Between truth-seeking and utility-attaining: translator’s role-shifting during the dissemination of Zizhi Tongjian in the English-speaking world

Translation is an indispensable process in cross-cultural communication, in which translators play a decisive role in shaping textual features, reception, and the circulation of knowledge across cultural boundaries. Within translation studies, Translation Criticism (TC) has shifted from a static, text-based approach toward a dynamic framework that foregrounds translators and their decision-making processes. In line with this development, Translator Behavior Criticism (TBC), an emerging theory in Chinese translation studies, offers a theoretical means to explain the rationality underlying translator’s behavior. However, the influence of translator’s role-shifting on translation outcomes remains underexplored and would benefit from further empirical evidence across diverse translation cases. Drawing on the TBC concept of translator’s role-shifting, this study examines how translator’s role orientations shape linguistic choices and communicative outcomes in representative English translations of Zizhi Tongjian . A comparative analysis of translations by Achilles Fang and Rafe de Crespigny reveals that Fang’s scholarly habitus led him to prioritize “truth-seeking,” resulting in a translation characterized by a strong academic tone. By contrast, de Crespigny, guided by his role as a historian, gravitated toward “utility-attaining,” making his version more readable and comprehensible. Rather than constituting dichotomous choices, “truth-seeking” and “utility-attaining” are shown to represent degrees of behavioral orientation along a continuum . This study offers a case-based understanding of translator’s role-shifting and provides insights into the applicability of TBC. By highlighting translators as active agents in international communication, this study seeks to lay the groundwork for further discussions on how translators shape the circulation of their translations and the across-cultural communication of knowledge.