Although Darwinian evolutionary theory has been widely spread in China, several misconceptions about evolution have been persistent among the general public and even the researchers. Some are simple misunderstandings, including evolution results in progress with organisms are always replaced by better forms through evolution, and humans or primates represent the most advanced organisms. Some are misconceptions about natural selection and imply organisms evolved based on what they need or all the current morphologies or biological phenotypes are the results of adaptation. The spread of these misconceptions in China stem partially from the historical misleading translation of “evolution” to “进化” in Chinese, which includes the meaning of progress with direction into more advance form. Here, we summarize major progresses of the evolutionary theory after the Modern Synthesis and discuss how this misleading translation introduces a barrier in understanding of these new theoretical developments, such as neutral or near-neutral theory, genetic drift hypothesis, trade-off theory, and many new concepts in evo-devo field. Looking back at the development of evolutionary theory over the past few hundred years, we emphasize that a series of revolutionary achievements in the last 30 years have brought about fundamental changes in our basic understanding of the evolution of life. Therefore, we strongly advocate a formal re-introducing of “演化”, a more correct translation of evolution, in textbook and in daily communication among Chinese biological researchers. We anticipate that this change will help to correct some of these deep-rooted misconceptions among general public and will ultimately stimulate the interest of younger generation in conceptually thinking of evolutionary theory.

从1865年孟德尔发现遗传学的基本定律到如今基因组学在医学中的广泛应用，医学遗传学取得了诸多进展，遗传病的概念也有了新的扩展。1972年，世界卫生组织(World Health Organization, WHO)专家组开始使用“Genetic Disease”来定义遗传病，而国内早期的遗传学教材使用“劣性遗传”来指代遗传病，后引入“Genetic Disease”和“Inherited Disease”等术语作为遗传病的英文翻译。在早期，人们普遍认为遗传病的发生都是由祖辈遗传下来的。但近些年的研究发现，遗传病并不一定会遗传，部分疾病其实是由后代中新产生的突变所引起。这类遗传病的发生虽然和遗传因素有关，但并不是由祖辈遗传下来的，如果仍然使用“Inherited Disease”或“Hereditary Disease”来翻译是不够准确的。为进一步规范“遗传病”概念的翻译及使用，本文系统梳理了其在国内外的发展历程，探讨了不同英文翻译间的区别，以期为科学、准确地表述遗传病提供指导和建议，促进医学遗传学领域的规范交流与合作。