Translation Bias Shapes Civilizational Narratives

Which texts get translated and popularized systematically reshapes how whole traditions are perceived abroad; selective English translations of Confucian and Daoist works created an "Eastern wisdom" stereotype that obscured Legalist, administrative, and realist strands like Han Fei. Corrective translations (e.g., Harbsmeier’s Han Feizi) can materially alter scholarly and public judgments about how modern political concepts emerged globally. — If translation selection drives which political ideas enter global discourse, policymakers and intellectuals will repeatedly misread non‑Western institutional legacies and miss applicable governance lessons.