| Abstract | The terminology “Bürger” in the original German works of Marx and Engels only contains one meaning, but is widely mistranslated as bourgeoisie in Chinese translation. As the earliest scholar who defines the concept of bourgeoisie scientifically, when introducing bourgeoisie (middle class) to Germans, Marx excludes its original meaning of “civil”, while uses “Bourgeoisie” to refer to bourgeois specifically and distinguishes civil from bourgeoisie strictly in German. When writing in French and English, to comply with the language habits of other countries, they still adopt “bourgeoisie” in broader sense, using it to refer to propertied burgher, including bourgeoisie. Translation should be subject to German, the two terms “Bürger” and “Bourgeoisie” should be translated as burgher and bourgeoisie respectively so as to determine whether “bourgeoisie” in French and English is burgher or bourgeoisie. However, the Chinese translator’s practice is on the contrary. They understand “bourgeoisie” in French and English only with one sense ------ bourgeoisie, and in accordance with its corresponding relationship with Bürger, mistake that the latter one also has the meaning of bourgeoisie. This is just the origin of people’s mistaking burgher (or bourgeois) economics for bourgeoisie. |