory in late imperial China.

For deliveries within Japan, a 10% consumption tax applies.