| Before the 20th century the literary school held sway the field of translation studies, but since it only valued the products of translation but neglected the process of translation and the translation of non-literary works, its leading position was gradually replaced by the linguistic school. Ever since linguistics became an independent discipline in the 1920s, many translation theorists have taken advantage of the latest research results of modern linguistics and have improved translation studies to a new theoretical level thus realizing the linguistic turn of translation studies. The development of modern linguistics has added to the flourishing of translation studies and the latter has derived nourishment from nearly all the important linguistic theories. However, as time went on, the drawbacks of the linguistic school began to appear since many translation questions cannot get convincing answers on linguistic level, and the linguistic school cannot make satisfactory explanations about plenty of translation phenomena. Therefore, quite a few translation theorists hold that the linguistic school of translation studies has run into a blind alley.In the latter half of the 20th century, translation studies in the west began to penetrate into various fields. Meanwhile, quite a few international cultural scholars and philosophers such as Foucault, Derrida, Spivak, Even-Zohar, Niranjana, and others, all diverted their interest to translation studies and put forward lots of insightful ideas; whereas a host of noted translation theorists in international translation circles, for example, Susan Bassnett, Andre Lefevere, Laurence Venuti, all started to study translation from a broader cultural perspective. These two phenomena represent respectively the translation turn of cultural studies and the cultural turn of translation studies. The cultural turn broadens our horizon and makes us realize that translation studies should not only be limited to the internal or microscopic study, it should also include the external or macroscopic study. In the surging tide of the cultural turn, the most noticeable event in the field of translation studies is the rise of "School of Translation Studies" in the 1970s. They call on translation scholars to take into consideration the influence and constraint of target society and cultural factors on translation, thus exploring translation in a broader cultural context. In 1985, Theo Hermans put forth the the idea of "manipulation" in The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Translatology and the Manipulation School got its name herein. In 1992 Lefevere put forth the Manipulation Theory in his representative work Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. From then on, the concept of "manipulation" has triggered a global revolution in translation circles.With the establishment of the independent disciplinary status of translation studies, the study of translation history—the fundamental component of translation studies—has gained more and more attention. Plenty of monographs on Chinese translation history have been published in recent years in our country and have provided us with a large quantity of detailed, accurate research materials on translation history of foreign literature for our future research. However, most of them are just the survey and arrangement of historical facts and materials, and lack a systematic and in-depth theoretical analysis of translation phenomena. Research on translation history is not only the listing and introduction of translation facts, what's more, the significant role that translation plays in literary history should be analyzed; otherwise, research on translation history cannot disclose the nature of translation if not approached from a theoretical perspective. Fortunately a few scholars (Wang Kefei, 1997; Wang Xiangyuan, 2001; Zha Mingjian & Xie Tianzhen, 2007; et al.) began to notice the connections between translation and the broader context in which it takes place—culture and society, and to view translation from brand-new perspectives.With the wide spread of the Manipulation Theory many scholars began to study Chinese translation history from the perspective of manipulation. Some scholars (Wang Yougui 2003; Li Jing 2005) apply the diachronic approach, some (Wang Hongzhi 2001; Zha Mingjian 2003&2004; Wu Sha & Tu Guoyuan 2007) adopt the synchronic approach. However, the diachronic approach is often accused of being "too superficial", since it often neglects the microscopic research in each period; and the synchronic study on a specific period in Chinese translation history from the perspective of manipulation is very rare indeed, some periods especially literary translation in contemporary China need to be excavated. Hence the writing plan of the dissertation, that is, to make a diachronic and synchronic exploration of translation of foreign literature in contemporary China from the perspective of manipulation.Although the study is based on Lefevere's Manipulation Theory and the Theory of Medio-Translatology represented by Xie Tianzhen et al., the author does not intend to apply the theories mechanically to translation phenomena and put the latter into the theoretical framework. On the contrary, we start from the existing translation phenomena and analyze them with the two theories. Only in this way, will translation facts not be concealed and the conclusion not be replaced by a preconceived idea. To be specific, the author takes three universally-acknowledged historical periods as three research stages, namely the 17 years after the founding of the PRC (1949-1965), the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and the New Period (1977-2008), and for the sake of convenience divides foreign literature into Russian and Soviet literature, western literature, Eastern European and Asian, African and Latin American literature. In each period the author starts from historical and political background, discusses respectively the manipulation of ideology and patronage on translation of foreign literature, the influence of their manipulation on the translator, aiming to find out the evolution of the manipulation on foreign literary translation in contemporary China, as well as the functions of foreign literary translation. Finally the author attempts to have a rethink on the universal applicability and explanatory power of Lefevere's Manipulation Theory. Hence the purpose of the research.During the 17 years after the founding of the PRC the dominant ideology—the socialist ideology guided by Marxism exerted its powerful manipulation on translation of foreign literature. Indirect translation which was prevalent in the period was closely related with ideological manipulation. The patronage, as the spokespeople of the dominant ideology, adopted a number of manipulative means such as the selection of texts, "inner circulation", "explanatory notes on publication", deletion and abridgement, etc. in order to conform with the dominant ideology. Foreign literary translation in this period is a tool to construct and strengthen the dominant ideology and to inculcate the masses politically.In the Cultural Revolution the chief patronage, i.e. the "Gang of Four" has reached complete uniformity with the dominant ideology—the extreme "leftist" ideology, and their manipulation of foreign literary translation has attained an extreme unprecedented in history. The manipulation of ideology is mainly reflected in the selection of foreign literature. In addition to the manipulative means of translation selection and "inner circulation", the patronage usually offered a 'guide to reading' or a critical article in the preface or foreword of a translation, thus manipulating the meaning of literary works. Collective translation in the period is a case in point of the extreme manipulation of the patronage. Foreign literary translation in this period completely became a political weapon in the hands of the "Gang of Four" in political struggle home and abroad.In the New Period both the manipulation of ideology and patronage on foreign literary translation and the function of foreign literary translation differ vastly from the previous two periods. At the beginning of the New Period the influence of the old political ideology and the extreme "leftist" ideology in the Cultural Revolution still exsited. From the 1980s the manipulation of the dominant ideology on translation is much weaker than before; whereas the role of the patronage—mainly publishing houses—in literary translation and publication becomes more and more evident. Such phenomena such as "contracting project", "Chinese-Chinese translation" and overdue retranslations appeared due to the strengthening of the manipulation of publishing houses. Foreign literary translation becomes a means to satisfy people's aesthetic needs and a medium to enhance cultural exchange between China and the world, as it should be.This study is an attempt to appeal to translation circles to enlarge the scope of research, examine translation from a broader social and cultural context, and divert their attention to extraliterary factors which exert great influence even constraint on translation such as politics, history, ideology, cultural traditions, morals and ethics, etc. which is not only of great necessity for descriptive translation studies that has not been attached enough emphasis till today, but also is of great significance in the making of translation policies and promoting the development of translation criticism, translation studies and many neighboring disciplines. In addition, the study on manipulation can help us understand better the society and the world in which we live.Generally speaking, the study is a bottom-up one. The research adopts such research methods as documentary description plus argumentation, macroscopic plus microscopic, diachronic plus synchronic, etc. In order to make the research more objective and convincing, a number of case studies and a lot of statistical figures are adopted.The dissertation is made up of six parts besides Introduction and Conclusion:In the Introduction, the author explicates motive of research and research questions, nature of the research, necessity and significance of the research, research methods, and organization of the dissertation, etc.Chapter One reviews research that has been done on manipulation, on Chinese translation history, and particularly on Chinese translation history from the perspective of manipulation, then summarizes and points out their limitations.Chapter Two first reviews international cultural background, Foucault's Theory of Power and Discourse and its influence on Lefevere, Zohar's Polysystem Theory and its influence on Lefevere, then expounds the two theoretical proposals on which the research is based, namely Lefevere's Manipulation Theory and the Theory of Medio-Translatology.Chapter Three first presents the historical and political background in this period, then analyzes the manipulation of ideology on the translation of Russian and Soviet literature, Western literarture, Eastern European literature and Asian, African and Latin American literature, as well as a prevalent translation model—indirect translation. Next, the patronage in this period, the manipulative means of patronage, and a case study are analyzed respectively. Finally, the influence of the manipulation of ideology and patronage on the translator is discussed.Chapter Four first presents the historical and political background in this period, then analyzes the manipulation of ideology on the translation of Soviet literature, literary works of capitalist countries, Eastern European literature and Asian, African and Latin American literature; Next, the manipulative means of patronage and a special translation model—collective translation are analyzed. Finally the influence of the manipulation of ideology and patronage on the translator is discussed.Chapter Five first presents the historical and political background in this period, then analyzes the manipulation of ideology in the late 1970s, the weakening of the manipulation of ideology after the 1980s and a case study. Next, the patronage in this period, the strengthening of the manipulation of patronage, as well as such phenomena as "contracting project", "Chinese-Chinese translation" and overdue retranslations are analyzed respectively. Finally the influence of the manipulation of ideology and patronage on the translator is discussed.Chapter Six is a rethink on Lefevere's Manipulation Theory. By combining translation facts of foreign literature in contemporary China with Michel P(e|^)echeux's theory of "identification, anti-identification and disidentification", the author puts forth an improvement of Lefevere's Manipulation Theory and the concept of "anti-manipulation".Conclusion consists of two parts: one is a conclusion that translation of foreign literature is being manipulated in contemporary China. In other words, translation history of foreign literature in contemporary China is also a history of being manipulated. The author has a summary of the evolution of the manipulation of ideology and patronage on translation of foreign literature and functions of foreign literary translation in contemporary China; the other is an improvement for the imperfection of Lefevere's Manipulation Theory. Finally, the limitations of the research and research perspectives in the future are pointed out.
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