The Aesthetic Reproduction Of Zui Weng Ting Ji From Xu Yuanchong’s Three Beauties Principle

Translation is a special art. While translating, the translator must express the content, artistic conception, image, rhythm and writing style of the original text in another language and enable the target reader to enjoy the beauty of the original.Three Beauties Principle was proposed by the famous Chinese translator Xu Yuanchong and was regarded as the standard for poetry translation, especially for Chinese classical poetry translation.Prose is a genre most close to poetry. Prose and poetry are not mutually exclusive and incompatible like water and fire; instead, they can be combined together. There are some characteristics of poetry in prose and some expressions of prose in poetry.Chinese classical prose, as Chinese classical poetry, is characterized by its beautiful language, concise expression, abundant literary grace and profound artistic conception. So the translation of Chinese classical prose can not merely be faithful and equal to the original text, but more important to reproduce the beauty in the target language.This thesis, adopting the comparison method and case analysis methods, analyzes Zui Weng Ting ji written by the famous essayist Ou-Yang Xiu and its English versions (mainly the three English versions translated by Yang Xianyi&Gladys Yang, Liu Shiushun and Giles respectively), in the framework of Xu Yuanchong’s Three Beauties Principle. First, the thesis reviews the aesthetic development in both China and the West, the especial emphasis on the great achievement of Chinese aesthetic translation history—Xu Yuanchong’s Three Beauties Principle. Then, it analyzes the three beauties of the original text and the reproduction of these three beauties in the translations in a systematic and detailed way. From that way the thesis has drawn the conclusion that the beauties of the Chinese classical prose can be reproduced in the translations and Three Beauties Principle can not only be severed as the translation criteria for Chinese classical poetry, but can also be served as the translation criteria for Chinese Classical prose as well. By using the poetry translation theory of Three Beauties Principle to analyze the prose, the thesis gives some enlightenment for the translator and scholars:to use the translation theory of one particular genre to analyze other genres, and promote the exploration and practice of translation theory.