The English Translation Of "Anshun Dixi Opera"under The Functional Equivalence Theory

"Dixi Opera",also known as Tiaoshen,is a kind of local drama in Anshun,Guizhou Province."Dixi Opera" originated from the period of Zhu Yuanzhang,the emperor of Ming Dynasty.In order to consolidate the rule of Guizhou and create a situation of "more Hans and less Minorities",a large number of Hans came to Anshun for different reasons,such as military settlement,migration,business and exile and so on,to develop the land together with the local indigenous people.In that time “Dixi Opera” became a kind of entertainment for Hans who had rooted in Guizhou.Its purpose was to commemorate their ancestors.However,with the enrichment of local activities in Anshun and the emergence of modern festivals,the meaning of religion and sacrifice has diluted,together with the involvement of more ethnicities while the entertainment has increased.It was listed in the national intangible cultural heritage in June 2006.The performance of “Dixi Opera” is an artistic activity in which actors,dressed in simple costumes,speak,sing and fight in the rhythm of gongs and drums.It integrates martial arts performance,sacrifice and entertainment,which is known as "living fossil in the history of drama." “Dixi Opera” includes more than 30 plays,21 of which are compiled and collected by the scholar,Shuai Xuejian.Most of these plays are adapted from historical novels in order to praise heroes.The related researches on Dixi Opera mainly focus on its own protection and inheritance,masks and costumes,rituals,musicality,etc.And most of its English translation studies focus on masks and costumes,while the English translation of Dixi Opera texts has not been studied yet.Therefore,for the translation of “Dixi Opera” texts,we can draw on "Series of Translation on 100 Chinese Peking Opera classics " to study its translation methods,which is of great inspiration to the “Dixi Opera” self-translation of this thesis in terms of translation strategies and methods.The play,“Chu Han Zheng Feng”(the war between Chu state and Han state),is based on the historical background of the Chu-Han War between the heroes Liu Bang and Xiang Yu.It begins with Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu attacking Qin dynasty and ends with Xiang Yu’s suicide in Wujiang River,and Liu Bang becoming the emperor.It is a well-known historical allusion.This article will select the scene from attacking Qin dynasty to Liu Bang’s debut as the source language text."Chu Han Zheng Feng"(the war between Chu state and Han state)will be translated based on the theory of Eugene A.Nida’s functional equivalence,and then be analyzed.The theory of functional equivalence can be embodied from the perspectives of words,sentences,texts,styles and so on.In addition,this paper also uses House’s translation quality assessment to guide the translation of “Dixi Opera” to prove its feasibility in local drama’s translation.We hope to convey the cultural information of local dramas to readers better.The translation quality assessment can enrich the connotation of the functional equivalence theory and expand its application value.This dissertation is divided into five chapters.The first chapter is an introduction,which mainly explains the translation research object,the research purpose,the research problems,and the research methods and significance.The second chapter is a detailed introduction about the research background of Anshun Dixi Opera’s translation,which mainly summarizes the research status of Anshun Dixi Opera at home and abroad.In addition,it also gives a brief overview of the translation of Chinese traditional Peking Opera,with the purpose of providing enlightenment for the translation of "Anshun Dixi Opera".The third chapter is a theoretical framework of the English translation of "Anshun Dixi Opera".It mainly expounds the theory of functional equivalence and introduces House’s translation quality assessment,enriching the theory of functional equivalence to guide Anshun Dixi Opera’s translation and explaining its feasibility.The fourth chapter is the self-translation part of "Chu Han Zheng Feng"(the war between Chu state and Han state)in "Anshun Dixi Opera",which is mainly reflected in the translation practice of lexical equivalence,syntactic equivalence,text equivalence,stylistic equivalence.The application of House’s translation quality assessment aims to self-evaluation or reflection on translation quality.The fifth chapter is the conclusion of this dissertation.It summarizes the feasibility and research results of "Anshun Dixi Opera" self-translation based on "functional equivalence theory combined with House’s translation quality assessment model".This dissertation is not only an attempt for Anshun Dixi Opera’s translation,but also a practice of publicity of local dramas with strong ethnic culture.It has certain reference significance or reproducibility for the translation research of other local dramas.