A Study On Postcolonial Translation Theory’s Feasibility Over The Translation Of Traditional Chinese Classic Works: A Case Study Of Changhenge

Since postcolonial translation theory was introduced into China at the end oflast century, it has always attracted much attention from the scholars in translationfield. They try to apply postcolonial translation theory into the translation of Chineseliterature, and solve the question of how to promote Chinese culture to the west.Postcolonialism mainly discusses the political and cultural relationship betweenthe ex-colonized and the ex-colonizer in the colonial and postcolonial periods, it aimsat erasing the unequal relationship existing in various aspects and revealing the natureof culture hegemony of imperialism. This theory was first applied to the field oftranslation in1980s with postcolonial translation theory mainly putting its attentionon the cultural and power struggle hiding behind translating. It tries to resist andremove the lingering cultural hegemony in present world. Through its development,three major translation strategies get produced: Hybridity, Foreignization andCannibalism. Nowadays, China still belongs to the weak side during the exchange ofcultures between China and the western world. There are much more Chineseversions of English literature than the English versions of Chinese literature;meanwhile, Chinese elements in those few English versions are removed orassimilated greatly as well. Under such situation, there is no doubt that postcolonialtranslation theory would be a good guide for Chinese literature to be translated.However, the author of this thesis still believes that as the saying goes-"nothingwould be perfect", there must be some limitations existing in postcolonial translationtheory as well. Thus, it would be of great significance to make an unbiased check andcomment on the effect of postcolonial translation theory on Chinese literary works.With postcolonial translation theory as the outline and two English versions ofChanghenge as the case, this thesis would discuss the translation strategies that thetranslators adopt when translating from the weak culture to the strong culture, as wellas the difference between two translators, who stand for the weak culture and thestrong culture respectively, in the application of these translation strategies. The purpose is to make an exploration on the feasibility of postcolonial translation theoriesover the translation of traditional Chinese literature as well as to point out thattranslators from different cultures and different times would involuntarily tend toadopt different dictions, syntaxes and structures in their translations as a result of theinfluence and limitation from their cultural traditions and mainstream literary styles oftheir times.Through studying and discussing, the author gets a conclusion that inpostcolonial context, Xu Yuanchong fully applies the translation strategies offoreignization, hybridity and cannibalism; in contrast, Giles only adopts thetranslation strategy of foreignization to a small extent, and the major strategy headopts is still domestication, which results from his native identity as a westernerdespite of his vocational identity as a sinologist. Giles’ translation corrects some falseimages of China in westerners’ eyes, but most of his translation is still domesticatedas a result of his intention to make the translation more acceptable to the westernreaders as well as the influence of his culture and society. Generally speaking, judgingfrom Xu Yuanchong’s fully implication of postcolonial translation strategies andGiles’ vocational identity as a sinologist, postcolonial translation theory does have apositive guiding function and explanatory power over the translation of traditionalChinese literary works. But we also need to remember that it is unwise to overusepostcolonial translation theory indiscriminately, and we should adopt differenttranslation strategies beads on different situations. Only in this way can Chineseculture really steps into the world.