English Translation Of Shang Han Lun By N. Wiseman In Light Of Reception Aesthetics

Shang Han Lun(On Cold Damage), one of the four greatest Chinese medicineclassics, was compiled in the third century by Zhang Zhongjing, Sage of Chinesemedicine living in the Eastern Han Dynasty. This oldest surviving canonicalmasterpiece, a game changer in the history of Chinese medicine, pioneered anintegration of medical theory and clinical practice, spawned new definingcharacteristics and prepared future branches.To date, the Westward transmission of Shang Han Lun with a span of thirty-oneyears has resulted in seven renditions. Among them, the translated text by NigelWiseman has been a sensational hit in the Western readership. However, domesticscholars have misinterpretations of this rendition and Wiseman’s “source-orientedapproach”, leading to heated debates. In addition, Wiseman himself has mainlytargeted English translation of Chinese medicine terms and thus left a blank space forthe systematical study of reception, choice of the source text and the translator, ananalysis of readers, specific translation methods.The adoption of a reception aesthetic perspective in this thesis is inspired by thejoint juncture of Reception Aesthetics and Wiseman’s translation philosophy, namelya focus on the reader’s active role and expectations. For one thing, this thesis justifiedthe strong explanatory power of Reception Aesthetics in analyzing the rendition byNigel Wiseman. For another, equipped with such major concepts as “aestheticdistance”, “fusion of horizons”, “the reader’s horizon of expectations”, “consideratetreason”, “response-inviting structure”, and “the implied reader”, this thesissystematically scrutinized five factors of the translation by Wiseman, ranging from itsreception, choice of the source text and the translator, analysis of the reader to choiceof translation methods. Therefore, the thesis summarized codes of success in ShangHan Lun: On Cold Damage Translation and Commentaries by Wiseman in the hopeof offering a brand new angle to translators in this field.Since it is hard to evaluate the reception of a translated text in the readership, inorder to guarantee a pervasive reception of a translated text, this thesis maintains thatthe translator had better apply the reader-centered theory of Reception Aesthetics intranslation practice in the following ways: first of all, “aesthetic distance” is apractical yardstick for choosing a source text; second, the capacity for “fusion ofhorizons” and “considerate treason” is a solid benchmark for a translator to pursueself-enhancement; third, “the implied reader” and “the reader’s horizon ofexpectations” are a feasible key for the translator to approach readers; fourth, threetargets serve as decisive standards in selecting a proper translation method,respectively building “the response-inviting structure”, complying with “the impliedreader”, and maximizing the fusion of horizons.