A Study On Dong Leshan’s Chinese Version Of Red Star Over China From The Perspective Of Toury’s Translation Norms Theory

As one of the most important representatives of translation norm theory, GideonToury has developed and perfected Descriptive Translation Studies which furtherpropels the “cultural turn” in the field of translation studies. Meanwhile, Toury hasput forth the theory of translation norms which fall into three categories: preliminarynorms, initial norms and operational norms. From the selection of the source text tothe translator’s inclination of translation strategies before translation, then to thetranslation skills adopted in actual translation process, the translator has beenconstrained and influenced by social-cultural factors and norms.Red Star over China is the great monument of American journalist Edgar Snow.This book not only offers a factual account of the real situation of China and the RedRegion in China but also vividly describes the life style and beliefs of Chinese RedArmy leaders and common unknown people. Furthermore, the circulation of thiswork helped the Communist Party of China win extensive support from people athome and abroad. Its translation and popularity have gone through several differentperiods in China, which has drawn many scholars’ attention to study this book fromdifferent perspectives. Among all the different editions of its Chinese versions, DongLeshan’s Chinese version is the most popular one.This thesis introduces the existing achievements obtained in the study of Chinesetranslation of Red Star over China and tries to explore the translation norms behindDong Leshan’s Chinese translation of this work under the guidance of Toury’sTranslation Norm Theory. This thesis aims to find out what kinds of elements in thesource norm-system and target norm-system exert influences on the translator duringthe translation process and how these translation norms affect the translator’stranslation process. In addition, this thesis also aims to provide a new angle for thestudy of translation of Red Star over China in China.With a comparatively overall analysis of Dong Leshan’s Chinese translation ofRed Star over China, the following conclusions are educed: From the point of preliminary norms, it is concluded that the political situationand reader’s expectation at that particular time as well as the translator’s individualfactors, even the genre of the translated work determine the selection of the sourcetext.In terms of initial norm, the translator keeps a balance between adequacy andacceptability with the latter being the priority.In terms of the operational norms, the translator rearranges the source text whiletranslating for different purposes. And considering the special genre of Red Star overChina, the translator both flexibly makes choices of words during the translationprocess and literally translates the source text into Chinese according to the concretecontext.