A Comparative Study On English Translation Of Shijing From An Aesthetic Perspective

Along with the development of society and progress of civilization, the intercultural communication is becoming particularly important nowadays. As an essential part of Chinese cultural classics, it is inevitable that Shijing and its translation have attracted wide attentions around the world, especially in the field of translation studies. Shijing, as the first comprehensive anthology of Chinese poetry, represents the tradition of Chinese poems and occupies an indispensable position in ancient Chinese poetry. The techniques of expression in Shijing have a tremendous impact on the literary genres and language forms of the later Chinese literature and become a typical model to follow. The translation of Shijing began in a very early period. That is to say, the history of its translation is also the communication history of human culture. Thus, for translators and researchers, the study on the translation of Shijing has its inestimable values.In the present paper, based on the dialectical unity of aesthetic subject and object in the contemporary translation aesthetic theory of Liu Miqing, the thesis makes a comparative study on the two different versions of Shijing of Legge and Xu Yuanchong. From his aesthetic perspectives of translation, the aesthetic subject and object are two concepts which cannot be separated and have limiting conditions of their own. Through the interaction of aesthetic subject and object, translation activities can be really completed. Liu Miqing’views of translation aesthetics combines the essence of translation theories in east and west and have his own unique theoretical system. Therefore, As far as the research on the analysis of language art in Shijing is concerned, his views precisely provide the most appropriate perspective. There is no denying that it is significant and logical to explore the translation study of Shijing for the author taking his views as the theoretical basis.Viewed from the two related concepts of aesthetic subject and object, the author explores the differences in two versions of Shijing of Legge and Xu Yuanchong through the comparative study on translators and translated texts. The arising of differences in versions is that due to different cultural backgrounds, feelings and thoughts, and translation purposes, translators choose different translation strategies. According to the essential part of Liu Miqing’s translation aesthetic points of view, on one hand, the author takes the comparison of main factors carried in two translators as the aesthetic subject into consideration; on the other hand, the differences in dealing with the beauty of original text in Shijing is conducted from two aspects of aesthetic object including formal and non-formal constituents by presenting many specific examples.Through the detailed comparison between the versions of Legge and Xu Yuanchong, the research reveals that generally both of two versions well convey the beauty of the original text of Shijing, achieve translation purposes of translators and completed the combination of aesthetic subject and object in translation activities. And then, the author thinks that the version of Proffesor Xu succeeds in reproducing the beauty of Shijing. Admittedly, every translated version has its own merits and demerits. Thus, the versions of the two translators all have some room for improvement. The thesis makes a tentative creation of the translation study of Shijing and attempt to make contributions to it from a fresh insight. The author hopes that the thesis can attract academic emphasis on the translation study of Shijing and scholars give more supports and attentions to it.