Culture Facsimile In Translation Of Classics

Ancient classics are the overall and condensed reflection of Chinese philosophic idea and the essential of Chinese traditional culture. These classics influence China and countries all over the world in the fields of economy, philosophy, religion, literature and art in the past two thousand years. Translation is a significant tool of cultural transmission and insistently introduces and translates excellent Chinese classics. With the prosperity of cultural translation throughout the world, the translation of ancient classics will take more eyes on Chinese culture and Chinese translation. On the basis of the comprehensive revision of the home and abroad theories and approaches on translation of culture, the paper selects Tao Te Ching to be the representative of traditional classics and explores the significance and tactics of cultural facsimile in classic translation.Chapter one is the introduction. This part discusses the mutual relation between culture and translation, the necessity and significance of classic translation and the purpose of this paper.Chapter two reviews the opinions and theories on cultural translation from western and Chinese translators. This chapter analyzes difficulties and obstructions in classic translation with Tao Te Ching as the background material and explores strategy and tactics for cultural facsimile.Chapter three makes an introduction on Lao Zi and his work Tao Te Ching and briefly summarizes the English versions by Arthur Waley, Xu Yuanchong and Gu Zhengkun. This part makes an exhaustive study of cultural preservation in aspects of style, semantics and cultural taste by thoroughly comparing and studying the versions. In addition, this part expounds the philosophic connotation of Tao Te Ching due to its philosophic and literary character.Chapter four is the conclusion of the paper. It summarizes the whole research and gives an approval to the contribution of classic translation to world-wide cultural exchange and transmission. Some suggestion for translation practitioners are mentioned at the end of the paper.