This article was downloaded by: [Moskow State Univ Bibliote]On: 03 February 2014, At: 08:26Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number:1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street,London W1T 3JH, UK

Perspectives: Studies inTranslatologyPublication details, including instructionsfor authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmps20

Translation theory andpractice in ChinaXuanmin Luo a & Hong Lei ba Tsinghua Universityb Beijing University of Aeronautics andAstronautics , ChinaPublished online: 28 Apr 2010.

To cite this article: Xuanmin Luo & Hong Lei (2004) Translation theory andpractice in China, Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 12:1, 20-30, DOI:10.1080/0907676X.2004.9961488

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0907676X.2004.9961488

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy ofall the information (the “Content”) contained in the publicationson our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and ourlicensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to theaccuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content.Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinionsand views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed byTaylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be reliedupon and should be independently verified with primary sources of

information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses,actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directlyor indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the useof the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private studypurposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution,reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of accessand use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

20

TRANSLATION THEORY AND PRACTICE IN CHINA

Xuanmin Luo, Tsinghua University, andHong Lei, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China

AbstractChina has a long tradition in translation studies. As the earliest records show,

sporadic translation activities began as early as the eleventh century BC, though seri-ous consideration of translation did not begin until the introduction of Buddhism intoChina in the East Han Dynasty (148). In the following 2000-year-long period, Chinawitnessed four great movements of translation activities, which exerted far-reachingand permanent influence upon China's religion, philosophy, and social life, "in asense, translation in China has served as a sort of motivating force, giving impetus tothe country's progress" (Fan an Wang 1999: 7). Today, as China is making her wayto modernization and adopting a policy of economic reform and opening to the out-side world, translation studies become more and more important, for without transla-tion, cross-cultural communication is completely impossible. Translation courses arepopular at universities, and the translation major has attracted many scholars andgraduate students. There are many research institutes, journals,1 and books devotedto translation. In this article, we shall present a general survey of translation theoriesand practice in contemporary China in relation to the following three aspects: prac-tice, theoretical studies, and the future of Chinese translation studies.

Translation practice in present-day ChinaBefore we embark on the discussion of translation practice in contempo-

rary China, a brief historical review of translation studies in China is in place.It is generally accepted that there were four major, successive stages of trans-lation activity in China.

The first began with the translation of Buddhist scriptures by Indian andCentral Asian Buddhist monks and Chinese monks conversant in both Bud-dhist doctrines and Sanskrit. The translation of Buddhist scriptures began inthe East Han Dynasty (25-220) and continued to the Tang (618-907) and theSong (960-1279) Dynasties. This 1,000-year-long period can be divided intothree stages. Initially, translations were done by foreign monks, then Chineseand foreign translators worked in tandem, and finally Chinese translators tookover translation work. This transition shows a shift from passive to active ac-ceptance among the Chinese of a foreign culture in general and of Buddhistbelievers in particular. Notable translators of this period included An Shi-Gao(living around 148), Dao An (314-385), Hsuan-tsang (600-664), andAmoghavajra (705-774). In this period there were also incipient views ontranslation, though not so mature and systematic to be called translation theo-ries. Translators, for example, were divided on the issue of free translationand literal translation. Their debate on this question is considered the begin-ning of translation studies in China, and Dao An's reflection of 'Wu Shi Ben'(or "five cases in which the meaning of the original was lost"),2 was the first0907-676X/04/01 0020-0011 $20.00 © 2004 Xuanmin Luo & Hong LeiPerspectives: Studies in Translatology Vol. 12, No. 1,2004

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

Luo & Lei: Translation theory and practice in China 21

attempt by a Chinese translator to pursue a proper translation theory. Hsuan-tsang pointed out the five cases in which the original should not be translated,that is, "wu bu fan",3 and he was the first to tackle the problem of untranslat-ability. At the end of this stage, Fa Yun presented his reflections on "naturali-zation" and "exoticization" in the preface to his book Collection of Transla-tion of Sanskrit Names. Undoubtedly, these early exploitations provide inspi-ration for the development of translation studies in China. In addition, thistranslation movement had a great influence on Chinese religion, philosophy,and social life. China, for the first time, came into contact with a completelynew culture and showed her marvelous ability to absorb exotic cultures. Afterthat, Chinese culture evolved from a pattern that stressed "oneness of heavenand man" to the intuitive cultural trinity of Confucianism, Taoism, and Bud-dhism.

The second stage in the history of translation began with the arrival of theItalian missionary Michael Ruggieri (1543-1607) on the shores of Canton in1580. This period lasted about 200 years, during which the works translatedwere no longer Buddhist, but dealt with Christianity, science, and technology.The missionaries published a total of 300 works in China, of which 120 con-cerned science and technology. Among the Chinese collaborators whoworked with these foreign missionaries in scientific and technical translationswere Xu Guangqi (1562-1633), Li Zhizao (1565-1630), and Li Tianjing(1579-1660). Xu Guanqi played a particularly active part in introducingWestern science into China. According to him, "[t]o excel the Western coun-tries, we must learn and know things of and about the West; to do so, wemust translate works written by Western authors" ('Preface to the Almanac,'Xu, Volume 8: 374). With this idea in mind, Xu and his followers studied thestrong points of Western cultures from which China would learn. Majorworks in this period include Euclid's Elements by Xu Guangqi and MatteoRicci (1552-1610), Clavius's Gematrica practica by Li Zhizao, and GeorgiusAgricola's (1494-1555) De Re Metallica advocated by Li Tianjing and trans-lated by Adan Schall von Bell (1591-1666). Unfortunately, their works failedto have a widespread influence on China owing to opposition from the oldguard of the time. Thus, China missed a chance to develop into a powerfulnation.

The third major stage began when China was forced to open up to the im-perialist Western powers in the mid 19th century. The invasion from the Westmade Chinese intellectuals realize that China was no longer the central king-dom of the world. They began to look towards the outside world and learnfrom the Western countries so as to strengthen their nation. With this aim in

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

22 2004. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 12:1

mind, the works first introduced mainly focused on social and military sci-ences. Later, literary translation began to flourish, since Chinese intellectualsbelieved it was the easiest access to new ideas and Western cultures. Notabletranslators of this period included Lin Shu (1852-1924), Yan Fu (1853-1921),4 and Lu Shun (1881-1936). Lin Shu, who did not know foreign lan-guages, was the first to translate a variety of literary works in collaborationwith many interpreters who would interpret the Western books for him afterwhich he would write them out in Chinese. Thanks to the efforts of this pro-lific scholar, numerous excellent foreign works were introduced into Chinasuch as Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Charles Dickens' David Copper-field, Alexander Dumas's La Dame aux Cornelias, Miguel Cervantes' DonQuixote, and many others. Yan Fu was famous for his translation of T. HenryHuxley's Evolution and Ethics and Other Essays, which caused a stir inChina's intellectual world. This period also witnessed flourishing translationtheories, among which Yan Fu's three-character criteria and Lu Xun's "fidel-ity [to the original work] and fluency [of the language in the translatedworks]" are the most famous.

The fourth stage in the history of Chinese translation started in the late1950s but was interrupted by the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution. It re-sumed its momentum in the late 1970s, when China decided to open her doorto the outside world. This period may be divided into two stages. In the firststage, Chinese translators mainly introduced works from the Soviet Unionand translated the works of Chairman Mao into Western languages. Thesepolitically oriented translation activities introduced a large number of excel-lent Russian works and helped to train highly skilled translators in China.The second stage began in the 1970s and continues to this day. The on-goingboom brings with it a hitherto unprecedented development in both translationtheory and practice. It is characterized by an enormous increase in publica-tions and academic activities. According to a recently completed biblio-graphical survey of the publication of works concerning Translation Studies,translation courses, and reference works within the last fifty years, a total of634 works have come out, with 457 in the Mainland, 94 in Taiwan, and 83 inHong Kong. An incomplete survey by the same author shows that more than6,000 articles on translation have been published over the past 20 years.Translation projects have received financial support from the governmentsince 1989. Eight projects have obtained grants from the national fund forstudies in the humanities. Some are listed among projects in the provincessuch as Zhejiang, Hunan, Tianjing, etc. Still more projects are supported byinstitutions, colleges, and universities all over China. The number of sympo-

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

Luo & Lei: Translation theory and practice in China 23

sia on translation also increased prodigiously (Fan and Wang 1999). All thissuggests that China is now entering a new age of extensive translation activ-ity.

A corollary is the development of translation teaching. Officially approvedtranslation teaching in China can be traced to the opening of Tong Wen Guanon June 11, 1862. Owing to a lack of translators, there were, at the time,many misunderstandings in official interactions with foreigners. The Emperorcame to realize the necessity of learning Western languages and Tong Wenwas to train interpreters according to his orders. In this school, foreign teach-ers were employed as instructors in English, French, German, etc. Studentswere required to translate actual foreign works under the guidance of foreignteachers. This was also the case in other government-run translation schoolsthat sprang up in the wake of Tong Wen Guan. But translation teaching didnot become an independent discipline at that time.

In 1944, Yan'an Foreign Languages School was set up to train translatorsand interpreters for politics, military, and foreign affairs, offering courses intranslation and interpreting. It seems to have been the first official translationcourse in Mainland China, although there are no extant records of their teach-ing programs or textbooks. It was not until 1978 that translation became anindependent discipline. Since then, a number of foreign language institutesand departments have been established. According to incomplete 1989 statis-tics, there were nearly 400 universities or colleges with foreign-language de-partments, in addition to the foreign-language institutes in Beijing, Shanghai,Guangzhou, Tianjin, and other cities, most of which offer courses in transla-tion and interpreting to undergraduates. By 1990, more than 50 foreign-language universities or departments offered MA degrees in English languageand literature. Some universities even ran MA programs in Translation The-ory and Practice.5 Graduates from these universities and colleges will becometranslators, interpreters, and teachers in colleges and universities. Thus therehas been a remarkable improvement in both the quantity and the quality ofTranslation Studies programs.

Although translation only became a major course of study at university 20years ago, translation teaching has attracted more and more attention re-cently. In 1996, the first 'Symposium on Translation Teaching' was held inNanjing. At this meeting, over 100 teachers and translation graduates from allover the country discussed how to strengthen research in the field. Mu Leireported on the current situation of translation teaching, focusing on problemssuch as "the importance of translation teaching", "teaching materials","teacher training", and so on. Yang Chengshu told about the teaching of

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

24 2004. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 12:1

translation at Fu Ren University, Taiwan. Lin Zhang distinguished "transla-tion as a teaching method" from "translation as a teaching objective", and ar-gued that students should learn translation theories in addition to translationstrategies. Other scholars read papers on testing, teaching materials, inter-preter training, etc. A 1997 Symposium on Translation Teaching in HongKong dealt with questions concerning translation teaching and translationtheories such as the design of training programs, the making of textbooks,and training teachers. Existing problems in translation teaching and solutionswere discussed. It was pointed out that theories on the teaching of translationin China still lack rigor, philosophical thinking, and operational principles.As long as this is the case, translation teaching is very subjective. The studyof translation should be both descriptive, theoretical, and practical; both sci-entific and artistic; both analytic and synthetic (Luo 1998). Hence, there is aneed for comprehensive studies to uncover rules of translation, including thestudy of translation ability, translation skills, translation method, and the his-tory of translation. Only in this way can translation practice improve. Thus, athorough and systematic study of translation teaching is being carried out,which, in turn, provides impetus to translation practice in China.

Theories of Translation Studies in today's ChinaChinese translators generally agree that translation theories should be

based on practice, for otherwise they become castles in the air or trees with-out roots. Hence, translation theories in China are closely related to transla-tion practice. The four major stages in translation activity all led to originalthinking on translation. The translation of Buddhist scriptures, for example,developed from immediate literal translation to immature free translation,then from comparatively mature literal translation to more mature free trans-lation, and finally to an integrated practice of both literal and free translation.This led to prolonged debates about the two different translation strategies,with persuasive adherents on either side. Theoretical justification for literaland free translation by modern theorists finds its precursors in the views ofthese early masters of translation, especially Dao An, who keenly favored aclose translation with his "wu shi ben", and Kumarajiva, who was interestedin retaining the meaning of the original rather than the form. A first effortwas made to reach a conclusion when a monk, whose real name is unknown,pointed out that in order to achieve proper translation both literal translationand free translation should be used whenever appropriate.6

Chinese translators developed valuable theories from their personal trans-lation practice, and this is also the case with Translation Studies today.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

Luo & Lei: Translation theory and practice in China 25

Among these theories, Yan Fu's three-character criteria "faithfulness (xin),expressiveness (da), and elegance (ya)" proposed in 1889 were the most in-fluential. He Lin (1984) observed that translators in the following decades,whether wittingly or unwittingly, were all guided by these criteria in theirpractice of translation. And Fan Shouyi has found correspondences betweenYan's criteria and those of A.F. Tytler (1790), which state that a translatorshould reproduce the thought of the original completely, the style and mannerof translation should be the same as the original composition (Fan Shouyi1991: 61-70). Discussions on translation criteria mainly center on these threeaspects, whatever names are used to describe them.

Traditional translation studies in China were characterized by commentsand remarks based on flashes of insight. It is from this traditional mode of ex-istence that modern Chinese translation studies evolve into a pluralistic andmulti-dimensional system. As Tan Zaixi (1995: 12-16) observes, TranslationStudies in today's China are conducted by a model of reflecting-learning—digesting-creating. After a time of serious reflection, Chinese translatorscame to realize the weakness of this approach and therefore started to learnfrom Western theories. This led to extensive translation of foreign works.Nida on Translation (1999) and Cross-cultural Communication (1993) byTan Zaixi, After Babel (1987) by Zhuang Yichuan, and Linguistic Theory inTranslation (1991) by Mu Lei are some of the translated works in this period.Among the theories introduced, Nida's theory of dynamic equivalence wasfully exploited by Chinese scholars. Equivalence theory states that a transla-tion should produce the same response, in both meaning and style, in the re-ceptors of the target-language text as the original does hi its readers. Thistheory concentrates on recipients' response and it has inspired Chinese schol-ars. However, after some time, it was found that equivalence theory was tooabstract and far from operational in translation practice. For example, it isdifficult to judge how recipients respond in the same way as readers re-sponded to the original. Other theories have also been found to be inadequatein accounting for translation problems in the transfer between Chinese andIndo-European languages. The reason is simply that Western theories arebased on Western languages which are fundamentally different from Chinese.

The most remarkable event in this period is the establishment of ChineseTranslation Studies. The word "yi xue", meaning translation studies, ap-peared in translation circles as early as 1930. Lin Yutang (1895-1976), forexample, used the word several times in his article 'On Translation' in 1933in the sense of "knowledge of translation". It was not until 1951 when DongQiusi published an article, "On Construction of Translation Theory", that the

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

26 2004. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 12:1

term was used to describe the science of translation in China, so Dong is thefirst Chinese to declare translation a science. According to him, the transla-tion process is regulated by objective rules. These rules can be used for gen-erating adequate translations. In order to discover and understand these rules,translation scholars should study all factors involved, and then use their find-ings to contribute to a complete theory, which is scientific owing to its objec-tive basis. Dong further pointed out that to verify the statement that "transla-tion is a science", Chinese translation scholars should complete two works:one on the history of translation, the other on Chinese Translation Studies.Dong's proposal of translation as a science corresponds to what we call trans-latology today and represents a breakthrough in China. Before him, transla-tion was merely a linguistics subject.

Following Dong, Chinese translators actively carry out research work toserve the construction of Chinese Translatology. In 1984, Ma Zhuyi finishedone of Dong's two tasks with his A Short History of Chinese Translation. Inthe 1987 Nanjing Symposium, Zhou Qingbo, Li Ding, Chu Xiao, and othersdiscussed how to construct a Chinese translatology from philosophical andpsychological perspectives. At the Qingdao Symposium two months later,Liu Miqing, Tan Zaixi, Fang Mengzhi, and others dealt with this topic againfrom the perspectives of linguistics, social semiotics, communication studies,and the like. Their findings proved the theoretical feasibility of establishingtranslation as a science. In 1990, Liu Miqing published Studies on Transla-tion Today. This book completed the two tasks proposed by Dong. However,some scholars do not agree that translatology should be limited to one nation,for by nature, it has no boundaries. Still others assume that there are twotypes of translatology: one transcends national boundaries and is universal;the other exists within national boundaries but is developing towards the for-mer as an ideal model. Chinese translatology is moving precisely along thistrajectory.

It is for this reason that some Chinese scholars have made efforts to applylinguistic theories to the theory and practice of translation. Wang Bingqin'sarticle (1987) was the first academic attempt to do so. His aim was to studyand discover the rules governing the internal structure of a text in the light oftext linguistics. He analyzed numerous passages by means of textual analysis,but unfortunately, all his examples were descriptions of scenery or quotationsfrom books by great scholars - so there was no dialogue, no illocutionary orperlocutionary forces in the language. In short, he failed to provide a varietyof examples. For this reason, his research has largely been restricted to theapproach of Chinese classical rhetoric. 7 (Wang 1987; Luo 1994)

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

Luo & Lei: Translation theory and practice in China 27

Scholars such as He Ziran applied pragmatics to translation. He's article(1992) put forward two new terms, "pragma-linguistics" and "socio-pragmatics," which, in the field of translation, refer respectively to "the studyof pragmatic force or language use from the viewpoint of linguistic sources"and to "pragmatic studies which examine the conditions of language use thatderive from the social and cultural situation." He discusses the possibility ofapplying a pragmatic approach to translation in order to achieve a pragmati-cally equivalent effect between source and target texts. He tries to distinguishbetween "pragma-linguistics" and "socio-pragmatics" but finally admits that"[ajctually, a clear line between pragma-linguistics and socio-pragmatics maysometimes be difficult to draw" (He 1992). Ke Wenli (1992) argued that se-mantics, which in a broad sense combines semantics and pragmatics, shouldbe studied in order to understand, explain, and solve some of the problemsencountered in translation. In his article, he uses many examples to illustratethe importance of having a general knowledge of semantics and an under-standing of the relationship between semantics and translation.

The textual study of translation by Luo Xuanmin is among the successfulefforts in dealing with translation problems. He clarifies two kinds of transla-tion units: one for transfer, and the other for analysis, an approach which pro-vides a fruitful answer to the question "what is the translation unit?", whichmany scholars such as Nida (1969: 133-135), Barkhudarov (1993: 40), andWang Dechun (1987: 10) have addressed but failed to answer. Luo also of-fers more complete and highly operational standards of translation to com-plete Yan Fu's empirical three-character criteria of "xin" (faithfulness), "da"(expressiveness) and "ya" (elegance), namely, intentionality, informativity,cohesion, coherence, situationality, intertextuality, and acceptability. In Luo'sopinion, the former is more appropriate for constructing, and the latter forevaluating and appreciating a text. In addition, Luo develops de Beaugrandeand Dressier's seven standards into an integrated model for Translation Stud-ies and practice (de Beaugrande and Dressier 1981: XV). Luo argues thatthese authors should split the seven standards they propose into elements likecohesion and coherence, intentionality and acceptability, situationality, inter-textuality and informativity. He thus arranged the seven standards into a tri-angular model in the shape of a rocket (Luo 2003), which present an endlesscirculating process with the seven complementary standards. Since the senderand addressee are part of the model, the seven standards become really dy-namic, operational, and regulative. And finally, Luo emphasizes that sincetranslation is inevitably text based, text analysis is vital for reading and trans-lating.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

28 2004. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 12:1

Recently, comparative literature has provided a new perspective for liter-ary translation studies, that is, for studying translation by means of literaryapproaches. Comparative literature critics distinguish between "translation"and "translating", and claim "translation" as their territory. They emphasizethe role of the translator's creativity and that of translated literature in recep-tor cultures. This approach is highly insightful and can be expected to com-plement the linguistic approaches in Translation Studies.

Concluding remarks: the future of Translation StudiesThere are several characteristics of Translation Studies in today's China.

First and foremost, Translation Studies in China is closely related to transla-tion activities. Secondly, Translation Studies has turned away from the tradi-tional microscopic study of translation skills and techniques and begun to paymore attention to the macroscopic study of translation theories. Thirdly, Chi-nese Translation Studies has formed an independent system which has an aes-thetic basis and constitutes an organic part of Chinese literary criticism.Fourthly, translators in China has started to study translation from the per-spectives of social semiotics, cultural anthropology, social linguistics, textlinguistics, comparative literature, and contrastive analysis, to name only afew. Translation is becoming a multidimensional and interdisciplinary fieldof study. Fifthly, translators in contemporary China have learned to applytranslation theories to their translation practices in a conscious way.

In the 20th century the dispute among translation theorists in China wasmainly between literary translation and non-literary translation. In the 21st

century, however, the focus will shift to the question of translating and trans-lation. The two approaches will lead to two different schools in translation:One will study translation from a linguistic perspective, and another from acultural perspective. The linguistic school is interested in the study of trans-lating rather than translation. It argues that the translation process should beregulated by objective rules. Using these rules, one can produce good transla-tions. This linguistic school is criticized for its ignorance of translators' rolein translation work and in society. Conversely, the cultural school emphasizesthe influence of translators' creativity and work. It holds that translation isnot a mechanical transfer of rules, but an art demanding talent and individualcreativity in translators. Ideology will play an important role in TranslationStudies. Cultural factors influence translation processes which, in turn, influ-ence culture. More and more Chinese scholars pay attention to cultural fac-tors, although the main trend in contemporary China is linguistic.

It is obvious that some Chinese translation theorists are now conscious of

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

Luo & Lei: Translation theory and practice in China 29

the importance of critical discrimination of Western translation theory ratherthan the haphazard copying. Some Chinese scholars have devoted much ef-fort to synthesizing new approaches to Translation Studies from classical aswell as new theories, of the West as well as the east. In the first decade of the21st century, China will witness a great development in translation and willshare its greatest contributions with international Translation Studies in thenew century.

Notes1. The five Translation Studies journals in Mainland China are: Journal of ChineseTranslators, Languages and Translation, Foreign Languages and Translation, Chi-nese Translation in Science and Technology, Shanghai Translation in Science andTechnology. Hong Kong has two journals: Translation Quarterly and Journal ofTranslation Studies. There are also two magazines for translations: Yilin in MainlandChina and Rendition in Hong Kong.2. Dao-An put forward this theory in his book "&&&&%&&&&&!¥•", which re-fers to the following five cases:

(1) To adjust the structure of Buddhist language (which is inverted) to that of an-cient Chinese.

(2) To refine the style of Buddhist language (which is rustic) into that of ancientChinese (which emphasizes rhetoric).

(3) To reduce repetition which occurs frequently in Buddhist language to stress themeaning, but sounds wordy in Chinese.

(4) To delete the redundant summary of a whole chapter at the end of each chapter.(5) To omit the summary of the previous part before beginning a new part.

3. Hsuan-tsang's "wu bu fan" refers to the following five cases:1 For the sake of secrecy,2 Inpolysemy,3 When the target language has no counterpart,4 When the term has an established name, and5 For expressing reverence.

4. According to Yan Fu, "xin" means fidelity and requires that the translator faithfullyrepresent the original meaning in translation. "Da" refers to fluency and smoothnessof the language. And "ya" requires the translator to use pre-Han dynasty dictionwhich, in Yan s opinion, is the most elegant Chinese. The last principle, however, iscontroversial. Translation scholars like Liu Zhongde and Ma Zuyi argue that "ya", theelegance of language, should not be judged by Han diction, but by modern Mandarin.5. The universities that can award M.A. degrees in translation theory and practice areBeijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai Haiyun University, Nanking Institute ofInternational Studies, Luoyang Institute of Foreign Languages, Inner Mongolia Uni-versity, Guangxi University, Changsha Railway University and Shanxi Normal Uni-versity.6. Que Ming stated this opinion in the book "WWJ^JsiiBr. He also pointed out the dif-ferent aesthetic characteristics of free translation and literal translation.7. In his article, Wang borrowed from Liu Xie's Wen Xin Diao Long and argues thattexts are governed by certain principles, which require a successful translator to fol-low these steps in translation: First, he should grasp the motif of a paragraph and cre-ate a coherent translation. Second, paragraphs should be classified into three groupsaccording to their content: descriptive, narrative or expository, each of which requiresspecific treatment. Third, since paragraphs develop in different ways, a translator

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014

30 2004. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology. Volume 12:1

should figure out how a paragraph develops and take corresponding measures. Mostof the examples are from Russian works.8. Luo's analysis on the unit of translation and his discussions on the clause transfercan be found in 1999 Meta 44.101-109.

Works citedBarkhudarov, Leonid. 1993. The Problem of the Unit of Translation. In: Zlateva,

Palma (ed.). Translation as Social Action. London & New York: Routledge.Beaugrande, R, de & W. Dressier. 1981. Introduction to Text Linguistics. London &

New York: Longman.Fan Shouyi. 1991. Ever Since Yan Fu and His Criteria of Translation. Translation:

Theory and Practice - Tension and Interdependence. American Translation Assoc-iation Scholarly Monograph Series V. State University of New York at Bingham-ton.

He Lin. 1984. Yan Fu's Translation. In: Luo Xinzhang (ed.) Essays on Translation..Beijing: Commercial Press. ppl46-183.

He Ziran. 1992. Pragmatics and CE/EC Translation. Foreign Languages Education 1.32-36.

Ke Wenli. 1992. Semantics and Translation. Foreign Languages 3. 24-29.Lin Yutang. 1984. On Translation. In: Luo Xinzhang (ed.). Essays on Translation.

Beijing: The Commercial Press. 417-432Liu Miqing. 1990. Studies on Translation Today. Nanchang: Jiangxi Education Press

(Revised edition. 1993. Taibei: Shulin Publishing.)Luo Xinzhang. (ed.) 1984. Essays on Translation. Beijing: the Commercial Press.Luo Xuanmin. 1994. A Textual Approach to the Analysis of Literary Translation. In:

Kawamoto Koji, Heh-Hsiang Yuan and Ohsawa Yoshihiro (eds.). Proceedings ofthe XIIIth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association, TheForce of Vision, Vol. 6. Tokyo: Tokyo University Press, pp 205-212

Luo Xuanmin. 2003. A Textual-cognitive Model and Textual Construction in Transla-tion. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 11. 73-79.

Ma Zuyi. 1984. A Short History of Translation in China [Prior to the May FourthMovement] Beijing: China Translation Publishing.

Mu Lei. 1999. Translation Teaching in China. Meta Vol. 44.198-208.Newmark, Peter. 1991. Linguistic Theory in Translation. Translated by Mu Lei. Bei-

jing: Tourism & Education Publishing.Nida, Eugene. A. & C.R. Taber. 1969. The Theory and Practice of Translation. Lei-

den: E.J. Brill.Steiner, George. 1987. After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. Translated

by Zhuang Yichuan. Beijing: China Translation and Publishing.Tan Zaixi.1995. Overview ofTranslation Studies in China and Western countries.

Foreign Language 3. 12-16.Tan Zaixi. 1993. Cross-cultural Communication. Guilin: Lijiang Press.Tan Zaixi. 1999. Nida on Translation. Beijing: China Translation and Publishing Co-

operation..Wang Bingqin. 1987. Text Linguistics and Translation. Chinese Translation 3. 14-17.Wang Decnun. 1987. On Translation Unit. Chinese Translators Journal 4. 10-14.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Mos

kow

Sta

te U

niv

Bib

liote

] at

08:

26 0

3 Fe

brua

ry 2

014