Translation Of Li Qingzhao’s Ci Poems From The Perspective Of Three-beauty Principle

Li Qingzhao, as one of the famous ci poetesses in Song Dynasty, has long beenesteemed and highly praised for her gentle and restrained ci poems with thedistinctive features of the characteristically elegant wording, refreshed language andabundant cultural connotations. She has seized widespread attention of scholars bothat home and abroad since1920s and related translation studies have been expandingin scope and width, with a series of research findings keeping coming out. It shouldbe pointed out, however, that different scholars varied a lot in translation approachesand proposed their own translation versions with varying foci. How to reproduce thetypical features, to the greatest extent, of Li’s ci poems thus remains a heated topic inthe research fields.The Three-Beauty Principle (i.e., the preservation of original beauty in sense, insound and in form) put forward by Xu Yuanchong, a famous translator, is a furtherthought about poetry translation on the basis of Three-Beauty Principle by Lu Xun. Itstipulates that all the three aspects must be taken into consideration and should bereproduced as much as possible. If, however, such goals cannot be satisfied at thesame time, then the reproduction of sense should come as the top priority, followed bythe reproduction of sound, with the reproduction of form as the last.This thesis is therefore designed to probe into the feasibility and applicability ofXu’s Three-Beauty Principle in translating Li Qingzhao’s ci poems, and further toshow the significance of Xu Yuanchong’s translations through the detailed analysis ofhow Xu managed to reproduce Li’s ci poems in sense, in sound and in form as well ascomprehensive comparisons and contrasts between Xu’s versions and those of otherscholars from different backgrounds.