A Macro-perspective Into The Translation Of Taoism In Hongloumeng

In the 1970s, there appeared two complete English versions of the Chineseclassic Hongloumeng, namely, A Dream of Red Mansions translated by the Yangsand The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes and John Minford. Since then,scholars have been studying them in different perspectives, mainly concerningtextual analysis and generally concluding that the Yangs'version observes thenorm of adequacy while the version by Hawkes and Minford the norm ofacceptability.Based on the findings of other scholars, the author of this paper has studiedthe translation of Taoism in Hongloumeng from a macro perspective, that is, inthe light of Skopos theory and the translation theory of Cultural Studies. Thesetwo translation theories provide the author with exterior-textual factors forinterpreting the translators' different norms in rendering Taoism of Hongloumeng,namely, the internal factors referring to the translators' Skopos and the externalfactors including patronage, the status of the text and social, historical and culturalbackgrounds. This is what the author mainly analyses in chapter one. In chaptertwo and chapter three the author has made a comprehensive study on thetranslation of Taoism in Hogloumeng, including the culture-loaded expressions,the poems, couplets and allusions impacted by philosophical Taoism and thecustoms and folk beliefs related with religious Taoism. Furthermore, the authortraced their sources and interpretations in different cultural backgrounds.Consequently it is acknowledged that Hawkes and Minford cater to theacceptability of the western readers while the Yangs focus on the norm ofadequacy when confronting culture clashes between Taoism culture and westernculture. However, when encountering culture common core, Hawkes and Minfordmaintain a vision wide enough to translate Taoism in Hongloumeng as adequatelyas possible, particularly when they deal with some peculiar culture-loadedexpressions on Taoism sentiments which the Yangs render too sketchily due totheir limitations and the limitation of their times.