Lim Boon Keng’s Translation of the Li Sao: a Response to China’s New Culture Movement

Abstract In 1929, Lim Boon Keng, a Nanyang Chinese from Singapore, published an English translation of the Li Sao , a classical Chinese poem from the third century bc . Based on the paratextual materials which Lim provided with his translation, this article argues that Lim actively engaged in two intellectual debates during that time. The first revolved around the figure of Qu Yuan, long revered as a paragon of Confucian virtue. In his The Li Sao , Lim recasts Qu Yuan as a modern Confucian hero in the Nietzschean mold. In the second debate, Lim supported Tagore’s idea of reviving Eastern civilization. While taking a position that was out of sync with the New Culture Movement’s anti-traditionalist position, Lim’s intervention can be seen as a serious defense of the neo-traditionalist camp of scholars. This article hopes to contribute to the rethinking and reclamation of neo-traditionalism as an intellectual project in modern China.