Abstract: The preface to the English edition of Translating Theories: Bridging Chinese Literature and Culture with Western Theories revisits the publication background and the impetus for its translation into English, elaborating on its academic value and cultural significance. The author reviews the motivations, core themes, theoretical frameworks, and scholarly reflections behind each essay, emphasizing their shared approach of employing Western theories (e.g., Bourdieu, Kant, Adorno) to analyze Chinese literary and cultural phenomena while revising the universality of Western theories through Chinese experiences. This endeavor seeks to illuminate the complexities of Sino-Western academic dialogue. The book covers diverse topics, including literary theories and criticism, mass media, canonization, the distinction between high and popular cultures, and the end of art, with case studies on figures such as Lin Yutang, Lu Xun, Jin Yong, and Cui Jian, as well as reflections on the relationship between Chinese traditions and modernity. It traces the author's intellectual trajectory from essentialist conceptual analysis to a cultural materialist stance. The author also expresses expectation for inter-cultural theoretical dialogue, concluding with an allusion to The Book of Songs (“Cutting Wood”) as a metaphor for scholarly exchange, echoing the Confucian ideal of “meeting friends through literature”.

Key words: translatability of theory, Sino-Western comparison, literary theories and criticism, inter-contextual dialogue