Xiang, Vision, Taoist Spirit Of Li Bai's Poems And Their Translation Studies

Tang poetry encompassing rich cultural connotations is a reflection of traditional Chinese culture, which is the most concise but a brilliant way of an art group. Imageries are the essence of the soul of the poetry. A well-crafted imagery is a major feature of Chinese classical poetry. Although researches on translation in the past have undergone considerable development, however, researchers on translation have rarely shifted their research perspectives on imagery from linguistic level to cultural and spiritual level. This paper argues that Xiang thinking mode has always been characterized as epistemic mode and discourse paradigm of the Chinese nation over a thousand years, therefore Xiang is the life body of Chinese poetry. It is necessary to regard Xiang as the body of cross-cultural and cross-language translation, not just a tool for carrying information. Therefore, the image translation can be regarded as a spiritual way between different ethnic groups to achieve cross-cultural exchange. Hence the difficult and key points of the conveyance of Chinese culture lie in the imagery translation. This research, on the basis of this perspective on translation studies, holds that the nature of imagery translation of poetry is a cross-cultural spiritual understanding and communication activities, and then conclude the basic epistemology and methodology of image interpretation: First, we can conduct translation under the epistemic mode of Xiang thinking, thinking of Xiang as body of the spirit of a work; in effect, seizing the poetic imagery is equivalent to seize the kernel of the English translation of Chinese poetry, thus we can at least ensure to retain the pattern and charm of cultural spirit in source language, realizing the goal of cross-cultural exchange and dissemination. Under the guidance of the basic epistemology and methodology, we can employ poetic understanding and poetic practice in the translation process: that is, the retaining of images, the change of images, the use of similar images, the conversion of images and the omission of images, etc. The application of Xiang thinking in translation of classical poetry provides a new perspective on the spiritual understanding and characterization of imagery interpretation, endowing it with a certain rational basis and operating mode.Li Bai (AD 701-762) is the most prominent poet of the Tang Dynasty and is one of the greatest romantic poets after Qu Yuan in Chinese literary history. His poetry is bold and elegant with magnificent imagination and natural language, containing Taoist spiritual understanding of"naturalism". His poetry is not only a treasure of Chinese literature, but also the classic in world literature. And the selection and arrangement of imageries in Li Bai's poems have a distinct feature, reflecting Taoist spiritual understanding of"naturalism"with ontological significance. Based on this, the thesis enters from linguistic world-view----by entering imageries in Li Bai's poems and exiting from Taoist spiritual style, with the use of case study in which the author will compare different versions of Xiang translations Li Bai's poems at home and overseas and analyze the gains and losses of the imagery translation in order to discuss how this oriental spiritual element of"Xiang"reflects in the translation, and thus draw the following conclusion: When the cultural connotation of imagery both in the source language and in the target language is identical, we can use the literal translation of retaining the original poetic imagery; and when the cultural connotation of images both in the source language and in the target language culture is different, which may lead to misunderstanding, we can use poetic alternative in imagery translation; when the cultural connotation of imagery in original poems are vacant in the target language culture, we can employ the method of the conversion of images, the replenishment of images, the omission of images and adding comments to images, etc.The thesis analyzes different versions of Xiang translation in Li Bai's poems through the use of linguistic world-view and Xiang thinking, and analyzes the impact of translators'different cognitive styles on the transmission of imagery and vision in Li Bai's original poems in order to work out more general and better method of the transmission of imagery and vision in Li Bai's poems: pointing out the translation of Chinese classical poetry mainly lies in grasping the overall vision in the macroscopic level and practicing Xiang thinking in translation process from microcosmic aspect. Only by grasping the original source of Chinese classical poems can we achieve the resemblance between spiritual pattern and aesthetics in the target text.