Xu Yuanchong's Three Aesthetic Principles And Reconstruction Of Chinese Poetic Classics In English Translation

As the pioneer in the translation of Chinese classical poetry into English andFrench rhymes, Xu Yuanchong has translated near upon 3000 Chinese classical poetryinto metrical English poetry during his translation career which covers more than 70years. Xu Yuanchong's unmatchable achievement in metrical English and Frenchtranslation of Chinese classical poetry is his great contribution to the interpretation andtransmission of Chinese classical poetry and helps promote culture exchange betweenChina and the Occidental.During his translation practice, Xu Yuanchong put forward and graduallycomplete the Three Aesthetic Principles which takes English translation of Chineseclassical poetry as main studying object and considers translation of Chinese classicalpoetry as recreation of artistic beauties. Three Aesthetic Principles refer topreservation of the original aesthetic features in sound, in sense and in form.Originated from traditional literary theories and aesthetics, Three Aesthetic Principleshave developed, enriched, completed and sublimated the traditional translationtheories. Three Aesthetic Principles have broken through the traditional translationprinciples which based on"faithfulness"and turned out to be a self-contained poetrytranslation theory.Xu Yuanchong's English translation of Chinese classical poetry has wonextensive recognition from scholars and readers from China and foreign countries.This thesis will mainly discuss how his Three Aesthetic Principles secure the successof his English translation of Chinese classical poetry and reconstruct classic status forhis translation works in English world. Through analysis on the sense reconstruction,sound reconstruction and form reconstruction in his English translation of Chineseclassical poetry, it is known that Xu Yuanchong tries every means to preserve threeaesthetic features of source texts in literary translation. While it is apparent that no hundred per cent of reconstruction of all these three features could be achieved inpoetry translation practice. Therefore, Xu Yuanchong preserves the aesthetic featuresin sound as much as possible on the assumption of expressing source text's meaning tothe greatest extent. On this basis, the preservation of aesthetic features in form has tobe taken into consideration so as to achieve wonderful translation works of poetry.Thanks to Three Aesthetic Principles, most of Xu Yuanchong's translation workshave turned to be classics in English world, and they have won extensive praise andadequate recognition from scholars, experts, media and common readers in China andabroad which strongly proved that his Three Aesthetic Principles'feasibility in Englishtranslation of Chinese classical poetry. It is observed that it is Xu Yuanchong's ThreeAesthetic Principles that helped him reconstruct the classical position of Chineseclassical poetry in English language and literary world.