A Study Of English Translation And Dissemination Of Classical Chinese Drama

The classics of Chinese drama, one of the significant carriers of the literary andcultural values of Chinese traditional theatre, has always occupied an important positionin the history of cross-cultural communication between China and the Western world.Owing to its beautiful language, complicated plots, magnificent structure, vividcharacterization, and meaningful themes of aspiring for freedom, happiness, liberation ofpersonality against feudal ethical code, The Peony Pavilion has successfully movedthousands of readers at home and abroad, becoming the symbolic ones translated bySinologists and ethnic Chinese scholars living abroad in the Anglo-American culturalsystem such as Harold Action, Cyril Birch, Stephen Owen, H. C. Chang, and Ch’u Chai&Winberg Chai in the more than280years history of classical Chinese dramas’spreading into the western world. In China, after the implementation of reform andopening-up policy, sponsored by Chinese government’s projects for translation andpublication of Chinese cultural works, the classics of Chinese drama as a whole hasexperienced its golden season of translating and spreading into foreign countries, so hasbeen the case of The Peony Pavilion. Many Chinese publishers have subsequently issuednew English translations of this drama by Zhang Guangqian, Wang Rongpei, XuYuanchong&Xu Ming. Up until now, the variety of English translation of The PeonyPavilion has numbered20or even more. However, in contrast to the flourishingtranslation situation of The Peony Pavilion, the researches about classical Chinese dramatranslation and circulation, including The Peony Pavilion, have always been marginalizedwith the salient features of “oneness”,“prescriptiveness” and “dispersivity”. Researcherswho start from the philological angel usually assert that the classical Chinese drama“should” be translated in certain ways but neglect the controlling factors of institution,market, repertoire, consumer etc. and the circulation and reception of dramas in the targetlanguage system in particular. This not only contradicts with the true nature of classicalChinese drama translation as a means of cross-cultural communication, but also departsfrom the initial intention of Chinese Culture “Going-out” Strategy, and the flourishingtranslation situation of The Peony Pavilion at present. Therefore, in light of the theoriesof translation studies, media-translatology, and “The Making of Culture” advanced byItamar Even-Zohar, this paper intends to describe objectively the translating anddisseminating process of The Peony Pavilion in the Chinese and English cultural contextrespectively with translation norms, creative treason, patronage, poetics and ideology asthe key points. Some suggestions and proposals are to be drawn to enhance the theoretical researches and actual translation practice of classical Chinese drama and othercultural projects at present.This research shows that two different translation models have come into being inthe process of The Peony Pavilion’s translation and spreading into the western world,namely, the “in-coming” translation model adopted by sinologists and ethnic Chinesescholars living abroad and “out-going” translation model adopted by domestic Chinesetranslators, which lead to wholly different results of text reception. The former is carriedout actively by the Anglo-American cultural systems according to their own demands inthe process of cultural development, while the latter, after the integration of individualtranslator’s endeavor with state’s will, is initiated to revive its culture and change China’simage in the Anglo-American cultural systems.In the first mode, the translators can co-ordinate the complicated relationshipsbetween translation activities, target language institution, readers and market, and useflexible translation strategies to meet the demand of ideology, poetics and culturalrepertoire adjustments in the system. The translation norms they used has graduallyshifted from target-language-oriented acceptability to source-language-oriented adequacy,and stopped finally at the translator-oriented one with the combination of acceptabilityand adequacy. Though the translation styles of sinologists and ethnic Chinese scholarsliving abroad are slightly different, but they have reached a tacit agreement on thetranslation of intoned verses and arias, the language games such as puns, innuendos,personalized language and cultural images etc. in The Peony Pavilion, to wit, theyrespect the rhymes and forms of the intoned verses and arias in the original language, butnever intends to transplant them at the sacrifice of meaning. Instead, they translatepreferably the content and spirit of those verses and arias with free English verse featuredwith flexible lines and similar rhythms. If necessary, concise notes are frequently used toexplain the meaning of these peculiar Chinese expressions and cultural items. Whendealing with puns, innuendos, and extremely personalized dialogues, translators chooseto recreate the expressive effect within the original semantic frames and to differentiatevarious characters’ registers in idiomatic English. In terms of cultural stance, they respectChinese cultural elements instead of cleansing them. The audience, accordingly, hasshifted from the general public to the professional who has received Chinese languageand literature education. Owing to different translation strategies and verified externalcontrolling factors, the disseminaltion effects of all translations are quitely different inthe distribution channels and the field of symbolic capital reproduction. Harold Actonand the Chais’ versions are gradually marginalized, whereas Cyril Birch, Stephen Owenand H. C. Chang’s versions are favored by readers and professionals alike. It isnoticeable that, urged by the target language market, institutions and readers etc, Cyril Birch’s English translation of The Peony Pavilion, the most typical one, has graduallyintegrated into the Anglo-American education system of Chinese language and literature,changing finally the construct of Chinese drama repertoire in the target language, andfulfilling the canonization by entering into the anthology of Chinese literature and historyof Chinese literature which are frequently read by college students. Its canonization, inturn, not only propels the further dissemination of The Peony Pavilion and literarycreation in Aglo-American system, but also exerts a continous influence upon the futuretranslation and circulation mode of this drama.The second textual production model is actually a kind of “planning” or“interference”, started by the need of cultural construction in the source language, ofcultural repertoire in the target language system. After the combination of individual’sendeavors with the government’s will in two ways, under the direct and indirect influenceof political and cultural demands of Chinese government, Chinese domestic translatorshas also completed the translation and dissemination of The Peony Pavilion in the modeof selective translation, editing translation, and full-translation. The translation normshave similarly shifted from target-language-oriented acceptability tosource-language-oriented adequacy, and stopped at translator-oriented norms mainlyconstrained by the source language system, which are actually employed to fulfillscholars’ translating ideas---“vivid in description and faithful in meaning” and “the art ofbeautification and creative competition” etc. In the earlier translation stage of The PeonyPavilion, Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang takes the target reader into consideration andsimplifies the original drama’s content, form, literary images and some peculiar Chineseexpressions such as puns and idioms with few notes. When translating intoned verses andarias, they are not confined by the rhymes and forms, but resorts to free verse for theexpression of the meaning. In1990s when Zhang Guangqian retranslates The PeonyPavilion, he delivers great respect to the cultural meaning of the drama with adequatenotes, and even tries to retain the intoned verses and arias’ rhythms, prosody and theline-dividing way by blank verse. While in the translations of Wang Rongpei, XuYuanchong and Xu Ming published in the2000s, translators pay more attentions to theoriginal drama’s poetic forms according to their own translation ideas, which areenthusiastically embodied by the recreation of intoned verses and arias’ charms of soundand forms. But this kind of pursuit is achieved at the sacrifices of semantic meanings andcultural images with the translation method of abstraction, generalization and omission.Further more, there is not any English note in the long and heavy translation of55partsto explain the historical and cultural items concerned. This is, in fact, a type of culturalcleansing and filtration, forming a sharp contrast to the prevalent translation norms ofThe Peony Pavilion in Anglo-American cultural system. When these versions enter into the Anglo-American cultural systems with the patronage of Chinese government, they aretreated indifferently by the target language readers both in the channels of distribution,reception and symbolic production. Cyril Birch’s translation, the typical one produced bythe Anglo-American cultural system, still occupies the dominant position in thepolysystem of translated Chinese literature, whereas translations produced by domesticChinese scholars are trapped helplessly in the state of marginalizationThe sharp contrast between “canonization” and “marginalization” depicts the failureof the translation model of The Peony Pavilion under the patronage of ChineseGovernment. The main reasons are the initiators and organizers’ inadequate cognition ofthe true nature of literature translation and dissemination, and the current translation andreception situation of The Peony Pavilion in the Anglo-American cultural system, theunreasonable translation strategies of the domestic Chinese scholars, and dislocatedaudience of the target language system. For the benefits of translation anddissemination of Chinese classical drama and other translation projects related to ChineseLiterature “Going-out” at present, it is suggested that an impartial concept of literaturetranslation and dissemination should be established before the initiation of certaintranslation project; adequate advice and suggestion before translation planning should becollected from the English readers, especially the professionals represented by sinologistsso as to get a clear idea about “what to translate” and “for whom to translate”. As for theissue “who to translate”, the case of The Peony Pavilion proves again that it isinadvisable to rely solely on domestic Chinese translators. Full plays are stronglysuggested to give to sinologists and ethnic Chinese scholars living abroad, andSino-foreign cooperation is the effective way for Chinese literature “Going-out”. On thequestion of “how to translate”, translators are recommended to research carefully aboutthe translation and reception situation of certain work before actual translating, and totranscend the dichotomy of naturalization and foreignization in the process of translatingChinese literature into Anglo-American cultural systems, which will be followed bysome flexible and practical methods such as selective translation, editing translation andfull translation etc. to meet the needs of intended audience in the target language system.Of course, to facilitate Chinese literature “Going-out”, measures in the circulationchannels are also needed, for instance, broadening the old circulation channels andexploring new ones, the strict implementation of “localization Strategy” in the productionand promotion process etc.