Research On Du Fu Poetry Translation History In UK

Du Fu poetry plays a very important role in the history of Chinese literature and it has gradually attracted the attention from the whole world.The English translation of Du Fu poetry has started in UK and had great influence on the whole translation history.This research will be carried out from the perspective of translation history and to observe its development in order to offer suggestions and solutions for more translation practice.The research is made up of five parts:Victorian Age witnessed the beginning of English translation of Du Fu poetry and it had great influence on the whole translation history of Du Fu poetry.It was the the Pioneering translation period.In this age,the three diplomats J.F.Davis,E.H.Parker and H.A.Giles were the main translators.The knowledgable J.F.Davis produced his translation mainly for the utilitarial purpose in which sense information and knowledge of China was expected to be found from the translation.His translation was characterized as literal foreignized metrical English verse.As a deligent researcher and translator,E.H.Parker had mainly chosen to translate warconcerned poems and the language he used is full of dialects and slangs.The poems were creatively and domestically translated into sort of metrical English verse.H.A.Giles produced the most of the translations of this period with a sense of academism which are more accurate and more decent.The Du Fu translation of Victorian Age was imerged in the Sinology and most of the translations have been done for useful information about China.And at that time English metrical poetry were still favored by English readers so most Du Fu poetry were translated into verses.What's more,Du Fu was a quite new name to British people so interesting legends or stories were chosen to please the readers instead of proper introduction to the poet and thus domesticating approach was mainly applied in the translations with paraphrase or creative translation methods.Nevertherless,this age has provided a lot of experience and basis for the future translation.The first half century of UK suffered from financial crises and the First World War so translators and researchers tried to seek insight from ancient and splended Chinese literature and spirits and the translation was characterized as exploring.A lot of Chinese classics were introduced especially the Poetry from the prosperous golden Tang Dynasty when Du Fu played a must and crucial role.The English poetry then gradually broke away from the strains of traditional rules and forms and developed into free verse.Thus the poets started to join the translators and they translated with the help of Sinologists or Chinese scholars in making prose translations with direct translation methods.What they wanted to achieve was real English poems that could attract the English readers with the art of and the spirit of Du Fu poetry.The problem arose with the translations concerning language problems and some new translation skill was even introduced as "Splitting Chinese Characters".The main translators of that time included Cranmer-Byng,Charles Budd,William Fletcher,and Robert Payne.The translations of Du Fu poetry was involved with professional research on the forms,rhythms,styles and contents of the poetry since then the Sinology has grown into a mature level in the second half century of 20th century.Although the Sinology was greatly influenced and challenged by American counterparts,the British Sinologists were still moving forward with translation and research of Du Fu poetry.China became an independent and stronger country after the Second World War and was more attractive to UK and British translators looked at Chinese literature from a fairer angle and produced a great many translations enthusiastically.The number of Du Fu poetry translated also soared to an unprecedented one.But at the same time some translators affected by the "Cold War Mentality" tried to find some faults in Chinese culture or politics through the translation of Du Fu poetry.And new translation combined with biography,calligraphy came into existence.The main translators included Sir Robert Kotewall,David Hawkes,A.R.Davis,and Arthur Cooper.With the development of American Sinology,the translation of Du Fu poetry was inevitably influenced by American Du Fu translation and research and was gradually emerged into English translation as a whole with the development of internet and communication.The Sinology center has shifted to USA with a great number of translators and researchers in the late 21th century.Two main versions of translation were worth reviewing in UK.Jonathan Waley had chosen to translate Du Fu poetry of the ten years war time and found his own translation skill of "cracking".Despite the traditional way of translating Du Fu poetry,BBC had launched a documentary titled"Du Fu:the Greatest Poet in China" produced by Michael Wood to the world in 2020 which indeed had greater influence than previous translations ever with the help of sound,pictures and emotions alongside the footsteps which Du Fu had ever left.The translations were partly chosen from British and American previous translations and some were newly made.The research team of the program were made up of influential scholars from US,UK and China.Documentary as a new media to translate Du Fu may become one of the important approaches in the future.Translation of Du Fu poetry has developed from few to many,from mere language translation to multi-media ones,difficult as it is,is becoming more and more promising.Different translations and acceptance individually or as a whole have been decided by the different background of Sinology,the experience of translators themselves,the Sino-UK relationship and the poetry development in UK itself,and all the interaction of these factors are mainly for this thesis is to deal with.The purpose is to find out the characters and laws of Du Fu poetry translation in UK and hope to offer experience and lessons for the future transmission of Du Fu poetry as well as other Chinese classic poetry.