The American Journal of Social Science and Education Innovations
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
43-47
10.37547/tajssei/Volume07Issue04-06
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SUBMITED
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ACCEPTED
23 March 2025
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Vol.07 Issue 04 2025
CITATION
Safarova Iroda. (2025). A review of the history of research on terminology
with Chinese characteristics. The American Journal of Social Science and
Education Innovations, 7(04), 43
–
47.
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajssei/Volume07Issue04-06
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© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
A review of the history of
research on terminology
with Chinese
characteristics
Safarova Iroda
Doctoral Student, Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies,
Uzbekistan
Abstract:
This article traces the emergence and
development of terminology research in China, and
argues that terminology research in China has gone
through three historical periods: from the study of
scientific and technological translation theory, the study
of
terminology
ontology
to
the
systematic,
comprehensive and healthy development, and focuses
on its representative characteristics. The paper
describes the development process and status of
terminology from two aspects: theoretical research and
applied research. The research in terminology theory
arose from the need to normalize scientific and
technical terminology, and the theory of terminology
guided and enriched the practical work. In the field of
applied research, we combined the theory of
terminology with China’s national conditions and widely
applied it in the practical work of normalizing nouns and
terminology, and gradually penetrated into the fields of
news publishing, foreign language translation and
dictionary compilation, achieving great results.
Keywords:
Chinese
terminology;
discipline
construction; historical review; practical work; foreign
language translation; dictionary compilation.
Introduction:
Terminology emerged in the mid-20th
century. It is a comprehensive discipline that covers
many disciplines such as linguistics, ontology, logic and
all fields of science and technology, and has obvious
interdisciplinary characteristics. Due to the global
nature of science and technology, terminology is also
international, and countries around the world have
common research and their own unique descriptions in
this field. Chinese characters are different from Western
phonetic symbols and have their own unique
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characteristics. Terminology, as a universal subject in
the world, has universal rules that are conducive to the
progress of science and technology. Therefore, it is
urgent to study the common features and
characteristics between Chinese terminology theory
and the terminology theories of other countries in the
world. Although the Chinese academy started its
research in terminology relatively late, it has achieved
great progress and remarkable results in the past two
or three decades [1].
In 1978, China entered the “Spring of Science” and in
1995, it began to implement the strategy of building a
country through science and education, ushering in a
new era of rapid development of science and
technology. With the implementation of a series of
science and technology policies, the deepening of
institutional reforms, and the establishment of a
system
promoting
science
and
technology
development and personnel training, various scientific
and technological works have developed rapidly, and
urgent demands have been made for the
standardization of scientific and technological terms.
The standardization of scientific and technological
terms has been conducive to the development of
national science and technology, the improvement of
China’s discourse sy
stem, and the occupation of the
commanding heights of world scientific and
technological development.
Some domestic linguists and specialists involved in the
International Organization for Standardization were
among the first to pay attention to the issues of
terminology. During the process of reform and opening
up, China quickly introduced a large number of
advanced scientific and technological achievements
from abroad into its economy, among which the
translation of nouns and terms became a hot topic at
that time. For example, the focus was on the question
of whether to use “transliteration” or “free
translation” as a translation method.
Domestic linguists have observed that since the
penetration of Western knowledge into the East in the
late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, the focus of
translation gradually shifted to Western astronomy,
geometry, medicine and other scientific and
technological classics, forming the terminology
The Culmination of Language Translation. Comparing
the translation theories during this period, two
different points of view formed in the translation
community. One was to take the path of
“nationalization”, focusing on free translation and
integrating foreign nouns and terms into the national
language; the other was to take the path of
“internationalization”, focusing on transliteration and
accelerating the process of introducing foreign nouns
and terms. There are also those who advocate a middle
way. For example, Mr. Zhou Youguang proposed the
topic of “dual terms of science and technology”, which
are
compatible
with
“nationalization”
and
“internationalization” [2].
Despite the intertwining of various points of view, the
language and translation communities have noticed
that Chinese terminology has actually embarked on the
path
of “nationalization” (in the past, only 0.5% of
Chinese
terminology
contained
elements
of
transliteration). Noting that it is difficult to use free
translation as the main method of “nationalization”, Mr.
Ye Fei Sheng proposed that free translation should meet
two conditions: first, the validity period should be
limited; second, the internal form should be
transparent, that is, it can be understood “literally” [3].
At that time, some experts also proposed other
methods and details for translating nouns.
In April and October 1985, the National Committee for
the Review of Natural Science Terminology and the
National Technical Committee for Terminology
Standardization jointly issued the following documents:
since then, experts and scholars from China
representing various disciplines have been able to
participate more actively in the work of the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO),
especially its Technical Committee 37.
In this process, we have, on the one hand, actively
participated in the development and revision of
international terminology standards, and on the other
hand,
introduced
international
experience
in
terminology standardization in China. Introduce foreign
theories and methods of terminology and apply them in
combination with Chinese terminology. As the only
Chinese representative, Mr. Wu Fengming attended the
second plenary meeting of ISO/TC37 in 1984. After the
meeting, he wrote an article introducing the history of
terminology development, as well as the current
situation of foreign terminology schools and
terminology databases [4]. Since then, a window has
opened, and the Chinese academic community has
begun to pay attention to the development and
dynamics of international terminology and consciously
apply it in practical work.
In 2004, the National Terminology Committee, together
with Heilongjiang University, the National Language
Committee, the Institute of Linguistics of the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences and other institutions and
organizations, held the first “Workshop on
the
Construction of Chinese Terminology” to change the
backward situation of Chinese terminology research and
jointly promote the construction of the discipline of
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Chinese terminology. Since then, the study of Chinese
terminology has become an organized, conscious,
systematic and academic activity with the broad
participation of experts and scholars [5].
Since 2004, with the clear organization and promotion
of the National Terminology Committee and the broad
participation and promotion of experts from various
fields based on their professional knowledge and work
needs, terminology research has gradually entered the
path of sustainable development.
Since its inception, terminology has become a subject
that has attracted much attention. This is not only
because it is a comprehensive subject that covers
many fields, but also because it is very practical and
plays a very important role in human social life.
According to the general opinion in the academic
community, terminology should include two parts:
theoretical terminology and applied terminology.
Terminology is born from the needs of human social
practice, and its theory is gradually developed.
Maturity has guided and promoted the development
of social practice, and this is the case in all countries of
the world. A review of the development of terminology
in China fully confirms this view.
Terminology research primarily starts from the need to
normalize scientific and technological terms and
standardize terminology, and the working documents
are formulated under the guidance of terminology
theory. In April 1985, the National Terminology
Committee was established. In 1987, it applied the
basic principles of terminology and combined them
with the actual situation of the review work in China to
formulate the “P
rinciples and Methods of Terminology
and Terms Review” to standardize the review
procedures and guide the work of its subcommittees.
The document clearly sets out the basic requirements
of naming, the basic principles of choosing and defining
words [6]. In this way, the initial theoretical discussion
conducted around the production practice and met the
needs of the review work. In October 1985, the
National Technical Standards Committee was
established, and in 1988, it adopted the international
standard ISO/TC37 to formulate the national standard
“General Principles and Methods of Terminology
Establishment” (GB10112
-1988) [7]. Since then, based
on changes in international standards, the “Principles
and Methods of Terminology Work” formulated to
regulate and guide national work on terminology
standardization.
Terminology research cannot separated from the
extensive academic exchange activities at home and
abroad. For example, as early as November 1984,
ISO/TC37 Secretary and Professor H. Felber of the
University of Vienna (Austria) came to China to give
lectures at the invitation of the China Standardization
Association. The National Terminology Committee
invited him to deliver a special report on "Terminology
Science and Terminology Coordination", which focused
on the unified principles and methods of natural science
terminology. He also spoke about the history of the
development and the current state of terminology,
which met with approval and praise from the
participants. In October 1986, the National Terminology
Committee held an academic seminar in Beijing as part
of the visit of the Canadian terminology delegation to
China. Terminologist R. Dubach and others presented
Canadian terminology research and the work on the
creation of a terminology database, and presented
Dubach’s book “Practical Handbook of Terminology”.
As the influence of theoretical research on terminology
expands, many domestic experts and scholars have paid
attention to Chinese terminology and joined in its
development. Zheng Shu Pu’s resear
ch team from
Heilongjiang University was the first to enter this field,
starting its research work from translating and
implementing theories of foreign terminology.
The research team led by Zheng Shu Pu completed two
major research projects of the Key Research Base for
Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of
Education, named, “Research on the Theory and
Practice of Russian Terminology” and “Research on the
Theory of Foreign Terminology” [9] , which opened the
period of introducing the results of the theory of foreign
terminology into the domestic academic community.
After that, Wu Likun, Qiu Bihua and others translated
the terminological works of the Russian terminologist S.
B. Grinev, the famous Austrian terminologists E. Wüster,
H. Felber and others, which contributed to the
development of terminological science in China.
Terminology is a specialized natural language with a
regular grammatical structure, limited semantics and
areas of use. It is easier to process than ordinary natural
language, and it can analyzed and understood using the
theories, methods and tools of computational
linguistics. It is also widely used in computer work. For
example, terminology theory applied to the
construction of terminology databases in China. The
work on const
ructing China’s terminology database
began in the early 1980s and developed rapidly in the
1990s. Since 1989, many ministries and commissions or
their affiliated research units have successively
established various types of terminology databases,
such as the Applied Linguistics Terminology Database
(1991), the Chinese-English and English-Chinese
Scientific and Technological Terminology Databases,
and the Chinese-English Terminology Databases. (1992),
Scientific and Technical Terms Database (1995),
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Mechanical Engineering Terminology Database (1996),
Chinese Encyclopedia Terminology Database (1997),
etc.
Terminology theory is also widely applied in
terminology recognition and extraction. The earliest
terminology extraction system in the world was
TERMINO [10], created in France in 1990. Since then, a
large number of automatic extraction systems
developed to assist in terminology management.
In China, term extraction technology has also been
widely applied in various industries and fields. For
example, in 2012, the National Terminology
Committee used Chinese terminology extraction
methods to extract new scientific and technological
terms that appeared in the National Knowledge
Infrastructure of China. It applied the automatic term
extraction technology in mathematics, physics,
chemistry, astronomy, geography, biology and other
disciplines, extracted 31,000 new scientific and
technological terms, and selected 7928 of them for
review and publication by experts in various
disciplines. Another example is that machine learning
is also widely used in terminology work. The training
corpus is built manually or semi-automatically, and a
model is formed based on a certain machine learn
algorithm for the corpus. Then the model used to
conduct term extraction experiments on the test
corpus to test the effectiveness of the algorithm.
Another example is the construction of domain
ontology to obtain the relationship between different
concepts in the domain. These results show that
terminology theory has a wide range of application
scenarios in computer work.
Based on the positive achievements of terminology
research in China, it is of great significance for colleges
and universities to carry out terminology education
and terminology teaching. Liang Ailin proposed that
the teaching of terminology in the field of terminology
education should focus on applicability, workability
and integrity; the teaching of terminology in the field
of terminology teaching can focus on applicability,
workability and appropriateness. Teaching and
teaching terminology is of great help in popularizing
the theory of terminology, improving the knowledge
level of terminology and the professional level of
professionals working in terminology-related fields. In
April 2007, at the National University Presidents'
Forum, representatives of the National Terminology
Committee
introduced
the
development
of
terminology in China and called for the experimental
implementation of terminology courses in universities.
After that, studies made on opening an undergraduate
major in Terminology and establishing national
terminology courses in universities such as Peking
University and Heilongjiang University. In October 2015,
the National Terminology Committee organized the
compilation of China's first general terminology
textbook, Introduction to Chinese Terminology, which
filled the gap in the absence of a unified terminology
textbook in China.
In recent years, domestic college teachers have been
calling for the establishment of terminology courses.
Some experts have discussed the principles of course
construction from the perspective of foreign school
management experience and job responsibilities in
terminology-related industries, and discussed the
teaching objectives, teaching content, teaching
methods, teaching resources, assessment methods, and
teacher training. Some universities have already carried
out activities to teach and train terminologists.
For example, China University of Technology regards
“terminology knowledge”, “terminology use ability” and
“terminology management” as the components of
translation ability, and opened a course of “terminology
translation” in the translation teaching process, paying
special attention to developing students’ terminology
application skills; Peking University opened a course of
“Terminology and Database Management System” in
the Department of Computer Translation. The teaching
content divided into 7 blocks: terminology basics,
terminology exploration, relational database, XML
technology, terminology management and terminology
management software, IT practical course and
terminology management software practical course.
The teaching objectives are to introduce the theories
and methods of terminology, discuss
Discuss its application in translation work, explain the
introductory theory of database and the basic
technology of database application, teach the
application methods of computer terminology
management system, etc. [11]; The Department of
Foreign Languages of Zhejiang University adopted the
form of "experts in the classroom" and invited
terminology experts to teach the theory of terminology.
The course content integrates the teaching of scientific
and technical translation, teaching the important role of
terminology translation in the translation of scientific
and technical texts, and the use of noun terminology in
scientific and technical translation.
In terms of discipline construction and development,
terminology research began in China in the mid-1980s,
more than 30 years ago. The situation of terminology
construction in China greatly improved, and it expected
that terminology research develop faster in the future.
(1) The terminology research team will continue to
grow. At present, the number of people has grown from
tens to hundreds. With the active participation of the
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National Terminology Committee and the broad
support of various academic groups, more experts and
scholars will be involved in research work in the future.
(2) There will be new expansions in research areas.
With the development of science and technology at
home and abroad, terminology work has penetrated
into all of life in society, and will receive more attention
in politics, economics, science and technology,
education, etc., and more work done.
(3) The number of research results is significant. Up to
now, about 60 terminology works published, which
meets the expected development level of a new
discipline in the initial stage of development. Following
this trajectory, terminology will have more related
works.
(4) Form a relatively complete discipline terminology
system. At present, the terminology has fully
demonstrated
its
interdisciplinary,
open
and
comprehensive
characteristics.
The
traditional
terminology exhibits theoretical characteristics in
linguistics, ontology, logic, etc., and is currently closely
related to information science, cognitive science,
philosophy, history and culture, etc. In the future, new
theories and disciplinary knowledge added.
(5) Inherit the characteristics of Chinese culture and
build a Chinese discourse system. Only by building a
discourse system with Chinese characteristics, can we
attract more attention from the international
academic community and play a more important role.
Terminology will coordinate the efforts of all parties
and move forward in a coordinated manner to form an
academic terminology system in Chinese style,
inheriting Chinese traditions and reaching the global
level. The construction of terminology with Chinese
characteristics is a long historical process, and the
study of terminology requires several generations of
researchers. At present, the country has proposed to
build a disciplinary system, a conceptual system and a
discourse system for philosophy and social sciences,
which has put forward new requirements for the
future development trend of Chinese terminology, as
well as the disciplinary system and theoretical basis of
terminology.
In the forerunners based on the accumulated academic
achievements, the development of terminology with
Chinese characteristics will continue to develop, and
will also receive more attention from lifestyles at home
and abroad, and achieve more research results.
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