"Huajing" Theory And The Study Of Literary Translation Process

Qian Zhongshu (November21,1910-December19,1998) was a Chinese literary scholarand writer whose erudition and scholarly achievements are practically unrivaled incontemporary China.Qian Zhongshu’s pursuit of scholarly research is characterized by the fusion of theancient and modern, the East and the West. He put the studies that belong to different fieldsand traditions together and brings them into mutual illumination. His thoughts in translationare, despite a touch of his erudition and achievements, profound and inspiring. Especially the“Huajing” theory, put forward in “Lin Shu’s translations”, is concise in words but rich inconnotations. He taps novel and crucial implications, out of Xu Shen’s expository remarks on“yi”(译), of “you”(诱),“e”(讹) and “hua”(化). Thus, Qian completes elucidations on thefunction, the inevitable shortcoming and the highest ideal of literary translation.“Huajing”theory, developing translation from aesthetic domain to artistic perfection, is of vitalsignificance in the translation theory system and has exerted a tremendous impact on thetranslation studies.As Qian disfavors the systematization of his own translation thinking, the “Huajing”theory is delivered implicitly and succinctly. Becoming attached to “Huajing” theory, thescholars have been trying to interpret and appraise it from various perspectives. In view of thefact that the theory is frequently quoted yet rarely clarified, one of the most important reasonsis the estrangement of different subjects, which inevitably results in a one-sided view. Atpresent, the main approach to the study of Qian’s “Huajing” theory is “interpreting QianZhongshu in his own words” and there are three major perspectives in this study, which areintroduction, interpretation of “Huajing” and the application of “Huajing” to translationcriticism. With different respective features, current studies have made few remarkablebreakthrough.The present thesis focuses on the “Huajing” theory put forward by Qian Zhongshu andattempts at a reinterpretation of the literary translation process in light of “Huajing” theory.The “Huajing” theory breaks through the limit of the past and present and connects the East and the West: it not only roots deeply into classical philosophy, aesthetics and translationstudies at home and abroad, but also possesses the presentness of the past; it carries the ownquality while blending harmoniously with others.“Huajing” theory reveals the nature oftranslation as follows: translation is the dialogue and communication between the translatorand the author by transcending the limit of time and space; and the literary translation is thatthe translator, in the context of intercultural historical environment, interprets literary text byfusion of horizons and then develops the process of aesthetic creation. Only by elaborating“Huajing” theory in the context of western and eastern theories can we have a betterunderstanding of its theoretical significance and modernness.