| Huainanzi,elaborately compiled by the king of Huainan,Liu An in the Western Han Dynasty,together with many of his followers adopting the essence of Pre-Qin classics,explores the principles of the universe,explains the truth of the society and demonstrates the emperor's Dao.It became a representative work of Daoist thoughts in the Han Dynasty because of its purport close to Laozi.Huainanzi,not only providing advice for the rule of the central government,but also defending independence of the vassal states,has the ideas which are not in accordance with the general trend of the feudal despotism,so it is ignored and laid aside directly owning to Emperor Wudi's policy “to abandon all schools of thoughts and adhere to the only overwhelming Confucianism” shortly after its birth.Then,the Pre-Qin classics together with their thoughts have been disseminated widely and accumulated into the essence of the traditional Chinese thoughts and cultures.However,Huainanzi together with its thoughts has encountered the doom before it could be disseminated,so it is harder to pass down at home and is later to translate to foreign countries.As for the translation and introduction of Huainanzi in the English-speaking countries,it is not until 2010 that the first complete English version of Huainanzi was born.To be precise,the first one in China is Huai Nan Zi,co-translated by Chinese Scholars Zhai Jiangyue and Mou Aipeng,while the first one in foreign countries is The Huainanzi,co-translated by American scholars John Major,Harold Roth,Sarah Queen and Andrew Meyer.Huai Nan Zi and The Huainanzi,published in the same year,respectively have their own translators from the two different camps of Chinese scholars or foreign sinologists,so there exist differences in many aspects,especially in terms of paratexts.Based on the thick translation theory advocated by Appiah and the paratext theory advocated by Genette,the paratexts of the two translations can be discussed from the four aspects including bindings,prefaces,annotations and appendices.In terms of the bindings,Zhai's translation Huai Nan Zi,adopting the unified design of the “Library of Chinese Classics”,has the Hukou waterfall of the Yellow River as its front and back covers' background,bold and flowing,which is a metaphor for the initiative and enthusiasm of the Chinese people to disseminate the cultural classics proudly.Accordingly,Major's translation The Huainanzi,following the classical idea to design the book covers in light of the three-section-horizontal model,integrates the cultural elements and symbols of the East and especially the Han Dynasty on its front and back covers,which reflects the strong historical atmosphere of the ancient Chinese society.In terms of the prefaces,Zhai's translation Huai Nan Zi only includes the general “preface” to the “Library of Chinese Classics” and the “introduction” to the translation.With a total of 12,721 words,the preface of Huai Nan Zi is relatively short,but its content is permeated with high enthusiasm for the translation and introduction of Chinese classics and culture.Correspondingly,Major's translation The Huainanzi includes “acknowledgments” and “introduction” to the version,and “introduction” to each chapter.With a total of 79,044 words,the preface of The Huainanzi is relatively long,and its content explains the relevant historical and cultural context in details.In terms of the annotations,Zhai's translation Huai Nan Zi has only 581 items or 4,053 words of annotations in the form of parenthetical references.These annotations,about seven words per item,are concise and clear,and so convenient for readers to quickly acquire relevant social,historical and cultural knowledge,reflecting Chinese enthusiasm to inherit,popularize,translate and introduce their classics.Accordingly,Major's translation The Huainanzi has as many as 1,885 items,or 55,712 words of annotations in the form of footnotes.These annotations,about 30 words per item,are abundant and practical,and so convenient for readers to fully construct more social,historical and cultural contexts,reflecting the academic foundation for the translation,research and interpretation of Chinese classics.In terms of the annotation category,among the 581 annotations of Huai Nan Zi,there are 55 items on the Chinese language and culture interpretation,514 items on the proper nouns,11 items on the background information,1 item on the translation correction,and no items on the within-the-text intertextuality,nor on the outside-the-text intertextuality.On the whole,their total number is relatively small and their distribution is relatively uneven,focusing mainly on the categories of the Chinese language and culture interpretation and the proper nouns,so as to quickly provide the concise information needed by the intended readers.Accordingly,among the 1,885 annotations of The Huainanzi,there are 165 items on the Chinese language and culture interpretation,847 items on the proper nouns,113 items on the background information,182 items on the within-the-text intertextuality,274 items on the outside-the-text intertextuality and 274 items on the translation correction.Overall,these various annotations are rich and informative,both providing necessary information and explaining enough contexts.In terms of the appendices,they generally refer to all the words and charts attached to the translation text,relevant but relatively independent.By investigating the two versions' appendices,Zhai's translation Huai Nan Zi is found to be equipped with no appendices for readers' application or even for cultural communication at all.In contrast,Major' The Huainanzi contains appendices A,B,C,and index,totaling 55,188 words or 116 pages.Appendix A is entitled “Key Chinese Terms and Their Translations”,together with an attachment “English-Language Finding List for Chinese Terms”.Appendix B “Categorical Terms”,actually contains the five categories of terms concerning “Astronomical Terms”,“Calendar Terms”,“Correlative Cosmological Terms”,“Musical and Mathematical Harmonics” and “Weights and Measures”,with nine diagrams of the related subclass terminology systems scattered among them.Appendix C “A Concise Textual History of the Huainanzi and a Bibliography of Huainanzi Studies”,firstly summarizes the history of Huainanzi inheritance after its birth,then focuses on some representative versions,and finally provides a comprehensive bibliography consisting of different subdivisions about Huainanzi studies.The index is conventionally placed after the appendices and its entries are arranged in alphabetical order,adding up to thirty-four pages.In fact,only a few academic works of China are equipped with appendices and especially indexes,but Major's The Huainanzi has such detailed and long appendices and an index,which is really worth the attention and learning of domestic scholars.To sum up,Zhai's translation Huai Nan Zi and Major's translation The Huainanzi have their own characteristics in paratexts.Comparatively speaking,the former,translated by domestic scholars and planned by a domestic publishing house,is suitable for domestic readers who are familiar with the ancient Chinese social,historical and cultural background,while the latter,translated by foreign sinologists and planned by a foreign publishing house,is suitable for foreign readers who have little knowledge about the ancient Chinese social,historical and cultural background.In the light of our original intention to promote Chinese culture “going out” and enhance China's soft power by translating and introducing Chinese classics,we should unswervingly learn from sinologists and their translated classics in terms of paratexts and provide prospective foreign readers with enough social,historical and cultural contexts by equipping the classics' translations with complete types,moderate length and appropriate contents of paratexts,so as to promote foreign readers' reading and Chinese culture' developing. |
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