| Translation of foreign drama 1919-1937 played an active role in the development of modern Chinese drama, or Huaju. Translated dramas have exerted great influence on the choice of subject matter, ideological orientation and artistic techniques by Chinese playwrights. The study on drama translation 1919-1937 is significant not only to research on drama translation but also to the future development of Huaju. At present, however, the study on the drama translation activity of this period only occupies a marginalized position.Following a target text/target culture oriented descriptive approach, the thesis takes "drama translation for the Chinese stage 1919-1937: selection of texts and choice of translation strategies" as its major theme, and the Polysystem theory concerning "norm" and "rewriting and manipulation" as its theoretical framework. The author believes that decision-makings in drama translation for the stage, like in other translations, are dominated by the invisible forces of target culture and society, and argues that the target environment of 1919-1937 has exercised great impact on translation of foreign drama for the stage regarding the selection of texts and the choice of translation strategies in the process.During the period 1919-1937, drama translation in China was at its peak. About 379 foreign dramas were translated and published in book form. The translated works fall into four academic schools, namely European classics, romanticism, realism and modernism. Two groups of translators participated in the drama translation activity of this period. They differed in their educational and professional background. Influential troupes include Chinese Traveling Troupe, Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association, and Shanghai Amateur Experimental Troupe. These troupes, together with others, put some translated dramas successfully to the stage.By analyzing the translated dramas, the author finds that there are some invisible factors underlying the selection of texts by the stage as well as the choice of translation strategies.Foreign dramas were translated for two purposes: literary reading and stage performance. The choice of texts for literary reading is actually a reflection of the social, political and cultural needs of the time. However, the selection of dramatic texts for the stage followed a different route, one that was less affected by the political discourse of the society but more of a reflection of the needs of the theatrical system. In the selection of foreign dramatic texts, the stage took into consideration such factors as the entertaining value and dramatic technique. Theatrical practitioners' pursuit of art, the needs and social groups of target audience as well as the government censorship of the time all contributed to the forming of such tendency.Adaptation was the primary strategy in the translation of dramatic texts for the stage 1919-1937. The translation of almost all popular foreign plays employed the strategy of adaptation. Through an investigation of Hong Shen's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, and Zhu Duanjun's adaptation of Hubert Henry Davis's The Mollusc, the author proves that the choice of translation strategies is mainly governed by three forces of the period: ideology and social condition, requirements of the stage, and target audience's expectation. The omissions, additions, modifications and localizations involved in the adaptations reflect voices from the theatrical system as well as from the surrounding social, cultural and linguistic systems.Compared with other genres of translation, drama translation for the stage is perhaps a better mirror of its time and circumstance. Sirkku Aaltonen (2002) sees drama translation in the metaphor of an iceberg. While the tip of the iceberg is visible consisting of dramatic texts and their translations, the bigger underwater block lies hidden from the view, awaiting findings that might help us to understand and explain the tip.
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