Translation Thoughts And Features:A Study Of Hu Tse Ling'S Translation Of Lao Tsu Tao Teh Ching

As a treasure of Chinese culture,Tao Teh Ching has also brought enlightenment to the West in its course of translation.It is the most frequently translated Chinese classic work with its translated versions appeared in Europe as early as the 18 th century and the first English version in 19 th century.Among the immensely numerous English versions,Hu Tse-ling's version,acknowledged as the first English Version by a Chinese translator,has a vitally important position in the history of Tao Teh Ching translation.Contrary to its importance,little research has been done about this version due to problems like inaccessibility to Hu's translation.This is an urgent problem to be solved in Tao Teh Ching English translation studies.This research is the first systematic research of Hu Tse-ling's version of Tao Teh Ching.Through integrating historical literature research and textual reading method,this research takes Hu's version as the research object to enrich academic community's knowledge of Hu Tse-ling and his version.The translation paratext is carefully examined to unveil the translator's understanding of the relationship among The Book of Change and the philosophy of Taoism and Confucianism,the philosophy structure of Tao Teh Ching,and thought tendency behind his translation.Finally,after an overall understanding,the study analyzes translation features of Hu's version.To carry out a comprehensive study of Hu's translation of Tao Teh Ching,not only an examination of translation features is necessary,a study of thought tendency of him is also indispensible.Based on an overall study on the translation of this version and the paratext as well as life information of Hu Tse-ling,the research believes that the translation has been deeply influenced by the translator's philosophy thoughts.Hu Tse-ling is a thinker strongly concerned about the social problems of his time.He expresses his distinct political propositions of saving the country through propriety and physical training.In his propositions,he proposes a solution of the crisis in China and the World including the economic crisis,political disorder and ideology confusion with the traditional Chinese wisdom of Propriety.This solution stresses restraining desire,advocating simplicity and physical exercise to create a peaceful and prosperous world.In Hu's understanding,The Book of Change is the source of Chinese culture,from which both Confucianism and Taoism are derived.Consequently,in his translation and its rich paratexts,plenty of classic Confucian citations are applied to annotate Tao Teh Ching,including the “golden mean” to explain Lao Tse's “shou zhong” and citations from The Analects to explain “Wu-wei”.These are fine examples of Hu's style of explaining Taoist Thoughts with Confucian and combining the two schools of thoughts in his translation.In the translation,Hu Tse-ling modifies the original text of Tao Teh Ching in a large scope.About one-third of the original text is rearranged in this version to make the text more logical.In terms of translation strategy,this version is mainly based on foreignization and explicitation strategy.The translator,with great faith in traditional Chinese culture,chooses to translate the elements of distinct Chinese culture characteristics by Pinyin.Detailed illustrations of the hexagrams are also included in the paratexts,enabling English readers to have a direct grasp of the original features of the book.Explicitation strategy is employed when translating the omitted and ambiguous sentences of the original text,leading to much more clearly expressed meanings in the translation;however,such strategy narrows potential multitude interpretations at the same time.