Alan Thwaits
editor and translator
Navigation
Below I explain the services I offer and list the fields in which I am experienced. Then in my resume I give details about my education, language study, and works I have edited or translated.
Services Offered
Japanese-English translation
Chinese-English translation
English editing (native English speaker)
Areas of Expertise
Chinese and Japanese history
Premodern Chinese literature
Philosophy, intellectual history
The fine arts
Chinese Translations
Experienced in the following fields:
Chinese aesthetics
Chinese calligraphy
Chinese court furniture
Chinese court paintings
Chinese economics
Chinese imperial seals
Chinese legal history
Chinese literature
China's population problem
Chinese scholars' stones
Chinese textiles
Cloisonne ware
German Sinology
History of Buddhism
History of Chinese painting
History of missionary activity in China
History of Japanese Sinology
History of translation into Chinese
Modern Chinese history
Japanese Translations
Experienced in the following fields:
Chinese and Japanese history of ceramics
Chinese Revolution of 1911
East Asian history
History of education
History of Japanese art
History of Japanese Confucianism
History of Japanese medicine
History of Japanese music
History of Japanese Sinology
History of Ryukyuan diplomacy
History of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange
Japanese economic history
Japanese folk history
Japanese intellectual history
Japanese naval history
The King Yu legend in Japan
Modern Chinese history
Premodern Chinese grammar
Qing diplomatic history
Qing Islamic history
Ukiyo-e artists
With my extensive editorial and translating experience, I can provide authors with quality editing and translations in many academic subjects, especially philosophy, history, art, and Chinese and Japanese culture. I welcome the opportunity to work with you and am confident that I can deliver a quality product.
Alan Thwaits
resume
Summary
Considerable experience in translating Chinese and Japanese. Extensive editing experience at the MIT Press, in Japan, and as a free lance. PhD in philosophy.
Translating
Translated Chinese and Japanese into English primarily for Kansai University, Sotheby's Hong Kong, and The Tokugawa World (Routledge, 2022).
Japan Echo, Tokyo 1979-1981
As assistant editor, translated articles on the economy and politics of Japan for Japan Echo, Pacific Friend, Press Guide, and Information Bulletin. Translated a portion of Kura: The Japanese Storehouse (Japanese to English).
Editing
Oxford University Press 2023-2024
Edited translations of Chinese classics in the Hsu-Tang Library series.
Kansai University 2010-2017
Edited a variety of historical essays for style and presentation.
Oxford University Press 2006-2012
Edited encyclopedia articles on primarily on East Asian history for content and style. Copyedited the following encyclopedias:
African American National Biography, 2012.
Oxford Islamic Studies Online, 2012.
Medieval Warfare and Military Technology: An Encyclopedia, 2009.
Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought, 2009.
Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History, 2009.
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World, 2008.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History, 2007.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, 2007.
Gale Cengage Learning 2004-2009
Edited encyclopedia articles on China, history, philosophy, thought, ethics, the environment, and psychoanalysis for content and style. Worked for such imprints as Macmillan Reference and Charles Scribner's Sons. Copyedited the following encyclopedias:
Encyclopedia of Modern China, 2009.
Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, 2008.
New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 2008.
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2007.
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2006.
Encyclopedia of Religion, 2005.
Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics, 2005.
Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 2005.
International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, 2005.
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, 2005.
The MIT Press 1988-2003
Edited the press's most technical books primarily in cognitive science, philosophy, psychology, and linguistics, and on occasion in biology, physics, logic, economics, political science, and the history of science. Redesigned figures and tables.
University of Tokyo Press 1978
Copyedited Labor and Management, edited by Keiichiro Nakagawa, 1979.
Press International, Tokyo 1977-1979
Edited economic and business articles for China Newsletter, Focus Japan, and the White Paper on International Trade. Translated a portion of "The Other Side of the Twain," a series that appeared in the Mainichi Daily News.
Languages
ENGLISH Over two decades of experience as an English manuscript editor.
CHINESE Professional translator with over 10 years experience. Have translated many historical essays with quotes in literary Chinese.
JAPANESE Professional translator with over 12 years experience. Have translated several historical essays that quote classical Japanese.
FRENCH Proficient in reading.
GERMAN A reading knowledge.
Education
PHD in philosophy, Claremont Graduate University, 1988. Area of specialization: philosophy of language.
MA in philosophy, Claremont Graduate University, 1978.
BA in history, Drew University, 1973.
STUDIED CHINESE at Harvard University, 1990-1996. Four years of modern Chinese and two years of classical Chinese.
STUDIED MODERN CHINESE at Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China, 1993.
STUDIED JAPANESE LANGUAGE AND HISTORY at the International Christian University, Tokyo, 1970-1971.
Select Materials Edited in East Asian Studies
The Peach Blossom Fan (drama about the Ming-Qing transition, early Qing literature). OUP, 2024.
An Anthology of Poetry by Buddhist Nuns of Late Imperial China (Chinese literature). OUP, 2023.
The Emperor of China in a House of Ill Repute (drama about a philandering emperor, Chinese literature). OUP, 2023.
Daoist Master Changchun's Journey to the West: To the Court of Chinggis Qan and Back (Yuan period travelogue, Chinese history). OUP, 2023.
Short articles on Japanese culture for the Gallery of Japan Search (https://jpsearch.go.jp/) (Japanese traditional culture). Heibonsha, 2021-2022.
The Great Leap Backward: Forgetting and Representing the Mao Years (modern Chinese history). Cambria, 2020.
Shaping Chinese Art History: Pang Yuanji and His Painting Collection (art collecting, Chinese art history). Cambria, 2020.
"State Ritual and Political Culture in Imperial and Late Imperial China: Research Reflections on Li" (diplomatic etiquette, Chinese history). Kansai University, 2016.
"The Main Schools of Confucianism in Present-Day Mainland China" (Confucianism, Chinese intellectual history). Kansai University, 2016.
"Natural Disasters and the Development of Chinese History" (disasters and politics, Chinese history). Kansai University, 2015.
"The Founding of Singapore and the Chinese Kongsis of West Borneo, ca. 1819-1840" (Chinese companies, Singaporean history). Kansai University, 2015.
"Developing an East Asian Perspective, with a Focus on Past Sino-Japanese Intellectual Interaction" (intellectual history). Kansai University, 2014.
"Roman Catholic Perceptions of British and American Missionaries" (church history, Chinese history). Kansai University, 2014.
"What Yale University's East Asian Studies Resources Reveal about the Early Reception of German Theology in Modern Japan" (church history, Japanese history). Kansai University, 2014.
"Reflections on My Research about the 1854 Shoin-Perry Encounter" (historical research methodologies). Kansai University, 2014.
"The Image of China Shaped by American Missionaries and Its Impact in the Early 20th Century" (church history, Chinese-American history). Kansai University, 2014.
"A Comparison of the Korean and Japanese Approaches to Foreign Family Names" (naming practices, Japanese and Korean history). Kansai University, 2013.
"On Decontextualization and Recontextualization in East Asian Cultural Interactions" (methodology, East Asian history). Kansai University, 2012.
"Exploring Human Rights in East Asia" (human rights, East Asian history). Kansai University, 2012.
"Manchu Studies in Korea" (China studies in Korea). Kansai University, 2011.
Select Chinese Translations
"Success in the Civil Service Examination and the Accumulation of Social Resources in a Peripheral Region, with a Focus on Zhenjiang during the Southern Song Period" (Chinese history). Toyo Bunko, 2022.
"Missionary Society Archives and Research on Sino-Western Cultural Exchanges" (history of Christian missionary activity in China). Kansai University, 2016.
"Francis Bacon in Yan Fu's Tianyan lun" (history of translation into Chinese). Kansai University, 2015.
"China Studies in Germany" (German Sinology). Kansai University, 2015.
"The Small Imperial Han-Jade Seal "Ru Shui, Ru Jing" with a Hornless-Dragon-Shaped Knob" (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2015.
" 'The Gold Duck Prances' " (duck censer, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2014.
"On the Qianlong Pagodite Seal 'Yi jing miao kan hui' " (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2014.
"Joshua Marshman and the First Chinese Book Printed with Metal Movable Type" (history of Chinese printing). Kansai University, 2014.
"A Critique and Discussion of the View That Shi Miyuan Proposed the Five-Mountain, Ten-Monastery System" (history of Buddhism, Chinese history). Kansai University, 2013.
"The Great Victory at Qurman" (history of Chinese painting). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2013.
"The Green-Jade Seal 'Wufu Wudai Tang Guxi Tianzi Bao' " (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2013.
"The Jiaqing Han Jade 'Hall of Sound Growth Seal' " (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2013.
"The Qianlong Green-Jade 'Hall of Three Rarities' Seal" (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2013.
"Viewing the Painting Children Playing, by Leng Mei" (Chinese court painting, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2012.
"The Green-Jade 'Ba Zheng Mao Nian zhi Bao' Seal, with a Knob of Intertwined Dragons" (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2012.
"My Views of the Scroll Painting Two Auspicious Pond-Lotus Blossoms," by Giuseppe Castiglione (history of Chinese painting). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2012.
"My Views on the Recently Emerged Qing Palace Oil Portraits" (history of Chinese painting). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2012.
"Naito Konan and Hunan Studies" (history of Sinology, Japanese intellectual history). Kansai University, 2012.
"The Qianlong 'Tianen Shiquan' Seal" (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2012.
"The Jiaqing 'Xianfu Gong' Seal" (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2012.
"Appreciating the Tribute Lioness, by an Unknown Ming Artist" (Chinese court painting, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2011.
"The Jiaqing Seal 'Manifest the Norms in One's Person' " (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2011.
"The White Jade 'Seal of the Yongzheng Emperor's Personal Writing' " (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2011.
"Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Pan-Asianism Revisited: Its Historical Context and Contemporary Relevance" (modern Chinese history). Kansai University, 2011.
"Zhang Peiheng's New History of Chinese Literature and Its Japanese Translation" (Chinese literature, Chinese art history). Kansai University, 2011.
"The 'Hall of Three Rarities' Album" (Chinese calligraphy, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2011.
"The Qianlong Emperor's White-Jade 'Seal of the Emperor Emeritus' " (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2011.
"The Cloisonne Long-Life Candleholder with Metal Body Made for the Kangxi Emperor" (cloisonne ware, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2011.
"The Qianlong Emperor's 'Xintian Zhuren' Seal" (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2010.
"Two Jadeite Seals Belonging to the Jiaqing Emperor" (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2010.
"Zhang Zhao's Calligraphy on Han Yu's 'Stone Drum Song' " (Chinese calligraphy, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2010.
"Viewing a Remnant of the Sixth Scroll of The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Tour" (Chinese court painting, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2010.
"A New Population Theory," by Ma Yinchu. (Chinese economics and population policy, modern Chinese history). In Encyclopedia of Modern China, edited by David Pong. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2009.
"The Qianlong Emperor's Seal 'Treasure of Concern over Phenomena at Eighty' " (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's London, 2009.
"The Qianlong Seal 'Treasure of the Hall of Diligent Government in the West Garden' " (Chinese imperial seal, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2009.
"Palace Lacquerware Furniture." (Chinese court furniture, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2009.
"Dong Bangda's Zhongqiu shiyi tu (Mid-autumn Poetic Painting)" (Chinese court painting, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2008.
"An Empirical Analysis of Income Inequality between a Minority and the Majority in an Urban Area: The Case of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region" (Chinese economics). Hitotsubashi University, 2008.
"The Grand Review" (Chinese court painting, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2008.
Five articles on traditional Chinese law: "Deposit: Chinese Law," "Hire: Chinese Law," "Loan: Chinese Law," "Partnership: Chinese Law," and "Sale: Sale of Land in Chinese Law" (Chinese legal history). In The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History, edited by Stanley N. Katz. Oxford University Press, 2008.
"The Way Follows What Is Natural" (scholars' stones, Chinese aesthetics). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2008.
"It Is Easy to Enter the Realm of the Strange; One Merely Has to Appreciate an Object's Beauty" (Chinese aesthetics, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2007.
Three descriptions of scholars' rocks: "Xuanzhi xiu" (Mountain Peak Shaped like Black Magical Fungus of Chinese Medicine), "Dongtian xiu" (Daoist Caves), "Yunwu feng" (Mountain Peak Dancing among the Clouds) (scholars' stones, Chinese art history). Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2007.
Select Japanese Translations
Short articles on Japanese culture for the Gallery of Japan Search (https://jpsearch.go.jp/) (Japanese traditional culture). Heibonsha, 2021-2022.
"Armed Associations, Christianity, Opium, and the Social Structure of the Xinghua Region in Fujian Province during the Early Republican Period, with a Focus on Huang Lian's Revolt" (modern Chinese history). Toyo Bunko, 2021.
Short articles on individual Japanese swords for Touken World (The World of Japanese Swords; https://www.touken-world.jp/en/). J-Bits, 2019.
"The Folk Worldview of Chronicles of the Eight Dog Heroes of the Satomi Clan of Nanso" (Japanese folk history). Routledge, 2017.
"The King Yu Legend in Tokugawa Japan" (history of Japanese flood control). Routledge, 2017.
"Greater Learning for Women and Women's Moral Education in Tokugawa Japan" (history of Japanese education). Routledge, 2017.
Copy for a CD of court music (gagaku) (discussions of court music). Office Tomoe, 2017.
"Ito Jinsai and the Origins of Classical Studies (Kogaku)" (history of Japanese Confucianism). Routledge, 2016.
"Seventeenth-Century Chinese Emigres and Sino-Japanese Cultural Exchanges" (history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange). Routledge, 2016.
"Doctors and Herbal Medicine in Tokugawa Japan" (history of Japanese medicine). Routledge, 2016.
"Early Modern Ryukyu between China and Japan" (history of Ryukyuan diplomacy). Routledge, 2016.
"Tominaga Nakamoto and Court Music" (history of Japanese music). Routledge, 2016.
The Origin of Chinese Characters (Chinese character etymologies). Heibonsha, 2016.
The Study of Cultural Interaction and Linguistic Contact: Approaching Chinese Linguistics from the Periphery (premodern Chinese linguistics). Kansai University, 2015.
"What Is China: Difficulties in Modernity, State, Culture" (modern China). Kansai University, 2014.
"Embassies and Ideas as the Third Type of Cargo" (Japanese intellectual history). Kansai University, 2012.
"The Regional Structure of the 1911 Revolution: The North and the South in Chinese History" (modern Chinese history). Kansai University, 2011.
"Hon'ami Koetsu" (Japanese art history). IRIS International, 2011.
"Lending in the Early Premodern Age: The Case of Senzushima Village in Upper Ashigara District," abstract (economic history). NAIway, 2011.
"A Reevaluation of the East Asian Modern System of Knowledge" (East Asian intellectual history). Kansai University, 2011.
"Titles of Kazakh Sultans Bestowed by the Qing Empire" (Chinese diplomatic history). 2010.
"The Islamic View of Life and Death and Ma Dexin's View of the Afterlife" (Chinese history of Islam). WIP Japan, 2010.
"The Development of Naito Konan's Progressive View of History: A Point of Convergence with Zhang Xuecheng's Wenshi tongyi" (history of Japanese Sinology). Kansai University, 2010.
"Naito Konan and the Eastern Cultural League: Pan-Asianism in the Early Showa Period" (history of Japanese Sinology). Kansai University, 2010.
"The Private Academies of East Asia" (history of East Asian education). Kansai University, 2010.
"mChims Nam-mkha'-grags and the sNar-thang-pa Tradition" (Tibetan Buddhism). Kansai University, 2010.
A portion of Biodiversity of Japan: A Harmonious Coexistence between Nature and Humankind (biology). Heibonsha, 2010.
On the history and aesthetics of Japanese swords. Expressions, 2007.
"Red-Design Swatow Ware" (East Asian history of ceramics). For Zhangzhou Export Ceramics: The So-Called Swatow Wares. Jorge Welsh, 2006.
"From Individualism to Modernism: Trends in Modern and Contemporary Nihonga Painting, Changes in Exhibition Venues, and the Collections of Art Museums" (Nihonga style of painting). Sekai Bungei, 2007.
"Peintures des Moeurs" (art history). Sekai Bungei, 2006.
"A Preliminary Essay on Research on Caste-History (Genealogy) Literature Based Primarily on Sources from the Hindi-Speaking Region" (Indian sociology). WIP Japan, 2005.
"Hokusai" (history of Japanese art). In Encyclopedia of Maritime History, edited by John B. Hattendorf. Oxford University Press, 2005.
"Kure" (a naval port) (Japanese naval history). In Encyclopedia of Maritime History, edited by John B. Hattendorf. Oxford University Press, 2005.
"Artists: Japanese" (history of Japanese art). In Encyclopedia of Maritime History, edited by John B. Hattendorf. Oxford University Press, 2005.
"Togo Heihachiro" (Japanese naval history). In Encyclopedia of Maritime History, edited by John B. Hattendorf. Oxford University Press, 2005.
"Yokosuka" (Japanese naval history). In Encyclopedia of Maritime History, edited by John B. Hattendorf. Oxford University Press, 2005.