Reproduction Of The Female Protagonist’s Characterization In The English Version Of Qingyi From The Angle Of Appraisal Theory

Qingyi, composed by Bi Feiyu, has been translated and published in many western countries, such as France(2003), Germany(2006), the UK(2007), Spain(2007), the USA(2009), and its French and English versions have respectively been translated and introduced to such nations as Turkey, Poland and Norway. On top of that, it became a finalist for the 2008 Independent Foreign Fiction inaugurated by British newspaper entitled The Independent. It is undeniable that the translation of Qingyi is a real success, in contrast to the unsatisfactory background of China cultural export in the recent past decades. The English version of Qingyi, co-translated by Howard Gold blatt and Sylvia Li-Chun Lin, is well accepted in the English speaking countries, and therefore it can serve as a successful example for the export of contemporary Chinese works of literature. Compared with the extraordinary success that English version has achieved, little attention has been drawn to the research sphere. Based on Martin’s Appraisal Theory, appraisal resources in Qingyi and its English version The Moon Opera are allocated to the databases for the purpose of analyzing the main female protagonist’s characterization.The findings of this research are presented as follows:(1) there are 135 entries attitude appraisal resources related to building the female protagonist’s image in Qingyi. Meanwhile, 141 items are selected accordingly in The Moon Opera.(2) Positive and negative appraisal resources in Qingyi are 44 and 91 items; at the same time, there are 42 positive appraisal resources and 99 negative appraisal resources in The Moon Opera, with much more negative appraisals than positive ones.(3) Occurrences of appraisal resources in the three subsystems of ATTITUDE are 35(AFFECT), 74(JUDGMENT), 26(APPRECIATION) respectively; accordingly there exists 35(AFFECT), 82(JUDGMENT) and 24(APPRECIATION) in The Moon Opera.(4) The first three kinds of appraisal resources that the writer preferred to apply are negative normality, negative happiness and positive tenacity, accounting for 34(25.1%), 18(13.3%) and 13(9.6%). Simultaneously, there are 37(26.2%), 19(13.5%) and 12(8.55%) negative normality, negative happiness and positive tenacity appraisal resources in The Moon Opera.The current study testifies that Appraisal Theory works beyond the clause, which has a strong explanatory power in analyzing characterization. A round character needs to be shaped by coaction of all factors in Appraisal Theory. What’s more, appraisal resources in the novel help to convey the writer’s attitude directly or indirectly, among which judgments appraisal resources are the most effective ones. Judging from the comparison between the appraisal resources in both Qingyi and The Moon Opera, the vivid image of the female protagonist in source text has been perfectly reproduced in its English version.It should be pointed out that evaluating the quality of translation by means of comparative study on the appraisal resources in Qingyi and The Moon Opera can provide a successful case for the study and comment on translation from the perspective of Appraisal Theory.