On Manipulation In China's Children Literature Translation Since 1949

New blood has been brought into translation studies due to the "cultural turn" initiated by Andre Lefevere and Susan Bassnett. Translation studies gradually escaped from the traditional study patterns which focused on the text analysis and language transformation and shifted to examine translation in a larger context by probing into its connection with ideology, poetics and patronage. Manipulation theory, put forward by Andre Lefevere in his book called Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame, describes that ideology, poetics and patronage manipulate the choice of original texts and the selection of translation strategies in the process of translating.These years, children have received deserved attention in China due to the rise in status, leading the fact that children literature has gained great development both in practice and theory. On the other hand, despite the mass translation of foreign children literature, studies on children literature translation still draw little attention. So in view of this situation and out of partiality for children literature, the writer decided to take children literature translation as the main study subject. After reading many papers on children literature translation, the writer found there was still a blank in the study on children literature translation in China after 1949. So the research is narrowed down to children literature translation in China after 1949. By observing the translation" activities in this whole period, the writer tries to find out different characteristics of translation and wonders what or who causes these differences.Manipulation theory offers a theoretical background to this paper. Applying this theory into the research of children literature translation, this paper makes a research on how ideology, poetics and patronage manipulate children literature translation through the analysis of the two children literature translation climaxes in China after 1949-the first climax occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, which was characterized by the mass translation and introduction of Soviet children literature, and the second happened in New Era(after 1978) during which the focus of translation activities has been shifted to literature works from European and American countries. The research is unfolded from two main aspects:manipulation in the choice of source texts and manipulation in the selection of translation strategies. Descriptive and comparative research methods are going to be used in this thesis with the purpose of making the research more objective.Finally, the writer draws the conclusion that Lefevere's manipulation theory has a strong explanatory power for children literature translation. In analyzing the distinct differences between the two children literature translation climaxes in China, it is impossible to reach a reasonable conclusion by text analysis from the linguistic perspective. Only when children literature translation is placed into a larger context, and the influence of external elements such as ideology, poetics and patronage is taken into consideration, can some translation phenomena get reasonable explanations.