A Comparative Study Of Cultural Reconstruction Between Two Chinese Versions Of Moment In Peking

In translation between Chinese and English, there exists a special phenomenon. When English literary works about "Chinese stories" are translated back into Chinese again, it has something to do with cultural reconstruction, or a kind of back-translation. Moment in Peking, one of Dr. Lin Yutang's representatives, is a typical example of such writings. Among the various Chinese versions, Mr. Zhang Zhenyu's and Mr. Yu Fei's translations have been enjoying greater popularity.This thesis is intended to probe how Lin Yutang deals with Chinese culture in Moment in Peking and the reconstruction issue in its two translated versions. Based on Peter Newmark's categorization of cultural elements, the author makes a detailed comparative study of the above two versions in terms of the same cultural category from the perspective of the translators' subjectivity. The author focuses on their differences and the important role the translator plays. Four major factors leading to two translators' inaccurate reconstruction in the TT are concluded as the translator's inadequacies of relevant cultural knowledge, neglect of the context, willful deletion of original information, and obscure language in the ST.The author hopes to cast light on improving the back-translation of cultural elements in this kind of special literary works, and build a more systematic model of assessing the translation of cultural elements of literary works in general.