Translation Of The Fighting Arts In Jin Yong's Wuxia Fiction

Originated in the Qin Dynasty, Chinese wuxia fiction boasts a great history and a large readership ranging from the bottom of the society to the very top. Although the Western world has been greatly interested in Chinese-fighting-art-themed works since their introduction in the 1960s, the translation of wuxia fiction into English officially started in the 1990s. To translators, their first choice is the novels of Jin Yong, the most successful writer of the genre, with a long established fame in Asia. However, only three novels of Jin Yong were published in English, which makes significant the study on the translation of wuxia fiction into English.This thesis holds that the spectacular fighting arts pose a great obstacle to translation activities. Therefore, translation of the fighting arts in Jin Yong's wuxia novels is made the topic of this thesis, aiming to facilitate later translation of all the wuxia works of Jin Yong and also other authors and then to contribute to the development of translation theories.The fighting arts in Jin Yong's wuxia novels are discussed here on three levels:fighting styles, fighting moves, and fighting theories. The whole system of fighting is steeped in Chinese culture, including literature, history, philosophies, religions and medicine. The cultural connotations within the fighting arts require special attention during the translating process, and also given the technicality nature of the fighting arts, this thesis puts forward four translation principles:accuracy, acceptability, similarity, and nationality. The translation of the fighting arts in Jin Yong's wuxia fiction thus should adopt different techniques under principles responding to characteristics of each fighting level. Fighting styles should be translated through transliteration, literal translation, transliteration and literal translation, and retranslation; fighting moves, through literal translation and omission; fighting theories, through transliteration, literal translation, amplification and free translation.The structure of this thesis is as follows:the Introduction part includes the influences of wuxia fiction at home and abroad, and the current status of wuxia translation; Chapter I provides some background information about wuxia, Jin Yong and his wuxia fiction; ChapterⅡtries to give a general idea of the fighting arts in Jin Yong's novels; ChapterⅢelaborates on the cultural connotations of Jin Yong's fighting arts; ChapterⅣdiscusses the translation principles and techniques of those fighting arts based on ChapterⅡandⅢ; the Conclusion part contains the thesis' significance and restrictions, and some suggestions for later research.