Case Analysis On Translation Of The Seventh Chapter Of Zhongguo Shenmei Wenhua Jianshi

China has adopted the state strategy of disseminating Chinese culture to the outsideworld for strengthening China’s cultural soft power. In carrying out the strategy,translation from Chinese into English (C-E translation) plays an important role. With along history, the traditional Chinese culture is profound and extensive, which constitutesan important component for the translating program in that regard. The traditionalChinese aesthetic culture makes a splendid part of traditional Chinese culture, and itsEnglish translation is of much significance to China’s cultural exchanges with othercultures. The scholarly book Zhongguo Shenmei Wenhua Jianshi (A Brief History ofChinese Aesthetic Culture) explains the most aesthetically valuable cultural resources ofall dynasties in Chinese history in an all round way with vivid illustrations, authenticdescriptions and detailed commentaries, aiming at summarizing its long and productivehistory. Up to now, there has been no English translation of the book published, andtherefore, its English translation and related analysis will be original.This project aims to explore the English translation of “‘Self-Transcendence’ in theTransition from Wei to Jin”, the seventh chapter of the Chinese book ZhongguoShenmei Wenhua Jianshi. The chapter introduces and analyzes the aesthetic culturalphenomena in the Wei and Jin period, involving “Indulging and Absurd Behavior andHonest and Frank Disposition”,“Full Aesthetic Display of the Subject’s Wisdom”, and“Appearance Adoration and Physical Beauty”. The text of the chapter, which ishumanistic and scholarly in an essay style, is abundant with quotations from wellknown works in Chinese history. In translating the chapter, strategically, the translatortries to render the Chinese text in a way retaining properly the value and belief system,theoretical form, frame of thought, and way of expression of the original text, andmeanwhile, making sure that the English version presents features of the Englishacademic prose so that it can be acceptable accurately to the English readership. On the basis of his translating experiences, the translator prepares his project report, involvingthe background and significance of the project, the process of translating, analysis ofrendering difficulties, the overall strategy of translating the text, etc. For the last part, hefocuses on how to apply parallel texts in rendering the Chinese text into English.The project sets up its collection of parallel texts, which is composed of three sortsof relevant parallel texts, including Chinese texts, translated English texts and Englishtexts, which are applied as aids in the translating process. Their application mainlyinvolves three aspects respectively: the first is its use for more accurately andthoroughly understanding the Chinese original text before translating; the second is itsuse for providing relevant translated versions and methods for reference; the third is itsuse as a means for detecting the style of the translated text and control of translationquality. Their application in such aspects proves that parallel texts can play acontributive role in constructing the translated text.