นฆฤถิตศสำฝวฯย ฑ฿ณว มฝำขา๋ฑพถิฑศัะพฟ

Abstract
Abstract
Functional equivalence, the core of Eugene A. Nidas translation theory, has exerted profound influence on translation studies at home and abroad. Regarded as one of the most effective criteria for people to evaluate different translated versions, functional equivalence theory advocates the closest natural equivalent of the source language message and pays special attention to receptors response rather than the language formFrom the perspective of functional equivalence, what concerns a translator most is whether the translated text can arouse a close equivalence of response between the target receptors and source receptors In this thesis, the theory of functional equivalence acts as a guidance to analyze and evaluate the two English versions of the classical Chinese novel Biancheng, to find out if equivalence is achieved under the different strategies adopted by the two translators, and to see which version can enable the target receptors to understand the original message adequately and accurately and can evoke a close equivalence of response between the source receptors and target receptors. The combination of functional equivalence with literary translation tries to expla in differences between and give an appropriate evaluation of the two English versions through the analytic and comparative study of numerous examples from both versionsThe author attempts to provide a new angle in appreciating and evaluating the translated versions of literature, reveal the feasibility of applying functional equivalence in literary translation, confirm the guiding role of Nidas functional equivalence in literary translation practice, and search out the most effective approaches to achieve the closest natural equivalence. This thesis is composed of six chaptersChapter one serves as an introduction to the whole thesis, and chapter two gives a brief review of theories on translation equivalence. After a concise discussion on Nidas functional equivalence theory in chapter three, there comes chapter four, a brief study of Shen Congwens Biancheng and its two English versions used. Then, in chapter five, the main part of the thesis, a detailed analysis is made by comparing a great number of examples to evaluates the translated versions in the aspects of image and scenery, culture- loaded expressions, and rhetoric devicesFinally, chapter six gives a brief summary of this thesis and draw a conclusion of the major findings Key words: Functional Equivalence Biancheng Literary Translation Comparative Study
Contents
Contents
Chapter I Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Significance of the Study ..................................................................................... 1 1.2 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Structure of the Thesis.......................................................................................... 2 Chapter II An Ove rvie w of Translation Equivalence Theory .................................... 5 2.1 General Introduction to Translation Equivalence ................................................ 5 2.2 Equivalence Studies in China............................................................................... 6 2.3 Equivalence Studies in the West .......................................................................... 7 2.3.1 Jakobson and the Concept of Equivalence in Difference ........................... 7 2.3.2 Catford and the Notion of Textual Equivalence......................................... 7 2.3.3 Bakers Approach to Translation Equivalence........................................... 8 2.3.4 Fedorovs Opinion on Equivalence............................................................ 8 2.3.5 Ching Tis Equivalent Effect Theory ......................................................... 9 Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory ............................................. 11 3.1 A Brief Introduction to Eugene A.Nida ............................................................. 11 3.2 Definition and Nature of Translation ................................................................. 12 3.3 Functional Equivalence ...................................................................................... 13 3.3.1 General introduction................................................................................. 13 3.3.2 Main Points of Functional Equivalence Theory....................................... 14 3.3.3 Different Levels of Equivalence .............................................................. 17 3.3.4 Principles for Achieving Functional Equivalence .................................... 18 3.3.5 Nidas Criteria in the Evaluation of Translations..................................... 20 3.3.6 Application of Functional Equivalence in Literary Translation............... 21 Chapter IV An Introduction to Biancheng and Its Two English Versions.............. 23 4.1 Shen Congwen and Biancheng........................................................................... 23 4.1.1 About the Writer Shen Congwen ............................................................. 23 4.1.2 Brief Introduction to Biancheng............................................................... 24 4.1.3 The Style of Biancheng ............................................................................ 25 4.2 The Two Translated Versions and their Translators .......................................... 26 4.2.1Bianchengs Translator-Ching Ti.............................................................. 26 4.2.2 Bianchengs Translator-Gladys Yang ...................................................... 27 4.2.3 Translation Skopos of the Two Versions ................................................. 28
A Comparative Study on the Two English Versions of Biancheng from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence Theory
Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English Versions of Biancheng...... 29 5.1 The Reproduction of Image and Scenery........................................................... 29 5.1.1 The Reproduction of Image ..................................................................... 29 5.1.2 The Reproduction of the Scenery Description ......................................... 35 5.2 The Rendering of Culture- loaded Words and Expressions................................ 40 5.2.1 The Translation of Material Culture......................................................... 41 5.2.2 The Translation of Social Culture ............................................................ 45 5.2.3 The Translation of Religious Culture ....................................................... 51 5.2.4 The Translation of Dialect........................................................................ 56 5.2.5 The Translation of Proverb ...................................................................... 58 5.2.6 The Translation of Idiom.......................................................................... 59 5.2.7 The Translation of Name ......................................................................... 60 5.3 The Treatment of Rhetoric Devices ................................................................... 62 5.3.1 The Treatment of Lexical Stylistic Device .............................................. 62 5.3.2 The Treatment of Syntactical Stylistic Devices ....................................... 68 Chapter VI Conclusion ................................................................................................. 71 Acknowledge ments ....................................................................................................... 73 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 75 Publications ................................................................................................................... 79
Chapter I Introduction
1.1 Significance of the Study
Literary works give people a popular and universal way of disseminating and exchanging culture. A literary work can present the characteristics of a nation in a historical period, reveal the world views and values of a people, and provide the readers with the information about the custom, geography, history and so on. Thus, literary translation correspondingly becomes an effective vehicle for culture communication. Classic literary works, as a vital part in Chinese cultural treasure house and the crystallization of Chinese literary art, has a time-honored history, and thus occupies a critical position in nowadays culture spreading. The Chinese novel Biancheng by Shen Congwen, a famous and representative writer of China, has been given high esteem both at home and abroad. It spread its popularity since its birth all around the world for its wonderful scenery description, gorgeous local color, and vivid representation of Chinese culture. The whole novel is rich in peculiar images and splendid scenery as well as abounds in many cultural, historical and linguistic specific expressions, such as dialects full of local flavor, songs with distinct rhyme, metaphors enjoying special associative meanings, allusions and idioms containing much cultural and historical message, which all represent vividly the incorporated Chinese cultural heritages. Just as the proverb goes, great works belong to the whole world. As a classic masterpiece of art, Biancheng attracts not only Chinese but also foreigners to read, enjoy and study. It has at least three English versions which take on distinctive features because they are greatly influenced by various factors. Among them, two most popular versions would be adopted here, The Border Town by Gladys Yang and The Frontier City by Ching Ti&Robert Payne. Mainly owing to the different orientations held by the translators, the two versions take on rather different semantic and rhetorical features, which will offer the target receptors quite different reading experience and impression. It seems that few people tend to study and evaluate the two versions in the light of functional equivalence theory. That is to say few people tend to carry on their comparison and analysis by studying whether the target receptors can adequately and accurately appreciate the corresponding message of the original text and the authors intention to write this great novel, or whether the two versions have achieved a close
equivalence of response between the source receptors and target receptors. Thus, under the guidance of functional equivalence theory, this paper tends to evaluate the two versions in various aspects, the translation of brilliant image depiction, outstanding scenery description, culturally- loaded expressions, and rhetorical devices like metaphors and parallelism to see which version has achieved greater degree of equivalence of the source text.
1.2 Methodology
To make the discussion more convenient and clear, this thesis is carried on with the method of comparative analysis in the theoretical framework of functional equivalence theory proposed by Eugene A. Nida. On the one hand, it will introduce equivalence theory and functional equivalence diachronically to shed some light on this prominent translating theory and the importance of readers response for translation. On the other hand, the thesis is a synchronic study in the sense of comparing two English versions of Biancheng to show how the equivalent effect resulted in different translations of the same text. Comparatively speaking, Yangs version tends to transmit culture mainly by the method of foreignization, while Ching&Paynes translation is reader-oriented chiefly in a domestication way. Such a comparison may show us how the purpose of the transition affects the strategies adopted in the transition.
1.3 Structure of the Thesis

One objective of this thesis is trying to find a tenable evidence based on tremendous examples to verify the usefulness of functional equivalence to direct the translation of Chinese novel Biancheng by Shen Congwen, thus prove the functional equivalence in Nidas translation theory is serviceable in the translation of literary novel.. The thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One, the introduction of the thesis, illustrates the significance of the present research, puts forth the study methodology, and gives a brief account of the intention and arrangement of the thesis. Chapter two briefly reviews the theories on translation equivalence, which serves as a background against which functional equivalence can stand out more clearly. Chapter three probes into the theory applied, i.e. Nidas functional equivalence
theory, to support further analysis. Feasibility of applying functional equivalence theory to instruct literary translation is reasoned as well. Chapter four functions as a literary review of this thesis, briefly introduce the excellent author Shen Congwen, the remarkab le classic novel Biancheng, and its two English versions by Gladys Yang and Ching Ti&Robert Payne respectively. Taking some typical sentences in the two English versions of Biancheng as example, chapter five, the core of this thesis, makes a detailed comparison of these two versions, which will show how the goal of translation affects the strategy the translator adopts to conduct the translation and what kind of effect will be achieved on readers part. The comparison will be made from three aspects: translation of images and scenery, the rendering of culture- loaded words and expressions and the treatment of rhetoric devices. The last part, chapter six draws a conclusion about the major findings of the study.
Chapter II An Overview of Translation Equivalence Theory

In order to guide, analyze and criticize such a complicated activity as translation, a lot of specialists in translating have elaborated numerous theories, which provide basis for rendering practice and evaluation and help to improve translation quality. Among them, translation equivalence has always been one of the key issues in modern translation theories, with various kinds of theories being put forward. In this thesis, the adopted translation theory is functional equivalence theory advanced by Eugine Nida. Before a detailed analysis of this theory later, much attention will be paid to an overview of equivalence theory. In this chapter, we will introduce some theories on translation equivalence which have been frequently referred to in translation theories.
2.1 General Introduction to Translation Equivalence

The term equivalence in translation first appeared in Firths writing when he stated that the so-called translation equivalents between two languages are never really equivalent. (Snell-Homby, 1988:37).With the development of linguistics and the study of translation, translation equivalence became the focus of study in linguistic-oriented western translation theories in the 1960s. As an important concept in translation, equivalence can be an important component of translation theories, a final objective of translation, or a criterion to assess the quality of the translations. Equivalence has long been the kernel issue in translation studies. For a long time, the definition of equivalence has puzzled many who are in and out of the field of translation because of the complexity of the translating activities. Equivalence has been defined and explained in various ways and to different degrees. Many scholars tried to dig into the equivalence in translation, but it seems extremely difficult to give a satisfactory answer as to what real equivalence is. Equivalence is one of the central issues in the theory of translation and yet one on which linguists seem to have agreed to disagree (Wilss, 2001:134).Scholars can not hold completely identical points of view on the definition of translation equivalence and on its value and role in translation theories and practice. Different translation scholars use the concept of equivalence in different senses. Some standpoints are even in an antagonistic relationship. Being aware of this, Baker(1993:236) declares that the question is no longer how equivalence might be achieved but, increasingly, what kind of equivalence
can be achieved, and in what contexts. Generally speaking, translation equivalence is a term used by many writers to describe the nature and the extent of the relationship which exist between SL and TL texts or smaller linguistic units (Shuttleworth&Cowie, 2004:49). Although its definitions within the field of translation have caused heated controversy, diverse theories of equivalence have their own shining points and contribute to enrich and develop translation theory. A lot of famous scholars have probed into equivalence theory with different approaches and have provided fruitful ideas for further study on this subject. Especially in recent years many theorists have engaged themselves in the studies of the equivalence theory in relation to the translation process, and have endeavored to interpret the concept of equivalence. They have approach equivalence from different angels and have all contributed to this area of research, with the focus being shifted from the linguistic approaches in the early stage to pragmatically or functionally oriented approaches in the later stage. It is certainly tedious and impossible here to go through all of the terms concerning equivalence, which have been used, developed or reinterpreted by numerous scholars. However, it is worthwhile mentioning some of the most influential equivalent translation theories. In this section, we attempt to introduce some famous ones so as to help readers get a general idea of the varied definition and development of equivalent translation.
2.2 Equivalence Studies in China

Early in the 7th century in China, the famous Buddhist monk Xuan Zang set up the criterion that translation must be both truthful and understandable to the populace (Ching Ti&Nida:1984). By such a formula, in a sense, he attempted to place emphasis on the equivalent response. Toward the 19th century, another noted translator Yan Fu put forward the triple criteria of faithfulness, intelligibility, and elegance. He further claims that Faithfulness without intelligibility is no translation at all. Though Yan Fu laid some emphasis on the receiver, he himself failed to put forth any explicit concepts of equivalence. After Yan Fu, equivalent effect of translation has been clearly explained by more scholars. Mao Dun, a renown Chinese writer and critic, stated that Literature translation is to put the artistic meaningful situation into another language so that receivers would get the same inspiration and aesthetic feeling as from the original (Luo Xinzhang,1984). In 1937, Qu Qiubai held that it is the actual meaning of the original
that should be correctly and completely translated to Chinese readers. The conceptual ideas received by Chinese readers should be equal to the ones which are received by the English, Russian, German or French receivers from their originals. Ching Ti pointed out that equivalence translation is more difficult than literal and free translation but it excels the two traditional translation approaches.
2.3 Equivalence Studies in the West

2.3.1 Jakobson and the Concept of Equivalence in Difference The greatest contribution that Roman Jakobson made to translation field is that he introduces the concept equivalence in difference and suggests three kinds of translation in the book On Linguistic Aspects of Translation (1959), which has given new impetus to the theoretical analysis of translation. Jakobson holds that there is no absolute equivalence between different signs and only through information can translators explain fully the external signs and messages. In his opinion, equivalence in difference is the cardinal problem of language and the pivotal concern of linguistics (Jakobson, 1959:234). It is said that Texts in different languages can be equivalent in different degrees (fully or partially equivalent), in respect of different levels of presentation (equivalent in respect of context, of semantics, of grammar, of lexis, etc.), and at different ranks (word- for-word, phrase-for-phrase, sentence- for-sentence). It can be concluded that Jakobsons theory is essentially based on his semiotic approach to translation according to which the translator has to recode the SL message first and then he/she has to transmit it into an equivalent message for the TL. 2.3.2 Catford and the Notion of Textual Equivalence J.C. Catford, a famous linguist and translator, is known for his concept of textual equivalence. He defines translation as the replacement of textual material in one language by equivalent textual material in another language(Catford, 1965:20).Then he proposes the distinction between formal correspondence and textual equivalence. In his opinion, formal equivalence exists between the SL and TL if relations between ranks (linguistic ranks such as word, phrase, sentence, etc) have approximately the same equivalents. Textual equivalence, however, occurs when any TL text or portion of a text is observed on a particular occasionto be the equivalent of a given SL text or portion of text (Catford, 1965:27). According to his point, the aim in total translation must be to select TL equivalent met with the same meaning as the SL item, but with the greatest
possible overlap or situational range (Catford, 1965:49). Thus, he concluded the conditions for translation as follows translation equivalence occurs when a SL text or item are relatable to (at least some of the same features of substance (Catford, 1965:50) 2.3.3 Bakers Approach to Translation Equivalence Baker is known to have offered a more detailed list of conditions upon which the concept of equivalence can be defined. She probes into the concept of equivalence at different levels concerning the translation process, including all varied aspects of translation, thus combine the linguistic and the communicative methods. Generally she distinguishes: (1) Lexical equivalence, which can appear at word level and above word level, when translating from one language into another. (2) Grammatical equivalence, when referring to the diversity of grammatical categories across languages. (3) Textual equivalence, when referring to the equivalence between a SL text and a TL text in terms of information and cohesion. (4) Pragmatic equivalence, when referring to implications and strategies of avoidance during the translation process. 2.3.4 Fedorovs Opinion on Equivalence A.V Fedorov, a Russian theorist of translation, is the first person to give a definite concept of equivalent translation. Fedorov holds that equivalence never requires the absolute adherence to the original text in language. That is to say equivalence does not mean the complete correspondence of word or sentence, but mean the equality of function. He proposes two common principles to guide all translators in their translation practices. Firstly, translation is a process in which the translator tries to transfer exactly all the information of the source language text to the readers who do not know the SL. Hence, fidelity to the ST is the most essential requirement. Secondly, translation is to exactly and completely express both content and form of the ST in the target language. Moreover, the translation must be natural and the language used must conform to the TL criteria, which means the language and the style of the target language text should be equivalent to those of the ST, and the TT must be acceptable to the TL receptor otherwise, the translation cannot be called a good one(,2004:124).His stress on the naturalness and acceptability of the translated text lays basic foundation for later development of the equivalent Translation theory and e xerts great influence on the
following translation study, especially on technical translation. 2.3.5 Ching Tis Equivalent Effect Theory Ching Ti further develops equivalence theory and puts forth his own equivalent effect theory on the basis of Nidas functional equivalence theory. According to his theory, the meaning of equivalent effect translation is that the effect of the TT to the target receptor should be basically equivalent to that of the ST to the source receptor (Ching Ti, 1998:24).He illustrates three terms, i.e. receptors, effect and equivalent effect, which are the essence of his theory. Here, receptors refer to the potential readers as a whole, not each individual; while effect represents the feeling of receptors which merely involves the impact on the receptor and is quite different from the response of the receptor defined in Nidas functional equivalence theory. Ching proposes that response includes reaction, while reaction will inevitably be influenced by other external and individual actors. Thus, it is unwise to regard the response of the receptor as what the target text seeks for. Though Chings definition of effect is a little different from that of Nidas, he agrees with Nida on the relativity of equivalence and the emphasis on the translation of the ST style. In his equivalent effect theory, equivalence also means achieving a kind of effect closest to the effect of the ST on the source receptor rather than full equivalence. Though the forms of the ST and TT may be a little or eve n totally different, the target receptor, like the source receptor, can smoothly get the same or roughly the same information from the TT, covering specific facts, main spirit, atmosphere and mood. Besides, in the article What Is a Perfect Translation, Ching states that the TT has to be as stylistically desirable to the TL reader as the ST to its reader, while carrying the spirit and content as closely as possible (Ching, 1998:3). Besides those different theories of equivalence mentioned above, Eugene Nidas functional equivalence theory deserves more time and space to study. This thesis about translation is the very one mainly based on Nidas functional equivalence theory. As one of the most prominent and influential translation theorists in modern world, Eugine A. Nida, together with his functional equivalent theory and its key elements, will be further discussed in detailed in the next chapter.
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Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory
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In this chapter, the author will gives a review of the theoretical basis of this thesis, Nidas functional equivalence theory. It first introduces Doctor Nida and his definition of translation, from which we could find the essence of functional equivalence, and then gives an introduction to the concept of functional equivalence and its relative notions. Finally, it tries to confirm the significance of functional equivalence theory and its vitality for literary translation.
3.1 A Brief Introduction to Eugene A.Nida

Nida was born in Oklahoma City on November 11th, 1914. When he was in the junior middle school, he was much interested in the study of language. He began studying Latin in high school and was always looking forward to becoming a missionary translator. Majoring in foreign languages, Nida was enlightened in Linguistics in University of California. However, it is in the summer after graduation that he was really related to Modern Linguistics and Bible Translation. Since then, he had great interest in the works of linguists, such as Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomfield. After his graduation from California in 1936, Nida kept on his further study at the University of Southern California and was awarded the Master of Arts degree for his research on the patristic and the New Testament in Greek In 1939. In the same year, Nida enrolled into the University of Michigan to work on his doctorate in descriptive linguistics. Under the academic guidance of the distinguished professors, Charles C.Fries and Leonard Bloomfield, he graduated and obtained his P h.D.in linguistics in 1943. His dissertation, A Synopsis of English Syntax, was the only full-scale analysis of a major language by using the immediate constituent theory at that time. In the same year, Nida joined the American Bible Society (ABS). Nida was hired to do some experimental work and was made Associate Secretary for Versions from 1944 to 1946, whose work included field surveys, research, training programs and checking newly translated manuscripts of Bible. From then on, Nida endeavored to stud y translation theories on the basis of his translation of Bible. Until he retired in 1980, he was Executive Secretary for Translations. He has now retired from administrative duties but remains to be a consultant to the American Bible Society and the United Bible Society. He is still continuing his research on translation while lecture extensively in Europe and
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Asia. Nidas study of Bible translation was at first practice-oriented rather than theoretical. However, his theories on translation later turn out to be his best-known work and were introduced to all over the world. He was authored or co-authored more than 40 books and 250 articles on translation and linguistics, cultural anthropology and sociolinguistics. On the whole, Nida is a scholar, teacher, innovator, and influential linguist. As a famous scholar known for his translation theories and outstanding achievements in linguistics, he conducts his research extensively involved in linguistic, semantics, anthropology, and information engineering during his academic years. He is considered to be one of the most important translation theorists in the world and one of the important founders of modern translation theories, who have exerted a great influence on the translators in the whole world. He makes great contribution to Bible translating by organizing several major new translations and reversions of Bibles and makes great efforts to study the nature of translation. He applies communication theory into translation studies, which is a distinguished feature in his theories. Based on his rich experiences in Bible translation, he proposed a series of translation theories among which, formal equivalence, the great translation theory dynamic equivalence later changed into functional equivalence, and attention. readers response attract worldwide
3.2 Definition and Nature of Translation

More and more contemporary translators agree that translation is a land of communication. The ultimate goal of translation is the successful communication across cultures. Nida is an advocator of such an idea and has made great contribution to the communicative theory of translation. In his representative work The Theory and Practice of Translation, Nida puts forward the definition of translation from its nature in a very clear wayTranslating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style (Nida & Taber, 1982:12). This definition means that the process of translation is not merely automatic substitution of linguistic structures, and there will rarely be any absolute equivalence between the two texts, but the final translated version must be as natural as the text from
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which it comes. If we focus on the three key terms: closest, natural and equivalent, we will have a deeper understanding of this sentence. Here, equivalent means that the translation should convey as much as possible the meaning (the content) and form (the style) of the source messageBesides the tremendous emphasis on meaning, it also takes into consideration the expression formulas of the target language, i.e., the stylistic values of the original message should be sufficiently transferred because the meaning of the message is surely important, meanwhile the way to express it is of equal importance. natural means that the translation should sound natural to the receiver so that if the receiver cannot understand the cultural patterns of the original context, he can match them with the codes of behavior of his own culture to get the source message; closest binds the two orientations together on the basis of the highest degree of approximation to the original text. Apparently, the term equivalence in Nidas theory means closeness or approximation. Thus, we should understand the term equivalence at two levels: a theoretical level, which denotes an ideal relationship between the target text and the source text a realistic level in terms of approximation. Only in this way can equivalence be a useful concept for the study of translation. Nidas concept of translation gives us a criterion for the evaluation of a translation. A translation can be considered faithful only when it has proved itself to be the closest natural equivalent of the original both semantically and stylistically. In other words, a translation should enable the target readers not only to understand the content as clearly as the source readers do, but also to appreciate the impact and appeal of the original work. From the illustration above, we can realize very clearly that a recommendable translated text should enable the target language readers to not only understand the corresponding message of the original text as adequately and accurately as possible, but also appreciate the impact and appeal of the original text in substantially the same way as the source language readers did.
3.3 Functional Equivalence

3.3.1 General introduction Nidas functional equivalence theory, a famous study concerning translation, is seen as a theory that is pioneering to settle some issues on translation. In Nidas opinion, there exists a dynamic relationship between target reader and message, which is
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supposed to be substantially the same as that existing between the original readers and the message; moreover, translating concerns reproducing in the target language the closest natural equivalence of the source message. In other words, an accurate translation should be faithful and expressive, causing similar reader response between source readers and the target readers. In this case, the essential task of translation is to make the translated text understood. In other words, the translation should be expressive and comprehensible enough to be understood by readers without any, or at least not too much cultural obstacles. The translators should employ more expressive words or expressions typically used in the target language. From the perspective of social linguistic and communicational function of language, Nida claims that functional equivalence implies two equivalent relationships: the equivalence between source text and target version, and that between the reader of source text and the reader of translated text. Therefore, the reader should be taken into serious consideration in translating and the most significant standard of accuracy mainly depends on the readers response. This conception, when applied in literary translation, implies that the readers of a translated version should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the source text have understood and appreciated it. Functional equivalence theory is adopted as an theory basis to guides our analys is of literary translation for the reason that the principles of this theory (will be discussed later) can achieve the goal that the target receptors can experience to the greatest degree the same emotion as the original readers do. Thus, before analyzing this novel, some room is given to have a discussion of this theory. 3.3.2 Main Points of Functional Equivalence Theory Functional equivalence was first named as dynamic equivalence. As against the traditional notion of linguistic equivalence, Nida takes a communicative way and put forward the concept of dynamic equivalence based upon the principle of equivalent effect in his book Toward a Science of Translation in 1964. (Nida, 1964:159). Later, Nida decides to use the term functional equivalence to replace the often misunderstood dynamic equivalence. He explains that the meanings of those two concepts are just the same. However, he prefers the concept of functional equivalence for the convenience of describing the degrees of adequacy of a translation, and to avoid misunderstanding and negative connotations. He clarifies further that the new term
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seems to provide a much sounder basis for talking about translation as a form of communication with a focus on what translation does or perform (Nida 1993:124). Nida describes the content of dynamic equivalence as follows: Dynamic equivalence is therefore to be defined in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptors in the source language. (Nida&Taber, 1982:24) It is defined as a translation rule according to which a translator tries to render the meaning of the original in such a way that the target wording will arouse the same influence on the target readers as the original wording does upon the source readers. Traditionally, an adequate translation is judged on the basis of the correspondence in lexicon and grammar between source and target language, whereas Nidas notion of functional equivalence provides a completely new criterion for the evaluation of the rendering, which shifts from the form of the text to the response of the reader. Thus an effective translation should be the one that can produce in the reader a response very close to what the original reader has experienced. In other words, when producing a dynamically or functionally equivalent translation, one must be constantly conscious of the capacity and motivation of the receptor. In understanding functional equivalent translation, there are some points that we should keep in mind. Firstly, functional equivalent translation emphasizes equivalence rather than identity. Equivalence cannot be understood in its mathematical meaning of identity, but only in terms of proximity, i.e., on the basis of the degree of closeness to functional identity. It is a rarity that two languages are identical both on the linguistic level and on the cultural level, because vast differences exist between any two languages, such as Chinese and English. A translated version cannot be exactly identical with the original either in form or meaning. The best version translated is only the one that is very close to the original text. In rendering, there is never a one-hundred-percent equivalence either to the original meaning or to the response of the reader. This is the case with the translation between Chinese and English in particular, which belong to two totally different language systems. Secondly, functional equivalent translation emphasizes functional equivalence rather than formal equivalence (or in Nidas words formal correspondence). A distinction between functional and formal equivalence was made formal equivalence denotes faithful reproduction of source text form elements, while functional equivalent refers to acquisition of equivalent extra- linguistic communicative effect. Functional
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equivalence shifts the focus in translation from the verbal correspondence in languages to the relationship between the message and receptors. According to Nidas explanation, the criterion to judge whether a translated version can be understood by TL readers is not that whether the texts in TL are grammatically correct or can be understood, but that what kind of response the TL readers will produce. Thus, a translator should give functional equivalence priority over formal equivalence, and the application of functional equivalence should be seen as a more effective translation procedure, since just as clearly stated by Nida&Taber dynamic equivalence in translation is far more than mere correct communication of information (Nida&Taber, 1982:25). Consequently, in actual rendering process, two things should be kept in mind when handling an original text. On the one hand, the translator should put functional equivalence in the first place whenever and wherever possible. In order to reproduce a successful translated version to which the TL receptors can feel the same as the SL receptors do, the translator should not be restrained by formal equivalence, but should attach great importance to functional equivalence. On the other hand, however, formal equivalence should never be neglected given that functional equivalence is achieved. Only in this way, can the translated version in closest natural target language reflect and represent the real life and society of the source text. In fact, Nidas functional equivalence theory focuses on the response of the receptor instead of the form of the message. By examining the response of the readers, for whom a translation is intended, one can make a more effective judgment of translation. Without consideration for the monolingual reader, translation scholars and practitioners are likely to make wrong assumptions about the translation. According to Nida, translating means communicating, and this process depends on what is received by persons hearing or reading a translation. Judging the validity of a translation cannot stop with a comparison of corresponding lexical meanings, grammatical classes, and rhetorical devices. What is important is the extent to which receptors correctly understand and appreciate the translated text(Nida, 2004:86). Therefore, the relative adequacy of different translations of the same text can only be determined in terms of the extent to which each translation successfully fulfills the purpose or function for which it is intended. In other words, the relatively validity of each translation is seen in the degree to which the receptors are able to respond to its message(in terms of both form and content) in comparison with 1.What the original author evidently intended would be the response of the original audience2.How that audience did, in fact, respond (Nida, 1976:64), so we can see that Nida attaches great importance to the role
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of receptors in evaluating translation. Nidas functional equivalence theory also puts emphasis on cultural factors in translation. In Nidas view, the most serious mistakes in translating are usually made not because of verbal inadequacy, but of wrong cultural assumptions. He argues, translation shall aim at complete naturalness of expression, and tries to relate the receptor to modes of behavior relevant within the context of his own culture (Nida, 1964:159).Therefore for truly successful translating, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism (Nida, 2004:82). Another important thing should be made clear is that in Nidas opinion content usually has priority over the formal feature, but he never totally denies the value of form. According to Nida, a faithful translation does not try to match words or grammatical structures between the two languages, but to reproduce what the writer means. Nida believes that translating must aim primarily at reproducing the message(Nida, 1982:12), and he clarifies that the original message refers to both the content and form of the source language, since the form is often equally message- loaded. So functional equivalent translation requires not only the content equivalence, but also the form correspondence as much as possible. The necessity of formal adjustments depends on whether literal translation is functionally equivalence in the target language. If the answer is negative, adjustment in form is justifiably needed. Thus, Nida only objects to matching the words and grammar rather than the content. 3.3.3 Different Levels of Equivalence Just as this paper stated above, functional equivalence is a flexible concept to describe different degrees of adequacy of a translation. Degree is an important idea in this definition. No translation is ideal, which means that equivalence cannot be understood in its mathematical meaning of identity, but only in terms of proximity, i.e. on the basis of degrees of closeness to functional identity (Nida, 1993:117). In fact, Nida has proposed two definitions of functional equivalence: the maximal ideal definition and the minimal realistic definition. A maximal, ideal definition could be stated as The readers of a translated text should be able to understand and appreciate it in essentially the same manner as the original readers did.(Nida, 1993:118) A minimal, realistic definition of functional equivalence could be stated as the readers of a translated text should be able to comprehend it to the point that they can conceive of how the original readers of the text must have understood and appreciated it.(Nida, 1993:118).This definition contain the following two aspects of meaning1) The target
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text should be the closest natural equivalent to the source language text, and 2) The translation should produce the same effect on the target reader as the original produce on the source reader. To Nida, anything less than the minimal degree of equivalence is unacceptable while the maximal level of equivalence is rare, except for texts having little or no aesthetic value and involving only routine information. A good translation lies somewhere between the maximal and the minimal equivalence. Since the absolute equivalence is just an ideal which can only be approached rather than achieved, the maximal definition is only an ideal set for the translator to work towards but hardly can be attained by them. Therefore, we can get an essential conclusion that the maximal level of equivalence is an ideal stage which in rare cases the translators can get to, and since the translators can not produce a translation with maximal level of equivalence, they will have to resort to what is called the closest natural equivalent of the source text. With the requirement of the closest natural equivalence translation, the best translated text is the one which is very close to the original text in terms of both meaning and style. Moreover, the translators will have to not only enable the target text readers to understand the corresponding message of the source text as adequately and accurately as possible, but also arouse a close equivalence of response between the source receptors and target receptors. Nida explains that it is essential that functional equivalence be stated primarily in terms of a comparison of the way in which the original receptors understood and appreciated the text and the way in which receptors of the translated text understand and appreciate the translated text. (Nida, 1993:116) Therefore, the measurement of the correctness of the message in TT form is not in the form itself but in how the target language readership responds to the translated text. 3.3.4 Principles for Achieving Functional Equivalence As we discussed above, functional equivalence proposes the closest natural equivalent of the source text, which attempts to arouse in the target readers a response close to what the original readers experienced. However, since different languages depend upon different culture and history, languages always differ from each other in terms of word expression, sentence building, discourse design, and so on. Besides, in the rendering process, there are many factors that will influence us to produce a satisfactory functional equivalent of a original text, so some adjustments or changes should be introduced and applied in the translated version. Accordingly, in the book Language, Culture and Translating, Nida presents some relevant principles which may
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be very helpful in the process of rendering in order to produce a n appropriate functional equivalence of a source text, especially in the case that a more or less literal correspondence is not functionally equivalent in both designative and associative meanings: 1)If a close, formal translation is likely to result in a misunderstanding of the designative meaning, (a)certain changes must be introduced into the text of the translation or (b)the literal translation may be retained and a footnote explaining the likely misunderstanding must be added. 2)If a close, formal translation makes no sense, i.e. is totally obscure in designative meaning, certain changes may be introduced into the text unless the source text is purposely obscure, in which case the obscurity may be retained, and a footnote explaining the nature of the obscurity may be very useful and in most instances fully justified. 3) If a close, formal translation is so semantically and syntactically difficult that the average person for whom the translation is being made is very likely to live up trying to understand it, certain changes are warranted, although it may be useful to indicate the nature of such changes in an introduction or in footnotes. 4) If a close, formal translation is likely to result in serious misunderstanding of the associative meanings of the source text or in a significant loss in a proper appreciation for the stylistic values of the source text, it is important to make such adjustments as are necessary to reflect the associative values of the source text. 5) The manner in which a translation is to be used has a significant influence upon the extent to which adjustment are to be made. 6) The fact that a source text must be translated in such a way as to occur with accompanying codes usually requires a number of adjustments on all levels: phonology, lexicon, syntax, and discourse. (Nida, 2001:125-128) Among these principles, many points have been applied in the translated versions of both Gladys and Ching Ti&Paynes, especially adding footnotes to illustrate points that may be obscure to the target readers or audience. Besides, making necessary changes in order to retain the stylistic and semantic beauty of the original text also find its frequent application in the translation of Shens Biancheng. These principles for the production of functionally equivalent translations have a number of very practical implications: 1) The greater the differences in the source and target cultures, the greater the need for adjustment
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2) The greater the differences between the source and target languages, the greater the need for adjustment 3) The more distinctive the style of the source text, the greater the number of adjustment. 4) The greater the difference in social and educational levels of the source and target audience, the greater the number of adjustment. 5) The more a translated text is dependent on all accompanying code, the greater the number and variety of adjustments. (Nida l993:125- l30) Although these principles are rather useful for translators to produce functional equivalence, it is important that they are not matters of plus-minus categories for easy pigeonholing of examples of formal and semantic adjustments. In each case a translator should adjust according to a host of elements, since the types of situations and genres are so complicated. That is to say that elaborate formulas or theories are not so necessary for translators and it is more essential to be highly sensitive to the resources of language, the importance of culture and the art of translating. 3.3.5 Nidas Criteria in the Evaluation of Translations Translation theory serves for the production of good translations. Then, how to evaluate a translated version? According to Nida, three fundamental criteria are basic to the evaluation of an translating, and in different ways help to determine the relative virtue of particular versions, they are (1)general efficiency of the communication process, (2)comprehension of intent, and (3)equivalence of response. The efficiency of a translation can be judged in terms of the maximal reception for the minimum effort of decoding. The second one, comprehension of the origina l intent, is oriented either toward the source culture (formal equivalence translation) or toward the receptor culture (functional equivalence translation).The third criterion, equivalence of response, is oriented toward either the source culture or the ta rget culture (in which case the readers makes a corresponding response within a different cultural context). Nida holds that a good translation should not be judged by verbal correspondence between the two texts in question, but by how the receptor reacts to it. If a translation cannot be understood and appreciated by the receptor for whom the translated text is intended, no matter how good it is, it is not a good translation at all. Translating means communicating, the role of the receptor has been emphasized in this concept. Additionally, Nida presents many factors which can determine the adequacy of a translation in his book Language, Culture, and Translation, such as the reliability of
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the text itself, the discourse type, the intended audience, the manner in which the translated text is to be used, and purpose for which the translation has been made (Nida, 1993:117). 3.3.6 Application of Functional Equivalence in Literary Translation Having discussed the key points in functional equivalence theory, in the following part, the thesis will discuss closely combine functional equivalence theory to literary translation. According to the previous discussion, judging the validity of a translation will be determined by the extent to which receptors correctly understand and appreciate the translated text. Aiming at transferring all the information in the source language into the target language and achieving the maximal equivalence effects in forms, meanings, styles and image functions, functional equivalence theory is applicable in different written forms and genres, among them, literary translation was the most challenging and complex one, which has its unique features and demands more detailed principles to guide with. Literary translation is an important branch of translation. Literature is a kind of art, or the art of language, to be specific; so literary translation is also the art of language. In literary translation translators are expected to transfer not only the message of the source text but also the specific way the message is expressed in the source language. In short, literary translation involves not only the logical problems of actual life, but also the aesthetic problems. Unlike other kinds of genre, literary texts do not conform strictly to predictable norms and conventions. Thus the translation of literary texts is very complicated For literary texts of a creative type, the emotive and expressive functions usually play a more significant role(Ching Ti&Nida, 1984:39). Being a kind of art, literary translation should have its own artistic value and social functions, such as aesthetic function, instructive function, and cognitive function. Thus, translators should try their best to explore the social life reflected in the original and well utilize their creative abilities to digest the original and thoroughly understand the original work, including the writers intent, style, and attitude and manner to the characters and events; then recreate the images, characterization, plot, style and artistic impact of the original in the target language; and finally take the reception of readers into consideration, for the translated work is intended to be equally understood and enjoyed by the target readers. Only in this way can a literary work be functionally
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equivalent translated into a target language, the artistic value of the original be recreated in a translated version and the communicative functions of literary translation be achieved. Since literature involves much more elements as plot, images, climax and artistic beauty etc, the translator should identify himself with both the writer and the target readers. In literary translation, the translator is obliged to recreate the effect as well as the content of the writingthat is, he will be forced to write in author's style instead of his own as well as to translate, completely, meaning of the author's words. The more striking literary characteristics a work possesses, the more it depends on the language, the more its implicit meanings are beyond the language, and the more difficult it is to translate. In translating a literary work, translators are required to identify themselves with the author of the originalbut more importantly, they must take into full consideration the target readers, without whom a literary work or its translation would become worthless. Translators should not merely interpret and transfer completely the message in the authors words, but also try their best to reproduce the literary structure of the original, informing the target readers about the genre, artistic value and linguistic beauty of the original, and to match the cultural distance between two languages. Thus, the final target of literary translation is to attain functional equivalence; that is, the readers of a translated literary work should comprehend it to such an extent that they can understand what the original readers must have understood. The following two chapters will be devoted to the detailed study of Biancheng and its two English versions. Attempts would be made to illustrate whether the translated versions can enable the target language readers to understand and appreciate the message adequately and accurately and respond in substantially the same manner as the original readers did, and to give some comments on the two versions in the light of the functional equivalence theories.
Chapter IV An Introduction to Biancheng and Its Two English V ersions
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Chapter IV An Introduction to Biancheng and Its Two English Versions

4.1 Shen Congwen and Biancheng
4.1.1 About the Writer Shen Congwen Shen Congwen(1902-1988), a famous Chinese writer, historian, and connoisseur of beautiful artifacts, was born into a family of official standing in a frontier county called Fenghuang on the western border of Hunan touching Sichuan. Fenghuang is not only where he was born, but also the place he was buried. Shen was living here before he went to Beijing for school. When in childhood, Shen enjoyed playing and learning from the nature. Shen once said that he had often skip school for playing o ut in the town. And for this reason, he had time and chance to know all manners and customs of the border town. At the age of 14, Shen joined the army and start his six- year- long soldier life, during which he traveled in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou and the vast area along the Yuan River meeting various types of people from the lower classes of the society. Such a vagrant soldering life from 1916 to 1922, provided him with the rich source material for his later literary creation. He gained plenty of valuable experiences about the Xiangxi world and the society, which gave Shen abundant imagery and sensitive perception. With the blood of Miao nationality flowing in his vein, Shen loved his hometown and the Miao nationality so much. He is so devoted to and fa miliar with his home town that he had written many works set in Fenghuang with Biancheng as one of them. He started his literary career in 1924 with his maiden workA Letter Never Paid Postage( which was published in Morning Supplement and stop ), literary writing after he finished Qiao Xiu and Dong Sheng (),his last novel, in 1948. Nevertheless, he is one of Chinas most versatile modern writers, leaving immensely popular excellent works during his 25 years literary creation. Being a prolific writer, Shen Congwen published over 70 collections of novels and prose, among which the representative works include Biancheng Changhe( ( ), ), etc.. Besides, he created a considerable number of poems and literary critics. Generally speaking, his writing can be divided into three periods: the enlightening period (1924-1927), the developing period (1928-1930) and the mature period (1931-1949).
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During the third period, Shen Congwen achieved a special comprehension and interpretation of the society from different perspectives and established his own artistic style. On the basis of that, he demonstrated in his works his original artistic charm in analyzing the society, exploring life, and revealing living customs of different ethnic groups, especially the Miao nationality. Shen Congwens novel belongs to lyric novel or poetry novel. It has the remarkable cultural direction, strong cultural inside information as well as unique human sentiment customs. He recasted the West Hunan romantically and idealistically; he recreated the mountainous folks in the small town who were dignified and honest, whose lives were great and ordinary at once, whose nature were beautiful and immediately petty (,2005:73). He uses the brushwork fluent as water-flow, has constructed an aftertaste artistic world. It is connotative, deep, and is able to make people daydream. It is believed that Shen Congwens regional fiction became the major vehicle for his own ideas about Chinas moral and cultural resources. He brought many Chinese readers to view their traditional heritage in a new light: to see themselves as potentially a young people, even though they yearned for salvation from a prison of piled customs, and to see the vitality of youthful creativity in the aspirations of their ancestors. Both his prolific production and the lofty artistry embodied in his works established his fame as the Dumas of China (Kinkley l987:111). Jeffrey C. Kinkily, great America sinologist and writer of a biography of Shen Conge, states that Shen Congwen is one of the top Chinese modern writers, only secondary to Lu Sun. ( ,2007:120) Shen Congwen is regarded as one of the half-dozen great writers of modern Chinese literature, Among those writers in China, Shen Congwen has come most close to the Nobel Prize of Literature, nominated twice but in vain, which became the forever pity in the heart of Chinese people. As whether a great writer or a researcher, he is universally recognized as an estimable person who will be remembered for ever. We can see that Shen Conge is such an outstanding writer with high position in Chinese literature whose works had once arose so much attention that a deep research into his masterpiece is very necessary. 4.1.2 Brief Introduction to Biancheng Biancheng, written in 1934, is one of the greatest novels in Chinese literature, depicting a zigzag and appealing love story in a remote mountain village with its beautiful scenery. In this novel, the Protagonists- Tianbao and Nuosong, sons of the
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wharf- master, simultaneously fell in love with a beautiful girl named Cuicui, a granddaughter of an old boatman. During the process of the cruel competition and exclusive choice in the love affair, the two siblings always respected each other and valued loyalty with great kindness, true heartedness and self-reliance, though they were still at the mercy of tragical destiny. Tianbao was drowned in a shipwreck Nuosong left his hometown, guilty of his brothers death, and Cuicui kept single for missing her lover ... The novel Biancheng is a beautiful novel featured by the tragic love story between Cuicui and Nuosong, which happened in a fairyland- like city called Chatong naturally endowed with murmuring streams and emerald bamboos. In this perfect lyric work, the lively amorous feelings of local color, the moving love story, the diverse fates of protagonists and ideal molding of characters are incorporated into one. Biancheng is full of beauty and unique flavor, from the form to the content, from the language to the image, from the beginning to the end. The houses built on stilts, mills sent as a dowry, the white pagoda, free ferry-boats and racing at Dragon Boat Festival, all depicted in this novel are appealing to the outsiders with their unbeknown and somewhat primitive beauty and culture. Shen utilizes efficiently and successfully the language skill and it is such a kind of tact that leaves the reader a rich imaginatio n and an endless aftertaste. For several decades, the readers have been attracted by the work which has given rise to different imaginations, for the story was told in a calm and reserved tone, leaving much thoughts and intentions for readers to comprehend by themselves. Biancheng is never identical, for every reader receives the text under the influence of his or her own culture, knowledge, experience, intelligence, and ideology. Biancheng, perfect in style and form, is really a classic that can make Shen an outstanding writer by itself. (, 2004:2). Since its emergence, Biancheng has attracted most peoples attention and enjoyed a good reputation. Listed No.2 among the top 100 Chinese novels of the 20th century, this book is considered as a miracle in t he history of Chinese fiction and has achieved great popularity. Therefore, the study on it has flourished ever since.(, 2005:324) 4.1.3 The Style of Biancheng With the employment of a unique language style, say, an authentic dialect, and the presentation of the landscape full of local colors, Biancheng has successfully described the primitive plainness of the countryside in West Hunan in 1920s and 1930s. The language of the novel is plain and simple. It is mainly composed of short sentences, just
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in the way Hemingways novel are done of. This simple, plain, natural and appropriate language, never falling into the traditional way stories are told, is in fact full of novelties and leads us to a fairyland spontaneously( ,1991:39). According to Xia Zhiqing(,1991:556), the language of the novel is beautiful that it can be looked at as a pastoral prose, while in Yu Xueleis opinion(,2005), the novel is full of metaphors and symbols which call for readers inference All in all, Biancheng is a fiction full of lyricism yet in very simple, original language. It creates mood more than plot. Pastoral flavor and light melancholy is pervasive. His characters and scenes are merely sketches but very touching. The language is limpid, simple, but invested with long-lasting flavor.
4.2 The Two Translated Versions and their Translators

Shen is so excellent a writer with extraordinary literature power that his works are warmly received and given tremendous attention by readers and scholars at home and abroad. His works Biancheng is so popular and wide spread that it has been translated into thirteen languages, published in many countries, and even edited into the college textbooks in the United States, the Great Britain, Japan and South Korea. It is first translated into English in 1936 by Emily Hahn()and Shing Mo-Lei(), with a title of Green Jade and Green Jade(). In 1947 George Allen&Unwin Co. Lt in London published The Chinese Earth: Stories by Shen Tseng-wen (:) translated by Ching Ti and edited by Robert Payne with the story of Biancheng named the Frontier City included. This published book made Biancheng step into the world and attracted western peoples attention. Biancheng and Shens other works was translated by Gladys Yang () and published at the title of Border Town and Other Stories in 1981. Later in 1999, Selected Stories by Shen Congwen translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang was published for young Chinese university readers, taking The Border Town as one of the stories. It is a great pity that just like some of Shens early works, many translated versions have been out of print and can be retrieved by no means. In next chapter, two English versions are adopted for a detailed comparative study under the framework of functional equivalence theory of translation, one is rendered by Ching Ti() in 1947 and Robert Payne and the other by Gladys Yang in 1978. 4.2.1Bianchengs Translator-Ching Ti
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One famous English version of Biancheng, named the Frontier City, was translated by Ching Ti and the style and diction were improved by Robert Payne, a well-known British scholar. Since Robert Paynes role is not so significant as Ching Ti, in this part, the author of this thesis will only dwell on Ching Ti. Ching Ti(192l- ), born in Wuxing, Zhejiang Province, graduated from National Southwest Associated University in 1945. Then he assumed a lot of jobs, such as the English assistant in Peking University, a translator in an American news agency established in China, and compiler in an agency of central military ministry. In l977, he was transferred to Tianjin Foreign Languages Institute as an Associate Professor of English, and then taught English in the Department of Western Languages and Literatures of Beijing University. As a productive translator, Ching Ti has produced a lot of translation works, such as,The Gioconda Smile by the British writer Aldous Huxley, ,Ulysses by the Irish writer James Joyce, and Chinese Earth, by Shen Congwen, only to name a few. In 1947, The Chinese Earth:Stories of Shen tseng Cong-Wen ( ) translated and edited by Ching Ti and Robert Payne was first published by George Allen&Unwin Co.Ltd. in London in 1947, l7 years after the original story appeared, and was re-printed by Columbia University Press in 1982. It includes Biancheng entitled The Frontier City, which makes it known to the outside world. 4.2.2 Bianchengs Translator-Gladys Yang Gladys Yang(1919-1999) is a great translator, and a bilingual and bicultural scholar. She (maiden name: Gladys Margaret Tayler) was born into a British missionarys family in Beijing in 1919. At four or five she returned to England with fond memories of her childhood in China. She was the first student of British blood studying Chinese literature in Oxford University (Yang, 2002:77) where she met Yang Xianyi. In 1940 they came back to China together where she lived thereafter until she died in 1999 and got married in 1941. She was so influenced by her husband as well as Chinese culture that she not only had learnt to read Chinese and write in regular script but could write stories in classical Chinese. From the 1920s to the end of the 1980s, she had been wholly devoted herself to translating Chinese classics and works of modern Chinese writers to English. Strictly adhering to the translation principle of being explicit, comprehensible, as well as faithful to the originals, Gladys Yang, together with her husband, undoubtedly tops the
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list of the greatest translators in China for their remarkable contribution to the development of Chinese translation cause and the translation of Chinese literature. All through their lives, they worked painstakingly and teamed up in a perfect collaboration translating and introducing both Chinese literature to the west and some masterpieces from other languages to China. Their work opened an important window for the west to get to know Chinese literature and cultural legacy as well. Meanwhile, quite a number of their translations enjoyed a high reputation in the world and became models of translation, discussed and studied by later researchers, scholars and translators. As Biancheng has been translated so many times, how to deal with culture differences between cultures, as Biancheng is so full of culture images which may be hard to get across by foreigners, lies in the skopos as well as the strategies that are in accordance with a certain skopos. 4.2.3 Translation Skopos of the Two Versions Gladys Yang put faithfulness at the top rule of translating: Too much explanation is unnecessary in translation. Translators should be faithful to the images in the source text, no exaggeration, no anything that unrelated to it. Of course, not all images can kept in the target text should there is no equivalence indeed. (,1999:289) From the above we can see, Gladys got a deep understanding of Chinese culture compared with other westerners. Moreover, she would like to correct some westerners idea about China and wanted to introduce the actual China to the world. The cultural skopo in her translation is to transmit the value and spirit of Chinese culture and the life of Chinese faithfully. To achieve the purpose of cultural transference and to introduce the richness and profundity of Chinese culture to the westerners, Gladys made adequacy the main feature. The addressees of her version are English-speaking people who are interested in Chinese culture and want to know about it. About translation skopo, Ching Ti takes it as a way of message transferring, and it transfers the message in one language into another to ensure that people in another language get the same message as the source language readers. (,1998:24) For the purpose of arousing interest of the readers in the western countries in their mind, they employ domestication method, adapt to the target culture, and attempt to make the version more understandable and entertaining. Ching&Payne render this novel for those who are willing to read Chinese novels and they may just read it for amusement and paying less attention to the cultural elements contained.
Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng
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Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English Versions of Biancheng

With the functional equivalence theory introduced in Chapter three and the basic information of Biancheng discussed in Chapter Three in mind, the writer of the thesis, in this chapter, attempts to offer a study of the e valuation of two English versions of Biancheng. Great efforts will be made to apply the functional equivalence theory to the comparison and analysis of the two English versions. The comparison will be made from the following three different perspectives translation of image and scenery, the the transition of culture- loaded words and expressions and the translation of rhetorical devices.
5.1 The Reproduction of Image and Scenery

5.1.1 The Reproduction of Image In Biancheng, Shen utilizes a series of symbolic images to create a beautiful poetic world in the Chatong which is a attracting crystal of the reality and his ideal, where exists no alienation and loss of humanity. The characters in it pour their emotion in a naturally pure way, which represents the upward vitality of nature. The rendering of symbolic representation is by no means a simple and formal transformation, but the result of the artistic contemplation of the translator. Image translation, in its essence is a process of artistic re-creation that is basically achieved by imagination, imitation and recreation through the process of interpretation. In the following part, the author will dwell on the images about death and love to see how the translators achieve the exquisite transformation of the original poetic value in their versions. 5.1.1.1 Images Regarding Death Shen tries to represent the poetic contrast of love and life by exploring death and love. Death, which formed whole existence of life, can be considered as the procedure of life metabolism, a thing depriving what the human beings want, as well as the cost pursuing deification. There are a lot of images in the original fiction concerning death, such as and . Regarding the treatment of such kind of images, both translators share some methods in common and both versions have virtues and defects. Nevertheless, generally speaking, Yangs version is not so good as the other one since
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she simplifies or even neglects some images while Ching&Payne handle these images in an appropriate way. Lets have a detailed analysis of the following examples. [Example 1] [ST1], ,,: ?( ,1981:94) [TT1-1]As the setting sun fell on the girls home upstream, a fearful thought crossed her mind: Can granddad be dead? (Yang,1981:23) [TT1-2]The sun was setting in the direction of her home, and dusk was already covering the waters with a veil of fog. And suddenly, watching the changing lights over the water, a terrifying thought occurred to her: What if Grandfather is dead?(Ching Payne, 1982:209) Here, in this beautiful evening scene Shen portrayed, a trace of fear is imbued with the delight atmosphere with the utilization of the images , and ,for Cuicui has thought of his grandpas death at the sight of the scene. is a tragic image which symbolizes death in Chinese cognition environment, which is also the case in Biancheng. Picturesque but fleeting, dusk is destined to be replaced by darkness, and so is life which is domed to come to an end at last. In translation, Yang neglects all these images except setting sun in her version, which is definitely not proper for the target reader can not appreciate the scenic beauty of the original and may even feel Cuicuis thought about death is rather unexpected and unnatural due to the deletion of images. Whereas Ching&Payne preserve the images of and with sun was setting and dusk, partly retain the image with a veil of fog, and replace the image with waters. Their treatment is much better than Yangs, for during reading the target reader can enjoy the beautiful scene and be touched by the Cuicuis sentimentalism and the dreariness penetrated between the lines. [Example 2] [ST2], ,,, ,,. ,, ,, , , ,,(,1981:140) [TT2-1]At dusk Emerald sits behind their hut at the foot of the pagoda watching fleecy clouds turn peach-blossom pink in the sunset. The fourteenth is market day at
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Zhongzhai and scores of merchants going there from town to buy goods keep the ferry busier than usual. Her grandfather has been kept on the go all day. As evening draws in, the birds return to their nests. Only the nightingale sings on and in. Heat vapor is rising from the rocks and soils, the grass and trees which have baked in the sun all day. The air is redolent of mud, plants and insects. As Emerald watches the red clouds in the sky and 1istens to the murmur of voices from the ferry, a faint sense of desolation creeps over her. Dusk is as tender, lovely and tranquil as ever. (Yang, 1981:66-67) [TT2-2]When dusk came, Green Jade was sitting beneath the white pagoda behind the house, gazing up at the transparent clouds now molten-red in the setting sun. On the fourteenth of the moon there was a fair in the hills, and many merchants left the city and climbed the mountains in search of the natives wares. So there were more people than ever crossing the ferry and Grandfather was kept busy a ll day. Night was approaching. All the birds except the cuckoo, which clamored incessantly, had gone to their rest. The earth and the rocks, the grass and the trees had basked all day in the heavy sun, and now they gave off their thick vapors. The air was full of the smell of the soil of the leaves and of beetles. Gazing at the molten-red clouds in the sky and listening to the confused voices of the wandering peddlers crossing the stream, Green Jade felt a silent melancholy creeping over her heart. The twilight was as beautiful and peaceful as always; ... (ChingPayne, l982:254) Here, Shen unfold before readers eyes a fresh wash painting of the countryside with a series of images. A girl who happily and shyly waits for her love to come sits beside the ferry, bathing in the rosy shine of the sunset, hearing the singing of the little creature, and smelling the fragrance of the soil and plants. However, the notion of the death of her grandpa clings to her mind all the time. Except most visual images in the above example, there are , , , and .Under the circumstances, all images cooperate to activate all sense organs and enable the readers to smell, to touch, to listen and to taste, which serves to arouse in readers mind a kind of dreariness and sympathy to wards Cuicui. Yang handles these images mainly in three ways: image preservation, image replacement, and image simplification. Ching&Payne treat these images majorly in two ways: image preservation, and image replacement. By reserving most of the original images, both versions share some commonness in the translation of the images and convey the original aesthetic values and implications in most cases. Among these images, here prominence would be given to the translation of and . As a
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common bird in the later spring in southern China, (cuckoo) symbolizes dreariness, homesickness and sorrow, an implication originates from an ancient allusion, and is often associated with the saying (Cuckoo crying blood).Both versions for are a bit far from adequate and appropriate. Not the bird appearing in the original text, nightingale in Yangs version doesnt contribute to the dreary atmosphere in this situation. While cuckoo in Ching&Paynes version, familiar to the target readers and faithful to the original in the denotative meaning, fails to convey the connotative meaningthe association with dreariness, homesickness and sorrow is so foreign to the target reader. Thus an explanatory annotation should be added so as to bring out the accurate implication to the target readers. Concerning , an image of great importance in this fiction, it is used as a symbol of the life and the fate of grandpa. It appears at the beginning of the fiction and collapses on the day of grandpas death, which carries strong symbolic implication. As to its translation, both versions are not satisfactory, without adhering to the original. Yang simplifies it into pagoda, which is inadequate to convey the writers intention. In Chinese culture, the color white is often associated with sadness or death in some cases, for example, people wear white clothes on the occasion of funeral in China. So here carries strong implication of grandpas ultimate death. In this regard, Ching&Payne have done a better job in translating into white pagoda, for they have preserved the undertone by reproducing fully the original image of that is highly suggestive of grandpas ultimate death in Biancheng. From the above analysis, a conclusion can be drawn that in the case of the artistic depiction of the images relating to the theme death, both translators try to preserve the original images and reproduce the latent implication generated by those images in most cases, which is especially true for Ching&Payne. It is safely to say that both versions have their own merits and demerits. Nonetheless, Yang tends to neglect the connotation of some images by simplifying or even omitting them, which makes her version not as effective and appealing as the source text. While Ching&Payne treat the images with greater caution and care with an attempt to impressively represent them in an proper way, so as to better actualize and depict the latent mental world of the characters to the target readers. Therefore, Ching&Payne have done a better job than Yang on the whole. 5.1.1.2 Images about Love As another key note in Biancheng, love is a clue by which the story develops. As the daughter of the nature, Cuicui is pretty, smart, pure, tender, vigorous and loyal. So is
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her love, exquisite, beautiful, moving and sentimental. By the adoption of many devices such as the use of images, Shen depicts Cuicuis love, covering its beginning, development and the tragic ending. In recreating the images concerning love, Yang tries to utilize a suitably selected image to imitate the original image to reproduce the rich and complicated feeling of the characters and of the author Shen as well. On the contrary, Ching&Paynes image choice is not so satisfactory as Yangs sometimes, so they fails to imitate the touching sentiment. Whereas some other times, Ching&Payne employ certain appropriate adjustment to realize a n appropriate reconstruction of the original and conveys the original beauty successfully. Lets discuss the following examples in detail. [Example 1] [ST1], ,,,,, ?!, ,,( ,1981:77) [TT1-1]His stories fresh in her mind, the girl dreams that glorious singing is filling the air, floating from the pagoda and vegetable plot to the ferry, then back to the opposite hillside, to those clumps of saxifrage! Looking up from the barge earlier that day she has seen that the lush saxifrage is in bloom. The rock face rises forty feet or mote high, so that the flowers are usually out of reach; but now, borne up by a song, she chooses the biggest leaf for an umbrella.(Yang, 1981:70) [TT1-2]But as she slept she could not forget the things her Grandfather had told her, and her soul was lifted up by the sound of such singing as she had never heard before. It seemed to come floating alone the white pagoda, from the garden, from the boat, from the walls of the high cliffs overlooking the fiver. What was she doing there? Gathering tiger- lilies? She had seen these round lilies high up on the cliff- walls when she was ferrying the boat across the stream. (Ching&Payne, 1982:258) Nuosuos song is penetrated with his deep love towards Cuicui and the girl reacts to it in her dream. Shen chooses the image of not for no reason. It makes its first appearance in Chapter 14. The shape of its leaves looks like a heart, , a symbol of pure, beautiful, healthy and natural love is used to symbolize Cuicuis love in Biancheng. (&,2006). The sense of hearing and the sense of touching are mixed here to express the wonderful love existing inside the hearts of Cuicui and Nuosong. Their pursuit of love becomes self-evident through the authors description. In the translations, Yang puts into saxifrage without exception,
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whereas Ching&Payne,s version is tiger- lily. saxifrage refers to any of a genus (Saxifraga of the family Saxifragaceae, the saxifrage family) of chiefly perennial herbs with showy pentamerous flowers and often with basal tufted leaves. And tiger-lily is a common Asian garden lily which has nodding orange-colored flowers densely spotted with black and alternate leaves with black bulblets in the leaf axils; it also refers to any of various lilies with similar flowers. It is obvious that saxifrage is naturally much closer to the image than tiger- lily, especially the shape of their leaves. It conveys the implied message of the original more precisely and faithfully. Thus, Ching&Paynes treatment of image modification lies beneath Yangs treatment of image preservation. [Example 2] [ST2],, ,, ,, (,1981:112) [TT2-1]Going over both festivals in her mind, happily savoring all she has seen and heard, Emerald has the same sensation as when she closes her eyes in bed in the morning and sees a yellow sunflower just out of reach. Something exiting lies ahead as yet indistinct and intangible, but too lovely to let go. (Yang, l98l:41) [TT2-2]She recalls everything she had seen and heard during the previous two festivals, and seeing these things her heart was filled with happiness exactly as when, in the morning when her eyes were closed, she saw yellow butterflies and sunflowers, which were perfectly vivid and clear, yet no hands had ever plucked them. (Ching&Payne, 1982:227-228) Here, the sprout of love in Cuicuis heart is vividly displayed which is implicit, elusive but brings her pleasure and hope. What Cuicui thought on the third Dragon Boat Day was described in the source text. She recollected what had happened during the last two festivals, and her heart was full of inexplicable expectation, that she wanted to see Nuosong again. The image indicates that the love has planted its seed in Cuicuis heart and is in full blossoms which Cuicui would like to pick up because of the happiness brought. Both translated versions properly convey the connotation of the image . Yang adopts literal translation to preserve the image of by rendering it into yellow sunflower. By contrast, Ching&Payne employ expansion by translating it into yellow butterflies and sunflowers. In Yangs version, the context enables the target readers to grasp the image of yellow sunflower and appreciate the implicative artistic value involved. Such image represents the happiness and dream in Cuicuis heart and arouses the same enjoyment to the target reader as it does to the
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original reader. Here more attention would be paid to Ching&Paynes translation. Their magnification of butterflies strengthens the implicit connotation because it bears strong resemblance to Cuicuis feeling of love. A butterfly cannot be brought under control, or it is doomed to death, so does Cuicuis love, which foreshadows the tragic ending of the love story in Biancheng among Cuicui, and the two brothers Tianbao and Nuosong who confess their love to Cuicui. Whoever Cuicui chooses, the love is fated to end tragically. The adoption of magnification fills the blank in the original text and may broaden the readers horizon of expectation and thus lead them to guess the end of Cuicuis love. [Example 3] [ST3], ,, [TT3-1]He snorts with laughter. Mind a big fish doesnt eat you! (Yang, l98l:58) [TT3-2] Grandfather looked at her and laughed roguishly: The big fish will bite you, the big fish will bite. (Ching&Payne, 1982:236) In traditional Chinese culture, , as an enigmatic word for male, has the connotation of love. It was by the bank that Cuicui met Nuosong for the first time, when Nuosong was in water chasing the ducks. So here not only refers to Nuosong, but also serves as a signal of their love. Whereas in English, fish has the meaning of an odd and cunning person others find difficult to understand and get along. Here both versions adopt literal translation by rendering into big fish directly without any annotation, which not only miss the image, but also may send wrong message to target readers that harm the meaning of the source text. Above analysis leads us to sum up that image depiction plays a vital part in the representation of the poetic beauty in Biancheng. When handling the images concerning death and love, Yang attempts to select an appropriate image to imitate the original one, which turns out to be a successful reconstruction of the beautiful emotion of the characters and of Shen as well. By contrast, Ching&Paynes rendering is sometimes not as satisfactory as Yangs, thus fails to display such wonderful emotion. However, in other cases, Ching&Payne tries to employ certain proper adjustment to successfully recreate the original image and convey the original beauty. 5.1.2 The Reproduction of the Scenery Description Another distinct feature of Biancheng is the rich lyricism of the wonderful scenery description or the beauty of ideorealm. Ideorealm and rich lyricism in Biancheng depends considerably on its beautiful scenery description. Shen Congwen prefers picturesque scenery by the water, as scenic views in Biancheng are mostly water-related,
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such as brooks, river, ferryboat, bamboo grove by the fiver, or golden orioles singing in the grove. Natural beauties in Biancheng are never lavishly painted, but faintly drawn with long- lasting flavor. It is more important that the scenery is often seen through a character's eye, which mingle the characters feelings with the scenic view and result in the more touching ideorealm. Moreover, in Biancheng the description of the scenery and the narration of the story get along swimmingly with each other. The combination of natural objects and human mind, phenomenon and spirit, scene and feeling is so harmonious that it becomes an outstanding feature of its style. Given scenery descriptions contribution to the pastoral flavor, it is justifiable to say that an adequate transmission of the scenery description is essential to the success of the style transfer of the whole rendering. The following section will analyze the artistic reproduction of the beauty of the ideorealm in Biancheng. [Example 1] [ST1], ,,, ,,(,1981:77) [TT1-1]The high way running east from Sichuan to Hunan comes, just west of the border, to Chatong, a small town in the hills. Nearby a stream flows past a small pagoda, at the foot of which lives a solitary household: an old man, a girl and a dog. (Yang,1981:5) [TT1-2]From Szechuan there is a highway running east to Hunan. When road reaches the small mountain city of Chs-tung, just inside the border of Hunan, it crosses a river; near the river you will find a white pagoda and a small isolated cottage, where there once lived a family which consisted of an old man, a girl and a yellow dog. (Ching&Payne, 1982:190) As the beginning paragraph of Biancheng, the original text sets the tone for the whole story. Composed of three typical paratactic sentences, it adopts a linear progression pattern, one kind of the theme-rheme structure that the rheme of a sentence is the theme of the next one and all clauses involved are arranged without any logical marker. Arrangements like this have a good effect on coherence among sentences. Besides, such a loosely-bound syntactic structure leaves readers much room for imagination. The juxtaposition of the eight images , , , , , , and , proceeds like flowing water, which, with the character , unfold before readers eyes a breath-taking scenery of harmony, calm and loneliness. Actually, such representation of a peaceful landscape transmits Shens deep love and care for the characters and the following plot. Shen fuses his
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emotions with the natural setting and creates an integral unity of thought and natural scene, a harmonious balance of internal mind and external image. It is better for the translated versions to follow the original pattern. Yang presents us a wash painting as fresh and harmonious as She ns by using a series of plain images and seven a(n) s. Moreover, the two sentences in her version are neither very long nor short, almost of the equal length. Although Yang breaks the rule of this theme-rheme pattern, with the help of leisured and natural sentence structure, she transmits the concealed loneliness and love of the writer successfully. By comparison, Ching&Payne also do a god job in rendering the images with eight a(n)s and imitating the pattern of linear progression, which will leave the target readers an deep impression of the peaceful and lonely view. The length of these two sentences that compose the paragraph of this version forms a sharp contrast, one is quite short and concise, the other is long and superfluous. However, this version follows the theme-rheme structure very well to ensures the intratextual coherence, thus succeed in setting the keynote of the whole fiction in his version without destroying the wonderful ideorealm and the artistic value as a whole. [Example 2] [ST2],(,1981:111) [TT2-1]The rain comes down steadily, the stream is misted over. (Yang, 1981:40) [TT2-2]The rain continued, and there was a great cloud of smoky rain lying over the river.(ChingPayne, 1982:225) [Example 3] [ST3],, ,, ,(,1981:45-46) [TT3-1]This gay, haunting melody has an undertone of sadness, making Emerald feel a pang of loneliness. Her thoughts fly to the bonfires and drumming in the fields to welcome the spirits at the end of autumn. Meanwhile drams sound up in the distance. The long crimson dragon boats will soon be starting their race. A light rain falls steadily, the stream is misted over (Yang, 1981:44) [TT3-2]As soon as she had finished singing, Green Jade felt a sweet sadness creeping into her heart. She thought of the bonfires and bugles in the fields when people performed thanksgiving in autumn. She heard drumbeats in the distance. She knew that the vermilion dragon-boats were now being launched, at this very moment. A fine rain was falling over the river,
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and thick clouds of vapour were rolling down the hills. (Ching&Payne, 1982:230) The underlined sentence appears twice in Chapter Eight, the first one is almost at the beginning, the next one at the end. The original text is a well-done Chinese ink-painting! Readers could see the slender figure of Cuicui in solitude and sense her quiet, vague yet sincere longing for love mingled with a faint sense of sorrow. The writer unrolls before the readerseyes two pictures: one is of autumn bonfires in Cuicuis mind; the other is the real world of sadness. Cuicuis feeling of sadness and loneliness penetrated the two pictures, instead of being directly stated. , and are all rich in color. Being visually evocative, they evoke sympathizing reactions in readers. The final vowels of and ,similar to [u] in English helps to arouse tender lingering feelings. combines a vowel and a nasal sound which takes a certain period length of time to be pronounced and thus effectively add to the note of lingering sadness. The two versions are both successful in drawing pictures. Yangs translation is excellent in that she not only renders the conceptual meaning but also recreates the flavor and sound beauty of the original. Her version shows a master translators competence in diction. Gay, haunting, melody, sadness and loneliness are all arresting words with rich emotional color, which strike a sympathetic chord in readers heart. Besides, the combinations of long vowels and nasal sounds in haunting and loneliness contribute to the softness. In TT2-1, her thoughts fly to the bonfires vividly represents the fusion of Cuicuis sentiment with the surroundings. In TT2-2, Green Jade felt a sweet sadness creeping into her heart is most expressive. The oxymoron (a sweet sadness) and personification ( creep) are so properly utilized that they give the target readers a deep impression immediately. As to the last sentence. Both the original and the translation are beautiful to read and deserve to be praised as quintessence of scenery depiction. In the source text, the repeatedly occurring vowel [i:] in , , , helps to generate the sense of fineness and softness. In Yangs version, the high frequency of the fricative [s] in steadily, stream, misted achieves approximately the same effects. In Ching&Paynes version, the repeatedly using of vowel [i] in distance, vermilion, river, thick, hills, falling and rolling also has the similar effects. On the other hand, , depicts a very fascinating picture just like a traditional Chinese painting. Yangs version vividly represents the beauty of the original, but the target readers may not feel the poetic setting. While Ching&Paynes version thick clouds of vapour were rolling down the hills faithfully recreates the original picture, but loses the beauty of
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the original. [Example 4] [STI4],, , ,, ,, ,(,1981:1) [TT4-1]The stream winds down three li or so through the rocks to join the big river at Chatong, and once you cross the water it is only one li over the hills to the town. Since the channel curves like a bow, the path through the hills, like a bow-string, is slightly shorter. The stream bed, some twenty feet wide, is made up of boulders, In places the quiet waters are too deep for a pole to reach the bottom, yet so clear that you can count the fish swimming there.(Yang, 1981:5) [TT4-2]A stream winds down the valley. It meanders along for two or three li and empties itself in the river, but if you leave the stream and climb the mountain, the city is then only one li away, for the creek forms a bent bow and the straight path the string, and there is a slight difference in their lengths. Now this stream is about two hundred feet across, and the bed is made up of large pieces of stone, so that even when it is too deep to touch bottom with a pole, you can still see the fishes swimming in the clear and transparent water.(Ching&Payne, 1982:190) The natural scenery around Chatong is depicted in light of sketchy strokes in the original text. Through the description, we can sense the authors deep love of this wonderful land between the lines. The two main characters, Cuicui and her grandfather, are just like the stream, clear and unsophisticated. When translating the above paragraph, both translators try their best to retain the images and faithfully reproduce the scenery. They adopt simple but expressive sentences to reflect the original simplicity. On the one hand, the two versions successfully preserve the content and convey the thoughts and feelings of the original. On the other hand, the language of the translation is as expressive and impressive as that of the original. They vividly represent the original natural scenery and arouse the approximately equivalent feelings in the mind of the target readers. [Example 5] [ST5]! (,1981:110) [TT5- l] oh!... She exclaimed at a shooting star. To the south falls another shooting star. And owl on the further hill hoots.(Yang, 1981:97) [TT5-2] Ah-h- h! came from her lips as she watched an immense shooting star
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followed by another descending in the southern sky. It seemed to split the sky in two. From the distance they heard the moaning of a grave-owl.(Ching&Payne, 1982:285) Cuicui is at such a loss that she cannot cry any longer when her dearest grandpa has died. The shooting star and the moaning of owl produce a tragic atmosphere to reflect the heroines mood. Yangs version is almost word- for-word translation, reproducing Cuicuis grief. By contrast, Ching&Paynes version is quite different, in which is rendered into concrete details a great hollow Ah-h- h came from her lipsthe shooting star is modified by immense; the description of It seemed to split the sky in two is totally an unfaithful addition to the original, which not only spoils the original atmosphere but also diverts the readers attention fro m the abstract emotion to the concrete objects. The aesthetic representation of the ideorealm lays great stress on translators subjectivity. From the above analysis, we can come to the conclusion that in reproducing the original beauty of ideorealm, Yang is superior to Ching&Payne in that Yang uses appropriate sentence structures and fresh images and endeavors to recreate the actual realm which is conceptually suggestive and aesthetically entertaining to the target readers. While Ching&Payne tend to use somewhat prolix images and long and redundant sentence patterns to depict the beautiful ideorealm, which is understandable but fails to create a scene beyond the scene and spoils the beauty of infiniteness and fuzziness of the original text.
5.2 The Rendering of Culture-loaded Words and Expressions

Wang Zengqi( ,1994:14) once remarked that Biancheng is not a geographical concept, and meanwhile it is time concept and culture concept. There are many words or expressions carries heavy cultural implications in Biancheng. Culturally- loaded words are those words in the source language embedded with cultural implications, which are often unfamiliar or unknown in the target culture. It may concerns a social custom, a religious belief, or even a kind of clothing. Such notions are often said to be culture-specific. In Biancheng, those culturally- loaded expressions bring us to the beauty of the specific social identity, historical background and interesting cultural phenomenon in Xiangxi. It is also the purpose of Shen to introduce the Fenghuang culture to the outside world. How Yang and Ching&Payne rendered the culture reflected in Biancheng is fairly unusual and attractive. Since literary translation is especially valuable in culture
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communication, this section will look into the translation of cultural elements in Biancheng to explore functional equivalence in literary translation. As for cultural elements involved in translation, Nida divided them into five categories, namely linguistic culture, social culture, religious culture, material culture and ecological culture. By using the above as a reference, this thesis, in consideration of the limited space, is to analyze the translations of the cultures contained in Biancheng from the following seven aspects: material culture, social culture, religious culture, dialect, proverb, idiom and name In other words, the research of this part is conducted with the seven sub-categories of culture based on functional equivalence theory. We will explore different translation strategies and methods that the translators have employed to solve the translation problems arising from cultural divergences. At the same time, we will apply functional equivalence to the analysis of the reasons behind these methods and strategies. 5.2.1 The Translation of Material Culture As is well known, China and English-speaking countries vary extremely in the material aspect. Naturally, material culture at that pa rticular time and place was unique in the history of China. Biancheng displays the local culture of western Hunan in the 1930s. The ethnical material culture in it is attractive and interesting. Most modern Chinese readers who never experienced such an age are unfamiliar with the material culture that is specific for Chatong at that period, not to mention the English-speaking readers with different cultural background. Obviously, they do not positively understand it at all. Thus it induces translators in a dilemma. Therefore, in translating, it is necessary for the translator to find corresponding counterparts or similar words to achieve equivalent effect among the target readers. In the following part, we will discuss how Yang and Ching&Payne settle such translation problems that arise from peculiar material culture and whether their versions are adequate according to functional equivalence. Some examples are given to analyze what translation strategies and methods they adopted in dealing with the Chinese material culture. Lets compare the following examples to examine how the translators treat those words with cultural flavor. [Example 1] [ST1],, ,,,, ,, :,,? ? (,1981:84)
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[TT1-1]The long tables in front of the modest eating house often bear crisp brown carp fried with beancurd and garnished with slivers of red paprika in shallow dishes next to bamboo holders filled with scarlet chopsticks. For a few cents anyone can sit down at the table and pull out a pair of chopsticks. Then a woman with plucked eyebrows and a powdered face will come to ask: Would you care for sweet wine or rice wine, master? (Yang, 1981:13) [TT1-2]In front of the small eating house, there were shallow jars filled with trout fried yellow, dressed with beancurd and decorated with red peppers. Nearby there were some vermilion chopsticks in a bamboo holder, and you could sit down at the long table just outside the door and take up the chopsticks in your hands. As you did so, a heavily powdered woman with plucked eyebrows would ask: Sweet wine? Spirits? (Ching&Payne, 1982:198) In western Hunan, both and are mainly made from rice, so they both belong to (the rice wine) to some extent. Besides taste, the differences between and chiefly lie in the processing procedure (have distillation process or not) and main raw material (different kind of rice). Examining the life style and way of living in Fenghuang at that period, we discover that the word is a particular local specialty generally drunk by women or kids, which is sweet, mellow and fragrant with low liquor degree. Most local people also call it . has another name (the white liquor) that contains a high degree of alcohol. The white liquor, the main wines drunk by Chinese local residents, has become a culture image in its long history of civilization, ranging from literary arts creation, and cultural entertainment to diet cooking, health care, and so on. In the border town, drinking is a way of showing distinctly masculine manner and charming. So when asked by the attractive female boss ??, then the local men will make no mistake to confirm that he wanted the latter because he was manly enough. It is a way of joking. Yang not only leaves out this implying image but also may mislead the target readers by taking sweet wine and rice wine as two distinctly different ones. By contrast, the Ching&Paynes translation is better for there is a clear different between drinks with little or much spirits. This is important in western countries for they forbid to sell hard drinks, the one with alcohol to teenagers under eighteen So when the boss said spirits, target readers, though not as much as Chinese, will sense some braveness and obligation from the masters voice. It may be more acceptable to some additional notes to briefly explain the difference between those two kinds of Chinese wines and wines in western countries, which will contribute to introducing Chinese culture to the target readers.
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[Example 2] [ST2],,, (, 1981:11) [TT2-1]These women wear artificial silk tunics, flowered print trousers, and have long arched eyebrows, big, lavishly scented chignons. (Yang, 198l:14) [TT2-2]They dressed in artificial silk jackets, wore trousers of chintz, plucked their eyebrows as fine as silk threads and socked their in strong perfumes. (ChingPayne, 1982:199) here was a name for the silk introduced into China from foreign countries. The 1930s sees the influx of foreign silk into China, which changes the Chinese traditional costume. Influences by the wave, common people living in Xiangxi, who can not afford , use to make clothes which were fashionable and beautiful in their eyes. In this example, was translated into artificial silk tunic and artificial silk jackets without the sign of , which fails to reflect the particular times background. Another kind of cloth is made by hand in the past of a long history in China. People used to wear clothes made of , which was not Chinese own culture at that time. was common enough in western countries too. In western Hunan, is very common, gorgeous and dazzling. It is made by using the method of tie-dyeing, one of the two most popular methods with wax printing as the other one. Comparatively speaking, tie-dyeing is much easier. People tie the cloth into different patterns, put it into the dyeing solution, and then take it out and air it. The part tied is white without any color. When it is dried, is made out. Here, Yang may not understand its making skills and processes and incorrectly renders into flower print. While the choice of the word chintz make Ching&Paynes version proper and better, which reflects the local color and convey the information contained. [Example 3] [ST3]..., ( 198l:20) [TT3-1]...They invited him to a meal and to drink some yellow wine with a pinch of realgar. (Yang, 198l:22) [TT3-2] ...Grandfather invited him to come over early and take lunch with them and drink orpiment wine. (ChingPayne, 1982:207) Chatong people have their special way to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese festival. It is a Chinese custom to drink , a kind of yellow rice or white spirit with some realgar powder, on the Dragon Boat Festival. Here,
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refers to realgar wine, Chinese liquor seasoned with realgar to be drunk at the Dragon Boat Festival, the fifth lunar month. Even today, this custom is still kept in some places of China. The border town people use as a blessing to people and their future. Yang, as a foreigner living in China for most of her time, was familiar with this custom and applies yellow wine with a pinch of realgar to replace in order to introduce Chinese culture to the target readers. Whereas in Ching&Paynes version, it will confuse the target readers who dont know the Chinese customs to translate into orpimerit wine in which orpiment means . It is more acceptable to translated literally into yellow wine with a pinch of realgar or Chinese liquor seasoned with realgar which directly pointed out the material of the wine and transferred the original cultural flavor. [Example 4] [ST4],,, ,(,1981:6) [TT4-1]On the frontage between the wharves space is so limited that most houses are built on stilts overhanging the water.(Yang, 1981:9) [TT4-2]Connecting all these docks there is a lane called River Road, where the houses are half on land and half over the waterand it was necessary to build them in this manner because land was scarce and wood was cheap.(Ching&Payne, 1982:194) is peculiar to West Hunan. In Yangs version has been substituted by houses are built on stiltshowever, the target readers may not obtain a clear image of and would become confused. Whereas Ching&Payne explain the image of by using some explanatory words the houses are half on land and half over the water, which helps readers understand the structure of the house but may hinders introducing the name of the peculiar Chinese building to the Wester ners. To realize the translation purpose, it is better to transliterate into diaojiaolou combined with some explanatory notes, which will not only provide a clear image of diaojiaolou, but also introduce the name of the peculiar Chinese building to the target readers. [Example 5] [ST5]...,,( ,1981:39) [TT5-1]...and a pouch holding six hundred coins over his shoulder.(Yang, 1981:39) [TT5-2]...and slung over his shoulders a black cloth bag in which he had put sixteen hundred copper coins, and proceeded on his way.(Ching&Payne, 1982:224) in the original text refers to long, rectangular bag sewn up at both ends with an opening in the middle used in the past. is still known by some Chinese
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readers today for it appears sometimes in the movies and series, yet it is unfamiliar to the other Chinese and completely strange to the target readers. Thus, in the translated version, neither a pouch nor a black cloth bag will make the target readers really catch the image of such a typical Chinese thing. Actually, could be rendered into talian with a explanatory note, which will make the unique local object known by westerner without missing its cultural flavor. Additionally, there are other objects peculiar to China in the novel, Huajiao() and baodou( ), which have no corresponding equivalence in English, so in translation, the translator applies transliteration to introduce Chinese culture to the target readers. 5.2.2 The Translation of Social Culture In this section, we will go on to see how functional equivalence theory determines the employment of translation strategies and methods when translators are dealing with social cultural elements. Here, in a narrow sense, the so-called social culture, a centralized expression of social comprehensive factors, co ntains social beliefs, local customs, conventions, values, legends&myths and literature&arts. Symbols labeling social culture include folk customs, address terms, body language, norms of behavior and others. Though a border city, Chatong is viewed as the miniature Chinese society in the 1930s with its unique local culture. In the novel Biancheng, there are numerous terms that contain special implications and emphatically embody thick local colors, which is the unique feature of the novel. Therefore in the following part focus is attached to analyze the translation of words and expressions with thick social cultural flavors. [Example 1] [STl],, (,1981:15) [TTl-1]And Nuosong was such a fine- looking boy that the Chatong boatmen nicknamed him YueYun*.(Yang, 1981:17) *Son of Yue Fei, a brave patriotic general of the Song Dynasty, who fought against invaders. Yue Yun is presented on the stage as a handsome and courageous young fighter. [TTl-2]Nu-sung was so handsome that the artless people of Cha-tung could find no words to describe his beauty, and therefore they called him Yao Yun, after the eldest son of the famous General Yao Fei of the Sun Dynasty.(Ching&Payne, 1982:202) is a well known figure in Chinese history who is brave and handsome. The
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local people compare Nuosong to because this will help formulate the accurate image of him. Original readers will catch the implicit meaning of Nuosong being valiant, brilliant and charming by sketch out the image of with little processing effort because is very familiar to many Chinese people who like listening to storytelling. Whereas on the western readers part, though expected to achieve the same intended effect as original readers do, they are unfamiliar to and have no relevant assumptions in their cognitive environments to achieve it. So when communicating with western readers, its necessary for a translator to make clear the deep implicature conveyed by the word here: he is brave and handsome. When translating , Yang applies transliteration with a necessary annotation so that the target readers have a clear idea of whom Yue Yun is and what kind of characteristics he carries, then the target readers have got a clear image of the handsome and courageous young fighter. By this way, the image of the charming man Nuosong will appear in front of the target readers, the expected effect of intended by author, and therefore achieve functional equivalence without causing much reading trouble to the target receivers. By contrast, through Ching&Paynes version Yao Yun, after the eldest son of the famous General Yao Fei of the Sun Dynasty, the target readers know who Yao Yun is, but will not get the clear image of his handsomeness. Compared to Yangs version, their version, without some important message, does not fully interpret the cultural connotation of the image . But it is enough for the readers who just read the novel for relaxation. [Example 2] [ST2],(,1981:22) [TT2-1]From other houses came shouts of men in their cups playing the finger- game.* *A traditional Chinese game played at drinking feasts. The two contestants stretch out a hand each indicating any number between zero and five and call out a number up to ten supposed to be the sum total of the two hands. The one who calls the correct total wins and the loser must drink a cup as forfeit.(Yang, 1981:24) [TT2-2] From other houses came the sounds of talking, of the finger-game and all the laughter which arises from a feast.(Ching&Payne, 1982:209) , i.e. , a game played by people when they are drinking, is passed from ancient China to society of nowadays. The game activates the atmosphere and brings happiness and excitement to the uninteresting, quiet and sometimes dreary atmosphere of just drinking and chatting. Yang adds the introduction of such game in a footnote, so that target readers will get the exact meaning of finger- game. Yangs
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rendition spreads the Chinese culture and achieves the expected effect intended by the author. Though depriving target readers of the opportunity to learn Chinese culture without introducing such Chinese traditional game and explaining what finger-game is, Ching&Paynes translation is also an adequate one to some extent, because the target readers can still know it is a kind of exciting game from the context. Thus, we can say both versions achieve functional equivalence to some degree. [Example 3] [ST3]...,, ,(,1981:16) [TT3-1]...and when the race reaches a critical stage they raise a din like thunder which, added to the roar of cheers and boos on the bank, reminds you of some epic river battle of old. (Yang, 1981:19) [TT3-2]...the sound of the drums and of people yelling exactly resembled continual explosions of thunder.(Ching&Payne, 1982:204) Both and are patriotic generals in South Song Dynasty, and is a famous leader of peasant uprising. The vivid pictures of and , old stories about the heroic generals, come into many Chinese minds because they are repeatedly told by the storytellers in the old times. The cultural implication of the two battles here is that they fought with infinite courage by commanding the soldiers with a drum, which can help set off the spectacuinrity of the dragon boat race. The original reader will get the social effect easily with little processing effort, because they are old stories which are not foreign to the Chinese readers, but as far as the target readers are concerned, some notes must be added if these images are totally involved in the translated version. Moreover, all the author wants to express is how lively and joyful the scene is. Here, both translators sacrifice them to make sure that the target readers get the right feeling as the author describes. Yang just omits translating the specific cultural image and background, i.e. the two battles, and adopts generalization expression some epic river battle of old instead, in order to make it easy to understand. Yangs version, by substituting the two battles into a recapitulative sentence, is acceptable, even excellent to some extent, and does a better job than Ching&Payne who totally neglect such culturally background in their version and fails to reproduce the author- intended effect on target readers. All in all, the two versions both cause information loss and cant completely match authors communicative intention with target readers expectation and response of the text. To reproduce the same effect with the implicit message here on target readers, it would be a perfectly version if Yang clarifies the implicit information by offering an brief
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annotation about the two battles. [Example 4] [ST4]: , [TT4-1] If only you could dream all your life! he is thinking. Some men dream theyre prime minister or have come first in the palace examination. (Yang, 1981:73) [TT4-2]He thought: There are even people who dream of being prime minister. (Ching&Payne, 1982:259) , the prime minister in feudal China, is a general title for the highest administrative officials under the monarch. As a chief executive intellectual officer of ancient China to assist a ruler in governing the whole country, is unique to Chinese history. The grandfather use the dream of becoming a here to express how happy the dreaming man would be in such a wonderful dream and Cuicuis dream is as beautiful and pleasing as this one. The image of will help the original readers to formulate the accurate cheerful experience of Cuicuis dream. Chinese readers, so familiar with the happiness sprung from becoming a most prominent top officials, will get the associated effect intended by the author with little processing effort because is easy for them to figure out in their cognitive environments. While on the western readers part, though expecting to achieve the equivalent effect as the original readers do, they have no relevant assumptions in their cognitive environments to achieve it. So when communicating with western readers, its necessary for a translator to explicate the implicit information conveyed by the word here. Prime minister in Ching&Paynes version only gives out the literal meaning and makes it no difference from western positions, so the original image has been lost after translation. In contrast, Yang has made it up by an addition of come first in the palace exam, which not only keeps this image but also translate the culture background. [Example 5] [ST5] ,,,, !(,1981:35) [TT5-1] All right, Emerald. If you wont go, I will. I'll wear a red flower and be an old country bumpkin going in to see the sights of the town.(Yang, 1981:36) [TT5-2] Then if you wont go, I'll go. Yes, and Ill put a red flower in my hair and disguise myself an old grandmother.(Ching&Payne, 1982:221) is known by nearly every Chinese as a funny character in the great writer Cao Xueqins celebrated classic novel A Dream of Red Mansions. As a poor old country folk, she had never been to the city. When she does, she has made fool of herself for her lack of seeing the outside world. Thus represents people who
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are ignorant of the outside world and has always hoped to see more. Besides, as a typical common peasant of feudal china, this image also shows the quality of being simple, kind, optimistic, grateful, warm- hearted, humorous, modest, courageous and industrious. As a representative of bumpkin, the old grandmother is one of the most significant images in Chinese culture. The original reader will picture a vivid and lively funny image and figure out all connotation contained with little effort since is so familiar for them in their cognitive environments. However, the target readers have no relevant assumptions in their cognitive environments to catch the implicature and achieve the expected effect. Therefore, it is necessary for the translator to clarify the implicit information conveyed by . In the Yang and Ching&Paynes version, is translated into an old country bumpkin and old grandmother respectively. Bumpkin, an awkward or simple person from the country, is an image in English language that not only has the connotation but also it is a simile. To some degree, old grandmother doesnt as qualified as bumpkin to the target readers. Though the meaning is conveyed, both versions fail to generate the equivalent effect between the original and the target readers because most cultural connotation is omitted. To achieve equivalent effect, the writer advice to adopt the method of transliteration and provide an annotation to introduce the character . [Example 6] [ST6],,,, ,,, ,,(,1981:56) [TT6-1]He said, Chess has its rules: the castles and knights have to move in different ways.If Number One wants to be a castle, he can get his father to approach me through a go-between. If he wants to be a knight, he can stand on the hill opposite our hunt and serenade Emerald for three years and six months.(Yang, 1981:53) [TT6-2]Its like this - you know the old proverb: Theres a road for carriages and a road for horses. If Tien Pao prefers the carriage road, he must first ask permission, and send a go-between to come and talk with me in the proper mariner, but if he prefers the road for horses, then thats clear too - all he has to do is to stand on the cliff over the stream and sing to Green Jade for three years and six months. (Ching&Payne, 1982:240) Here is a local saying, and is not only referring to chess and horse, whats more, they are also traditional Chinese chess gamesXiangqi( ), a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as the Western chess which is enjoyed by both highbrows and lowbrows. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated
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in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Interestingly, in western Hunan marriage customs have something to do with the rules of Chinese chess. the castles way is to ask a go-between to the girls family to represent the mans intention, while the knights way requests the man to sing for the girl for three years and six months to express his love. and represent the formal marital custom and primitive marital custom respectively in the novel. As more and more foreigners are becoming interested in traditional Chinese culture, it is better to translate this as it is. Within the constraint of Chatong culture, obviously both translators directly and literally translated the rules of the castles and knights in chess, which may play as a prelude for understanding the local folk customs, so that the target readers can get the particular meanings of and in special marriage customs prevailing in western Hunan in marriage in Chatong. [Example 7] [ST7], ,: ,,, ......?!(,1981:110) [TT7-1]Somewhere far away a cock crows. The old Taoist, an erstwhile scholar who became a priest after the 191l Revolution, mutters to himself half asleep: Heaven favors man of partsSages come to save the artsNothing else can stand the test Scholarship outshines the rest...What, is it light already? Must be stirring...(Yang, 1981:97-98) [TT7-2]Somewhere in the distance a cock crowded. The old Taoist lying on the bed whispered: Is it daybreak already? (Ching&Payne, 1982:286) , and ,,,...are all translated in Yangs version owing to the different cultural context to introduce Chinese culture to the target readers. In contrast, in order not to involve target readers into the unfamiliar social culture to load their burden of understanding, Ching&Payne omits such information and make the translation terse and easy to understand, so the cultural connotation of the original doesnt exist any more. To some degree, both translators achieved intended purposes. However, because those terms and expressions are closely related to Chinese unique culture and contain rich cultural connotation, Yangs version is much better to convey Chinese culture to the target readers, according to functional equivalence theory. [Example 8] [ST8],,, ,,,,
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[TT8-1]...he goes home to gash himself with a shard and let out some blood before lying down to sleep.(Yang, 1981:178) [TT8-2]He was sure he was suffering from sunstroke! He was so strange! He went back to the house, and finding some pieces of broken china he deliberately pressed them into his own arms and legs until a little black blood flowed(Ching&Payne, 1982:276) Here, is a kind of symptom described in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It should be treated by , that is, rubbing the skin with a hard object to relax the nerves and accelerate blood fluxion or letting out the dotted blood. Though the writer leaves implicit the reason why the old man would hurt himself like this, the readers will understand it with little processing effort according to their cultural background knowledge: he is relieving his disease with the method of . However, the target readers have no relevant assumptions under their cognitive environments and therefore will fail to grasp the actual intention conveyed in the text. It is a great pity that neither of the translators explains it in their versions, which will leave target readers wondering why the old man would hurt himself in that way when he is already ill. The better way here is to add a few explanatory words matching the old mans act with target readers expectation to ensure the equivalent effect and the success of the communication. 5.2.3 The Translation of Religious Culture Different religions differ from one another with great gap. When translating Biancheng, translators will definitely encounter translation problems resulting from the conflicts between the different religions of western countries and China. To prevent the possible misreading of religious expressions by the target readers, sometimes notes can act as an aid for the target readers who are not familiar with Chinese religions. In the following part attention is paid to the corresponding translations of the or iginal religious expressions. Now lets take some representative examples to study this aspect. [Example 1] [ST1], ,...... (,1981:18) [TTl-1]Sixteen youngsters, strong as young oxen, carrying candles, fire-cracks and a big oxhide drum painted a red diagram of the yin and yang* ...... (Yang, 1981:20) *A Taoist sign [TTI-2]Sixteen youngsters, as strong as young animals, marched upstream to the cave where the boat lay hidden, carrying joss-sticks, candles, fire-crackers and a drum which was provided with legs, and with a drumhead made of law cowhide painted over with a vermillion-colored representation of the celestial sphere. (Ching&Payne,
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l982:205) The religious items here are new to the target readers, so the cultural connotation should be clearly explained. On the whole, such religious things as and are well translated in both two versions. Concerning , an obvious symbol for Taoism deeply rooted in the Chinese culture, is meaningless out of the cultural context and hard for target readers who know little about Taoism to understand. Thus, it is usually transliterated because there is no better equivalent in English although Chinese shadow boxing could sometimes do, and the target readers must accept the transliterated term to gain insight into Chinese culture. While dealing with such image, Yang translates it into a red diagram of the yin and yang plus a note which may serve as an explanatory version of the transliteration form. It realizes the translating purpose well and succeeds in introducing the Chinese culture to target readers. Therefore, it achieves the expected effect and response and become a functional equivalence. On the contrary, Ching&Paynes version, without such effect, does not make readers aware of and figure out the symbol of Taoist religion, so fails to arouse the inte nded effect in target readers. This translation even makes target readers at a loss and become confused about what on earth the celestial sphere is. [Example 3] [ST3]......,,, ,, (198l:107) [TT3-1]The old Taoist from town has brought his stock- in-trade, an old linen and a large rooster with which to carry out the due rites by the coffin, chanting masses and calling back the dead mans spirit. He crosses by the raft too.(Yang, 1981:95) [TT3-2]...an old Taoist priest crossed the stream on the raft, bringing the musical instruments and a cock by which the rities could be performed. (Ching&Payne, 1982:283) is a common word and can be easily recognized by target readers by either cock or rooster. However, the word in the original text requires readers processing effort when combined with cultural context: why does the Taoist bring a cock here? Under different cognitive environments, the readers may have various assumptions about the cock. Thinking of the particular background information that one should use a cock to carry out this rites of a funeral according to the custom, the readers will get the actual information contained in . Thus, both translators pointed out the Taoists intention of bringing a cock here: to perform the funeral rites with it. By doing this, the implicit information conveyed in the source text can be fully understood
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by target readers without putting them into the trouble of making too many processing efforts. The translation can arouse on readers the exact equal effect intended by the author and successfully carry out the communication in both information and cultural flavor. Additionally, ,,, in this example, originated from Taoism, is a custom popular in feudal China, and even today it is prevailing in rural areas. When a person dies, his family will invite a Taoist to make salvation for him. It is said that only with the help of the Taoist and his series of activities of ,,, can the spirit of the dead find the way to heaven. In Yangs version, their corresponding translations are the due rites by the coffin, chanting masses and calling back the dead mans spirit. Obviously there exist omissions, are not rendered at all. In reality, they are parts of the due rites by the coffin. Therefore, Yangs version have manifested the Chinese traditional Culture. Whereas, Ching&Payne just put those items into a general one, rites, a version easy for the target readers to understand but with serious information loss. Thus, the former version is much better to be a closest equivalence rich in local religious color. [Example 4] [ST4] ,, [TT4-1] Heaven preserve you! The dead has gone Paradise. Peace be with the living! [TT4-2] May Heaven bless you, may the dead go to the western paradise and may the living have peace. In addition to the sky, implies a mighty mature power dominating all living things. In western countries, heaven also means both the sky and a mighty power, so heaven here is a successful version for the target readers. is a Buddha word. Buddhism was spread to China from its cradle India which lies west of China. According to Buddhism, good people will go to west after they die. However, in western countries with Christian culture, people dont have this conception and their west, different from ours, may carries no special meaning for their people, the target readers. Moreover, Christian culture believes that people go to Paradise after they die. Here, Ching&Payne and Yang adopted (western) paradise for the target reader, This can serves as a perfect example of the combination of domestication with foreignization. [Example 5] [ST5],, , ( 1981:106)
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[TT5-1]Passers-by, who see the old ferryman has vanished, while Emerald is wearing a white mourning ribbon in her hair, know the old man, his task done, is lying at rest in the earth as food for the worms. (Yang, 198l:107) [TT5-2]And when people came from the country and found that there was no sign of the old ferryman, and Green Jade had white mourning threads in her pigtail, they knew that he had done his duty in this world and lay buried in a small grave for the worms to eat. (Ching&Payne, 1982:289) is an unique way in Chinese tradition to cherish the memory of the dead, especially the closest relatives. Yet to most Chinese youngster and westerners, the color white stands for purity, innocent as in white war, a white lie and the white wedding dress for brides in western countries. It may be hard for the target readers to understand such a confusing memorial mannerhow wearing white suggests grief for a near relatives loss in Chinese tradition. However, here the translation white mourning thread (ribbon), with the word mourning serving right here, properly solves this problem. As a professor said, never overlook target readers accepting ability. Therefore, both versions, rich in local flavor, can serve as closest equivalence to arouse equal effect in both original and target readers. [Example 6] [ST6],, (,1981:113) [TT6-1]Four weeks after the funeral, the wharf- master summons the groom back to town and proposes again that Emerald should move to his house.(Yang, 1981:100) [TT6-2]According to ceremonial usage, the families of the dead must guard over the coffin for seven weeks. In the fourth week Shunshun sent for the stableman to discuss whether Green Jade could be brought to the house and prepare for her mar riage with Nu-sung. (Ching&Payne, 1982:288) In China, grand ceremony will be hold after someone dies. According to funeral custom, the coffin must be guarded by closest familiar for forty-nine days. Traditionally, there are a ritual called , i.e. 7-7 mourning custom, which is wide-spread and extremely far-reaching folk action in our country with long history. is accounting from the first day someone dies and include se ven plus seven days or seven periods, during which mourning activities is proceeded every seven days. On the last day of each period of seven days, people hold some memorial ritual like crying, burning paper money in front of the grave, etc. vividly reflects the traditional and deep national psychology about filial piety and funeral which Chinese hold. not only suggest how much relative value the dead, but it is also a way of counting time. For on
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the first seven days, people are very grieved for the passed ones, and it is inappropriate for people to leave the house. But as time goes by, peoples grief is not as deep as before, so people may go out and wont get criticized for being unsorrowful and unfilial. here lasts from twenty one to twenty seven days since grandfather dies. Consequently, , not only a way of time indication, means the granddaughter Cuicui is very filial and it is the appropriate time for Shunshun to invite her to town. Yangs version, not faithful to the original text, is so fiat that no reader will give a thought over this image implied. Whereas, Ching&Paynes version, i.e. seven weeks with some explanatory information about the funeral custom in Chatong, will make the target readers understand the religious image and custom in the source text with little effort. Comparatively speaking, the latter one has conveyed both meaning and cultural flavor and achieve equivalence effect. [Example 7] [ST7]: ,, ,,,?(1981:49) [TT7-1] Youve seen many summers here, uncles, says Number Two. Outsiders say theres something about our district that produces outstanding men. Why have we none now?(Yang, 198l:47) [TT7-2] Well, youve seen twenty thousand suns pass down the sky, and people say that the wind and water signs are favorable here to the birth of a great man, but why is it that not a single great man has appeared? .(Ching&Payne, 1982:234) Here , an essential concept of Chinese traditional culture, mainly involves geographical circumstances or housing lands or burial places. Superstitious local Chinese think can bring obvious and profound influences on the fortunes of their families and descendants. Taoists are adept in prognostics, while is famous for its prediction functions, which make and Taoism being closely interwoven. As a native religion in China, exerts deep influence on Chinese culture and people, so it conceives C hinese characteristics and is deeply embedded in folks cognition. Here, Yang replaces with something, a version unfaithful to the source text with serious information loss and bearing no relation with the original cultural connotation. Obviously inferior and far from adequate for it does not display a vital part of Chinese religious culture implied in the source text at all, such kind of rendering would never match closest equivalence, much less arouse equal effect in target readers to the original readers. While in Ching&Paynes version, is literally translated into wind and water signs, which might somehow mislead western readers who know little about Chinese religion. Thus a explanatory note is
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needed to make such foreignization of comprehensible and full of local flavor. However, it is better to transliterate such a essential religious notion with a necessary annotation, a most excellent way to render Chinese special religious culture faithfully and arouse expected effect in western readers. 5.2.4 The Translation of Dialect The city of Chatong has its own distinctive language. In the novel Biancheng, there are many dialogues among the characters which carry rich and colorful language culture. In this novel, the main characters are peasants and soldiers, so their language, or rather dialect, is preferred for character depiction. Sometimes it is difficult for the translator to translate the meaning and the structure of the sentence at the same time. Sometimes the local language is so closely united with culture that it is incomprehensible if literally translated. It is least possible to translate the accent of Chinese into English. Thus, the only way out is to translate the meaning and the information of the original for the sake of readers response. Such local expressions as , , , , , , , , and , find no corresponding words in English. The rendition of these words full of local color is a great challenge. In the process of translation, both translators apply free translation to keep the meaning and spirit of the words. [Example 1] [ST1] , !(,1981:48) [TT1-1] Brave as a panther, handsome as a cock thats you. (Yang, 1981:47) [TT1-2]The Leopard of Eight-Face Mountain, eh? Or the Pheasant of Thousand-Field Stream? Thats what they call you! (Ching&Payne, 1982:233) The words in the above example are very simple and with a strong sense of local color. For example, there are two metaphors, with two faint images that only the local people are familiar with, used here to convey the characteristic of local language. , are fairly ordinary things and familiar to folks living in western Hunan. , are the names of two places located in western Hunan, which are the habitat areas for and . is the emblem of fierceness and bravery, while is famous for its showy and colorful feathers. These ordinary things are close to the common people living in Chatong, so they just use them to express their praise. Shen Congwen is quite a master who is skilled in employing common sayings full of local colors. Here, the author applies local dialect and uses simile as it reflects Miao peoples character. The image and
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bear a lot of indeterminate connotative meanings because of their abundant associations. and are the rare animals which can be found in western Hunan. may associate peoples mind with either bravery or briskness in Chinese culture. and have typical geographical features in Chatong and is not easy for the target readers to understand. So Yang just keeps the meaning and the structure of the sentence and omits and totally. Translating the sentence into brave as a panther handsome as a cock, Yang clearly neglected the two local places which represent the local flavor. The two parallel phrases are used to make the sentence terse and forceful as the original. Whereas Ching&Payne applies word-for-word translation to keeps the original image. Without considering the cognitive environment of the target readers, their version confuses the readers and hasnt got the evocative effect as the original text. [Example 2] [ST2],: ! , (,1981:36) [TT2-1]..., she looks confused and retorts, I was watching a duck- fight, in other words, Nothing in particular.(Yang, 1981:36) [TT2-2]She would answer in a low voice filled with unaccountab le shame, Green Jade is not thinking about anything!(Ching&Payne, 1982:222) In this example, Cuicui, growing up and has experienced a girls romantic sentiments, is shy of speaking out what she is really thinking. So when asked by grandfather, she cleverly replies to imply that she doesnt want to share her sentiment or secret with grandfather. Her euphemism goes even furthershe expresses by using another local euphemistic utterance !. Her informative intention is that she doesnt want to tell it. Watching a duck fight has the same meaning to thinking about nothing, a unique expression that is fresh and charming to both the source readers and the target readers. The target readers, without the background knowledge, may fail to ge t her real intention. Thus, the translator needs to match the informative intention of Cuicui with the expectation of the target readers, the hearer. Both translators convey the first intention to target readers. Ching&Payne omits the special saying ! and keeps its original meaningnot thinking about anything. However, with unaccountable shame may lead target readers away from getting the real meaning because the word shame is relevant to something wrong or bad in their cognitive environment. Thus, this version, a little bit rigid and improper, sacrifices the cultural connotation to achieve the intra-textual coherence. Yang adopts literal translation in order to keep the culture
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flavor and make ostensive the first intention of the utterance, but doesnt interpret the further intention of itI dont want to talk about it. It seems that they stop at the first level of the intention, but they have mentioned something before the conversation which will remind target readers of the fact that she answers this way purposely, which will lead them to the inference of her real intention. This version makes the spread of local culture successful. Therefore, its difficult to turn out a good translation of the conversation itself which will create equivalent effect of the source text, however the translator can achieve it by marking the implicature before or after the conversation. 5.2.5 The Translation of Proverb [Example 1] [ST1] , [TT1-1] You wouldnt have made the trip without some reason. (Yang, 1981:87) [TT1-2] Then surely you had some business? (Ching&Payne, 1982:269) means triratna, the triad of the Buddha (the enlightened one), the dharma (universal truth), and the sangha (monks who have authoritatively studied, taught and preserved the teachings of the Buddha). Both versions evidently transfers the connotative information contained, but the culture image has been lost. It is better to render it literally into never go to the Triratna Hall of Buddhism(or temple) with an explanation on the page foot for nothing can be adopted to reflect Chinese cultural peculiarity. By doing this, the target readers may more or less know the other aspects of culture besides the denotative aspects, and may touch something about the religious institutions and material aspect of Chinese culture. [Example 2] [ST2] , , (,1981:38) [TT2-1] I want a sweetheart to listen to my songs, but I need a good wife wholl manage my household well. I want to eat my cake and have it. Thats me! (Yang, 1981:38) [TT2-2] I dont want nay horse to eat grass, but she must run faster than anyone else. (Ching&Payne, 1982:224) According to the linguistic context, the Chinese proverb in this example means that he wants a good wife and sweetheart. Nuosong adopts this old proverb to express his worry and hesitation on whether he should propose to Cuicui or not. Thus, the image is not as significant as the connotation implied. Yang properly renders this proverb with some explanation in order to transfer the implied meaning of the sentence to the
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target readers. Concerning form, eat my cake and have it is a proverb known to target readers which has the same meaning (enjoy the benefits from two alternative course of action etc when only one or the other is possible.) However, the image of the original is different. Whereas Ching&Payne just translate literally to make the language vivid and lively, but the target readers may not read between the lines. Compared with Ching&Paynes version, Yangs is more suitable for target reader to appreciate the source text. On the whole, both version are fail to produce the equivalent effect to some extent. [Example 3] [ST3] ,(,1981:59) [TT3-1] Every man to his taste.(Yang, 1981:55) [TT3-2] Sometimes people cook beef with garlicits all a matter of taste (Ching&Payne, 1982:242) This is a fresh and impressing local proverb which advocates free love and means that everyone has his own likes and dislikes. Translators should reproduce the original proverb to maintain the meaning implied and the special local language style. In rendering, Yang employs liberal translation. Although the true meaning of the sentence is conveyed, the image and local color of the original text is lost, so her translation is inadequate. Being aware of the source texts valuable originality, Ching&Payne adopt literal translation to keep the original image and make the language as expressive and lively as the original, thus evoke the intended effect on the target readers. 5.2.6 The Translation of Idiom [Example 1] [ST1], (1981:78) [TT1-1]He is wide of the mark, however. (Yang, 1981:71) [TT1-2]But he had made a mistake, putting Changs hat on Lis head. (Ching&Payne, 1982:259) literally means that a person puts Zhangs hat on Lis head. That is to say a person confuses one thing for another. Here Yang applies free translation and rendered it into wide of the mark, a typical domestication. wide of the mark, an English idiom, means being inaccurate or far from the point aimed at. By comparison with the original text, the English version does not completely reflect the Chinese idiom and loses the form of four character idioms, but the target readers can easily accept both in form and meaning. Whereas, Ching&Payne adopt literal translation to introduce Chinese culture to the target readers. Their version putting Changs hat on
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Lis head is fully foreignization. For target readers, it is difficult to understand it individually. However, its meaning is quite clear if we put it into the whole context. It is Nuosong who sang that night, but the old man wrongly supposes that the singing man is Tianbao. In this situation, he had made a mistake, putting Changs hat on Lis head, a version perfectly acceptable and understandable. Thus, Ching&Paynes rendition is better because it completely convey the original information and the cultural flavor. [Example 2] [ST2] ,!,, ! (1981:78) [TT2-1] Hey, there, outlaw! You wouldnt come in and have a drink with me. Afraid I'd poison a big man like you, eh? (Yang, 1981:26) [TT2-1] Hey, you! You wouldnt come to have a drink in my house, you remember? You were afraid I might poison the wine, eh? And youre such an important old fellowa future Emperor, most likely? (Ching&Payne, 1982:214-215) In China, is a mystery word that not only refers to the sky but also a mighty mature power as in , , , that is because in ancient China people took as the dominator of all living things. In western countries, Heaven also means both the sky and a mighty power. So it is common for the westerners to say, By Heaven. For heavens sake. Heaven forbid. Here, , the Son of Heaven, is used to address the emperors in Chinese feudal society because the ruling class said that their regimes were established by the heavenly orders, and they are thus called the son of Heaven. But in this context, it is used to express a right man chosen or an important, competent and strong man. In Yangs version, its image is not preserved but replaced by a big man, is acceptable both in form and meaning for the target reader. While Ching&Payne render it into such an important old fellowa future Emperor which seems a little awkward at first sight but is an excellent version actually, for it is nearly a closest equivalence to the original one and suit the target culture well. This version vividly express the authors meaning with no information lost, so it is better than the other one. 5.2.7 The Translation of Name [Example 1] [ST1] ,, , (,1981:5) [TT1-1]Because their home was among bamboos and hills of a glorious emerald green, the old boatman gave the poor mite the name Emerald. (Yang, 1981:6)
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[TT1-2]The cottage lay between hills covered thickly with bamboo groves, whose jade-green leaves filled the eyes with interminable bright color, and so he called her Green Jade. (Ching&Payne, 1982:192) , the name of the heroine, is endowed with rich connotation by the author purposefully. She is portrayed by the author as a beautiful, simple and lovely girl who has been soaked in nature all day, which avoids the bother from the outside. So her beauty is very natural and different from those in the noisy cities. For Cuicui, nature is her mother and teacher making her innocent, lively and untamed. The beauty of green hills and water is projected into her life, incorporating the beauty in Cuicui and in nature. As a typical of the girls in Chatong, she is pure and innocent, what she knows is only nature and good things, without any nasty one. And after her grandpa died, she became very strong and brave to shoulder the obligation left by her grandpa. Besides, bamboo in China stands for great man, especially those with great virtues. Moreover, bamboo is a symbol of love, especially the firm love a girl harbors for her lover, a connotation that is traceable to an ancient legend. And in the story, Nuosong may come back tomorrow or never, whatever the result is, Cuicui will always wait for him without question. This is the deep reason that the author attentively gives the girl this name. Cuicui is clearly assumed to have a particular connotative, expressive, and aesthetic meaning of its own. The Chinese readers can understand the implied meaning without any difficulties. The visual image of makes the readers think of bamboo, green leaves and a slender young girl who grows up happily. All in all, Cuicui and nature are incorporated into a united whole which embodies the nature of western Hunan. To take rhythm into account, the disyllable used represent the beauty of rhyme. Thus, the two characters of Cuicui not only give people auditory enjoyment but also visual pleasure. It is well known that no two snowflakes are alike. It is undesirable that there will be a perfect match. As the sound and image, form and spirit of all stimulate the original readers to create the imagination of beauty, it is impossible for the translator to find a absolute equivalence in the target language which will rival in Chinese without any information and flavor lost. Here, Yang and Ching&Payne translated respectively into Emerald and Green Jade. On the one hand, both versions seemed apparently to meet the expectation horizon of foreign readers and ensure them a sufficient understanding to some extent. On the other hand, Emerald and Green Jade just give the literal meaning of Cuicui and leave out its additive and associational meaning. As to which version is better, we can draw a conclusion that Emerald is more
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suitable than Green Jade by a detailed comparison. Firstly, as a color green means envy and shallow like green-eyed and in literature works the monsters are always green Secondly, though jade has the meaning of treasures, it also refers to a frivolous girl. While Emerald has two meanings, bright green precious sto ne and bright green color, especially the color of spring field, so Emerald will remind readers of the image of a beloved and pure girl.
5.3 The Treatment of Rhetoric Devices

Rhetorical devices are usually used in literary works to achieve special effect. In literary translation, the translator should keep the similarity in form and meaning according to the source text and the requirement of the target readers. Besides, the translator is expected to transfer not only the message of the source text, but also the specific way the message is expressed in the source language. Shen Congwen, with deep affection to his hometown, writes his novel in a language as genuine and beautiful as the frontier folksongs in his hometown. His language, which has also enriched the modern vernacularism in China, is imbued with metaphors, local sayings and folksongs. In Biancheng, many figures of speech are utilized to make the novel more attractive. For instance, the writer uses many similes to make the language of the characters more impressive. So the translation of the figurative language in Biancheng is a great challenge. When rendering rhetorical devices, both of the two translators often apply literal translation in order to keep the original image. In the following, the paper intends to find out the translators strategies when facing the figurative language. Moreover, the paper tends to figure out how the functional equivalence is achieved in the treatment of figurative language. 5.3.1 The Treatment of Lexical Stylistic Device 5.3.1.1 Synaesthesia [Example 1] [ST1], .(,1981:77) [TT1-1] His stories fresh in her mind, the girl dreams that glorious singing is filling the air,(Yang, 1981:70) [TT1-2] But as she slept she could not forger the things her Grandfather had told her, and her soul was lifted up by the sound of such singing as she had never heard before. (Ching&Payne, 1982:258)
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In this example, synaesthesia is employed in the source text to vividly depict Cuicuis feeling when she hears Nuosongs songs which float into her dream and her soul. Shen doesnt directly narrate the process of the brothers singing competition. It is implied that The man who wins the response marries Cuicui. Then he portrays that Nuosongs songs are so vivid and moving that tempts Cuicui to drift in the dream. Here, Shen adopted a rhetorical device of transferred epithet or synaesthesia to express the charm of Nuosongs songs and stir up a kind of gleaming and illusory felling in the readers mind by constricting a fantastic atmosphere. The readers cannot help but wonder what are Xiangxi love songs on earth? How beautiful the No. Twos tamber can be? The author left a large suspense for the readers to imagine by themselves. All of the beauty comes out of the expression . In Yangs version, is substituted by the girl dreams that glorious singing is filling the air which shows that the singing just fills the air without stirring up in Emeralds soul. Though this version has successfully transmitted the information of the original text, it is unable to let the target reader understand the language esthetic sense of the original text without keeping the rhetorical technique indeed. By comparison, Ching&Payne adopt the original rhetoric device in their version But as she slept, her soul was lifted by the sound of such singing, and the feeling is overtly described to make the readers realize the fantastic effect of the singing with unlimited aftertaste. Such rendition is more expressive for Shens creating skills. As a result, compared with Yang, Ching&Payne succeed in the representation of the original texts information, style and beauty, which stirs up equal resonance in target readers and original readers and results in the achievement of the intended equal effect. In a sense, this is a more successful version. 5.3.1.2 Metaphor [Example 1] [ST1],,, ,,,,(,1981:49) [TT1-1]We dons turn out rascal but god fellows like you. At your age, youre still sturdy and sound as a nanmu tree, steady, decent, and open-handedthats something to be proud of.(Yang, 1981:47) [TT1-2]and its true there are no really bad men here, theyre all good. There cant be many man like you, though, old and as strong as an oak-tree, firm as a rock, generous(Ching&Payne, 1982:234) In this example, , a kind of rare species of evergreen tree native to China,
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mainly grows in Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan and Guangxi province. People in western Hunan and many other places of Chinese are quite familiar with the feature of nanmu treesrigidity and resistance to rot. Its wood being very solid, nanmu trees is a kind of valuable material for constructing buildings and ships. So nanmu tree is cherished in China and the whole world. Here in Biancheng, Shen used simile to figuratively describe the health of the old ferryman. is used by the writer for its associative meaning, for it is the symbol of qualities of being steady, decent and open-handed in the local language of western Hunan. It has become a common saying for local people to use nanmu trees to symbolizes the virtue of adamancy and praise those who are old but still strong enough. The author takes to praise grandfather, but people from other places may not hold the same opinion on the nanmu. In Yangs version, the word, together with its associative meaning, is literally translated. By using Chinese pinyin nanmu, Yang manages to preserve the image in the target text. Although foreign readers do not know this tree before, they can infer its connotation from the adjectives sturdy and sound. Clearly enough Yang succeed in conveying Chinese cultural image into western countries through foreignizing On the contrary, Ching&Payne is skillful in using the familiar image oak tree as a replacement of unfamiliar one to avoid confusing target readers with culture-specificity of China. By adopting the corresponding image in English oak tree, which has a similar connotation with the nanmu in Chinese, the approximately equivalent feeling is evoked in the target readers. Therefore, both renditions are adequate since they are adequate to the requirements of their respective purpose. [Example 2] [ST2],, , ,, ,,,( ,1981:7) [TT2-1]Wind and sun have tanned the growing girls skin, her eyes resting on green hills are as clear as crystal. Nature is her mother and teacher, making her innocent, lively and untamed as some small wild creature. She has the gentleness of a fawn and seems not to know the meaning of cruelty, anxiety or anger. (Yang, l981:7) [TT2-2]Green Jade grew up in the wind and sun, so her skin was black. She saw only green mountains and blue water, so her eyes were clear as crystal! Nature had nursed and educated her, and she was as innocent and agile as a young animal. She was as gentle as a mountain antelope, never took thought of cruelty or sorrow, and she was
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never angry! (ChingPayne, 1982:192) It is well-known that Shen is usually emotional involved in portraying the characters, so the translators should master the subtle emotional change of the author toward the characters. Whatever are their own inclinations, they should bring themselves to come to terms with what the original author presents. Growing up in the nature, Cuicui, with beautiful appearance and gentle disposition, is in perfect harmony with the nature. Here in the example above, Shen conveys vividly his love to this lovely girl by using such words and phrases as , , , and , etc. Among them, shows that Cuicuis skin is tanned for her intimate contact with the nature. And two similes and utilized to describe Cuicui, imply that Cuicui has become a part of the nature. During rendition, Yang succeed in the reproduction of the writers affection towards and adoration for Cuicui with such expressions as tanned, as clear as crystal, untamed as some small wild creature, the gentleness of a fawn, all commendatory expressions for describing people in western countries. On the contrary, Ching&Payne depict this lovely girl as one with black skin, clear as crystal eyes, like a young animal, and as gentle as a mountain antelope. All these expressions in both versions keep the similarity in form to the source text and faithfully recreate the original explicit meaning. However, they do display different features. Firstly, as to and , it is evident that both translators have done a good job in their rendition. They both translate into clear as crystal, which is considered as a symbol of cleanness and pureness. Concerning , fawn in Yangs version implies youth and tenderness, whereas antelope in Ching&Paynes version suggests grace and agility, both of which are appropriate renditions. Regarding and , Yangs version is superior to Ching&Paynes. In Ching&Paynes rendition, the lovely girl is portrayed as one with black skin, and like a young animal. As a derogatory word when used to express the color of skin, black is an improper collocation with skin, which distorts the authors intention and gives the target readers an impression of an ugly and dirty country girl, thus conveys to the tar get reader an illusion that the author dislikes this girl. In contrast, the usage of the verb tan in Yangs version for the adjective shifts the original static to the dynamic. It is known that western people are zealously in pursuit of tanned skin, which is regarded as the right color to show the beauty of health. Thus, tanned here puts forth to the audience a girl who is an integral part of the nature. Moreover, for
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, the different choice of small wild creature in Yangs version and young animal in Ching&Paynes version may evoke different feelings in the readers hearts, as the former is often associated with something lovely and petty, while the latter something small and savage. All in all, it is clear that Yangs version is more appropriate and aesthetically appealing to the readers than Ching&Paynes to some extent. Because Yang has considered both the original authors intention and the target readers expectation, she succeeds in transferred the aesthetic information to the target text. It is clear that Yangs form not only well retained the form, information, and beauty of the source text, but also arouse resonance between the target reader and the original author, so it could be regarded as the closest equivalence of the original text. 5.3.1.3 Onomatopoeia It is no wonder that the onomatopoetic words are utilized frequently in literary works, within which Biancheng is no exception. In Biancheng Shen uses the onomatopoeias mainly to modify verbs, which presents the readers a lifelike picture and made them be personally on the very scene. [Example 1] [ST1] , . ( ,1981:169) [TT1-1]A flash of lightning just behind the hut is followed by a tremendous roll of thunder. (Yang, 1981:93) [TT1-2]Lightning grazed the roof of the cottage, thunder clapped overhead...... (ChingPayne, 1982:281) [Example 2] [ST2],, (,1981:170) [TT2-1]The path down to the wharf is transformed into a gurgling yellow brook.(Yang, 1981:93) [TT2-2]The road leading down the bank was a small river, the yellow muddy water murmuring as it rushed down the steep slope. (Ching & Payne, l982:182) Here, in example 1 is indeed a delicate word imitating lively the sound of the thunder. Readers can even feel the thunder rolling in their ears while reading this sentence. Both translators make an adjustment to render the original onomatopoeic wordYang translates it into a noun roll, whereas Ching&Payne a verb clap. Both translators realize the same true to life effect as the original through their different selection of words. They succeed in bringing target readers to the very scene depicts in
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the source text, where they can sense the stunning force of the thunder in person. While in example 2 acts as a modifier of the verb , which not only portrays the dynamic picture of the flowing muddy water lively, but also realizes the sound effect distinctly. By using this term, the scene depicted attracts not only the readers eyes but also their ears. Both translators achieve the same effect by the adoption of two present participles derived from the onomatopoeias: gurgling in Yangs version and murmuring in Ching&Paynes version. Gurgle depicts the sound when water moves quickly through a narrow space, whereas murmur usually describes a low continuous indistinct sound of breeze and water etc.. As a result, both versions are not only phonetically pleasant enough to reproduce the original sound enjoyment, but also meaningfully enough to unfold a true to life dynamic picture before target readers eyes. Above analysis leads us to a conclusion that both versions succeed in arousing as equal response in target readers as in original readers and are among the closest equivalence according to functional equivalence theory. Example 3 [ST3],,, ,,, ,,(,1981:99) [TT3-1]After a burst of firecrackers, they lit the fuses of the big fireworks tied to the legs of stools in the square. Then sizzling white streaks of light shot up two hundred feet with a roar like thunder, to sprinkle the whole sky with the spaurks as they came down. (Yang, 1981:28) [TT3-2]When the fire-cracks were finished, an enormous cylinder of fireworks was roped to a bench in a corner of one of me large courtyards, the fuse was lit and slowly a ray of white light poured from the cylinder, but a moment later it would begin to explode with a terrifying sound of thundering tigers, shooting upwards three or four hundred feet into the sky, melting in a rain of flowers and fountains. (Ching&Payne, 1982:214) Here, Shen utilizes a series of onomatopoeias to describe the cheerful and exciting sight on the Lantern Festival. is an adverb modifying the verb , is not only an onomatopoeia but also a personification, and describes the sound of the firecrackers, which work together to depict a lifelike, cheerful and busy scene. Yang renders by adopting an onomatopoetic present participle sizzling which reproduces both the meaning and sound effect of the original successfully. Whereas Ching&Payne simply omit this sound. Besides, roar in Yangs version is
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more vivid and lively than the improper expression terrifying sound in Ching&Paynes version, which diminishes the artistic charm and aesthetic sense the original to some degree. With regard to , both translators have done a good job. Yang utilizes simile roar like thunder, and Ching&Payne adopt metaphor thundering tigers, both of which recreate the sound of the fire-crackers effectively. 5.3.2 The Treatment of Syntactical Stylistic Devices 5.3.2.1 Repetition Repetition of a sound, syllable, word, phrase, line, stanza, or metrical pattern is a basic unifying device in a literary works. It may reinforce, supplement, or even substitute for meter, which helps to produce strong refined effect. In Biancheng, Shen employs repetition to express the intense and sincere sentiment towards the characters, give prior to the focal points, and add force and emphasis to the underlying significance. [Example 1] [ST1]:,,,, ...... (,1981:129) [TT1-1] Emerald, he tells her, Ive just seen a fine mill. Brand-new from the millstone and water-wheel to the thatch on the roof...... (Yang, 198l:57) [TT1-2] Ive just seen the most wonderful mill! he exclaimed. The millstone is new, the water-wheel is new, the thatch roofall new......(Ching&Payne, 1982:244) In this example, Shen repeat to give prominence to how the mill takes grandpas breath away, and reinforce his envy and longing for the mill. Both translators have adopted different methods to translate them. Yang has skipped over the original repetition. However, Yang still recreates the particular information contained in the source text, with shifts of perspective and with the use of such emphatic words as brand-new, from...to.... Whereas, Ching&Payne try to retain and imitate the original rhetoric device and translate it into three simple sentences, which enhances the intrinsic logical relationship among sentences. Both handlings are appropriate to achieve the particular effect of the source text and portray grandpas surprise and his unspoken envy, which make the target reader produce resonance as strong as the original in a way that will help to achieve the equivalent effect. 5.3.2.2 Antithesis [Example 1] [ST1]: , (,1981:64) [TT1-1] Boats have a wharf, birds have a nest, he murmurs.(Yang, 1981:59)
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[TT1-2]...and he began to speak in a soft, slow voice: Every junk must come to harbor, and every bird must have a nest.(Ching&Payne, 1982:246) Antithesis is a rhetoric technique with symmetrical form and harmonious tonality, which is designed to illustrate different things or aspects of the identical thing by comparison. The symmetrical components can supplement and contrast each other. Here, the original text is well balanced in structure. and , and , are in contrast to each other, and work together to highlight the grandpas concern for Cuicui and his understanding of peoples sense of belonging. Both renditions are structurally well balanced to produce a striking contrast and recreate the great psychological effect on the target readers. Cooperating to reinforce the power of love, those balanced structures evoke a sense of harmony and artistic enjoyment in readers heart. As a result, because of their appropriate selection of words and intelligent utilization of symmetrical structure similar to the original text, both translators do a good job to arouse equivalent effect and vibration in target readers. 5.3.2.3 Parallelism A concise rhetoric device utilizing the same pattern with a view to heightening language expression and highlighting emphasis, clarity and coherence of ideas, parallelism contributes to add distinguishing feature to literary language: neatness, balance and concordance in structure; rhythm, rhyme and harmony in tonality. In Biancheng, parallelism is often accompanied by repetition and is mainly used in the local language in order to achieve musical effect with particular flavor. The lines complement each other to keep the sentence structure neat, totality harmonious and semantic meaning coherent. Lets have a look at the following example. [Example 1] [ST1],,, (,1981:68) [TT1-1]There is one place on earth where fire cannot spread, water flow, sun and moon shine, or love make its way.(Yang, 1981:63) [TT1-2]The fire bums everywhere, Water flows everywhere, The sun and the moon shine everywhere, And love reaches everywhere.(Ching&Payne, 1982:250) Chinese is characterized by subtle richness full of artistic images, so its figurative images could only be perceived but not conveyed in another language according to a certain context. Once it is conveyed in another language, sometimes it will inevitably lose its original beauty and images. Here, parallelism is utilized in a local proverb to describe the honesty, uprightness, and straightforwardness of the Chatong people who
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pursue free love. By the comparison of love to fire, water, the sun and the moon, this proverb reveal the concept of affection held by local folk that love is natural and it can burst everywhere. The original parallel pattern enhances the strong feelings towards love, and the short and concise sentences with the same structure repeated four times makes the original text read like a song. Both translators try to keep the original meaning in translation. By a method of omitting the repeated pattern, Yang changes the original structure into a simple sentence with an attributive clause which, concise enough but not in accordance with the authors intention, obviously disobeys the original style. It has transmitted the semantic meaning, but it fails to translate the prominent formal features of this local saying. By contrast, Ching&Payne adopt paralleled structure and repetition (the repetition of everywhere for four times) to translate the vernacularism, which make the sentence pattern rather neat to achieve the identical effect of the original expression. The concise and comprehensive expressiveness is obtained from the multi- level ideological information conveyed by the beautiful form and rhythm, which serves to reinforce and extend the meaning and aesthetic value of the translated version. Ching&Paynes version manages to recreate the local color of Chatong accent and vividly represent the style of the original, while Yangs version needs improvement considering the failure to organize sentences in a coherent way and the departure from source text in style. By keeping the meaning, image and style of the original sentence in translation, Ching&Payne manages to achieve the same response among the target readers. From the above analysis, we can come to the conclusion that as for the outstanding representation of the formal aesthetic values, the two translators have attempted to reproduce the meaning and preserve the formal beauty as well. It is hard to say whose is better, as each has its merits and demerits. It is six of one, and half a dozen of the other. Generally speaking, Yang has done a better job than Ching&Payne in representing the extrinsic values on the phonologic and lexical level, while Ching&Payne do better on the syntactic level.
Chapter VI Conclusion
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Chapter VI Conclusion
This thesis offers a comparative study of the two English versions of Biancheng in three aspects, and thus proves the accuracy and practicality of Nidas theory of functional equivalence. The thesis first discussed the significance and methodology of this study, which followed by layout of the whole thesis. Then a brief review was made of the theories on translation equivalence. After introducing the key principles in functional equivalence theory proposed by Nida, the thesis makes a demonstration that this theory can be applied to literary translation. The main part is a case studya detailed comparison between the two English versions of Biancheng, the translation strategies being adopted, and whether equivalence is achieved. Due to the writers limited knowledge and capacity, the comparative analysis can never be all- inclusive, but still the following conclusions can be obtained as a result of this evaluation Translating activity is regarded inter- lingual and intercultural communication. The process of translation involve too many complex factors that will exert influence on the choice of rendering methods, such as the target readers, the purpose of the text, the attitude of the translator towards the ST, the receptors demands and so on. A translator is constantly faced with a series of polar distinctions that prompt him to choose either content or form, meaning or style, equivalence or identity, dynamic equivalence or formal equivalence. Translators should be bilingual, bicultural, skillful, and knowledgeable enough to determine and analyze the differences or contradictions between the two languages and the two cultures, and strive to balance all the factors to a good combination and resolve the contradictions in translating with intent to achieve equivalent effect. Functional equivalence theory is very significant in the field of literary translation. Only by determining the skopos (purpose) of translation can translators of literary skillfully adopt proper strategies in their translations. On the other words, functional equivalence is highly applicable in translating literary works for its great emphasis on the conveyance of meaning and style and on the equivalence in readers responses, which corresponds to the requirements of translating literary works. Besides, the validity of its implementation in translation determines whether a translation is successful or not. In translating culture-specific novels, the meaning is usually of priority over the form. A thorough understanding of the original meaning is the necessary starting point
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in translation, and accuracy is the primary consideration. Translators must take full account of all aspects such as lexicon, syntax and context to achieve functional equivalence in meaning. Meanwhile, they should make every effort to transfer the stylistic features of the original work to allow his readers to enjoy the identical, or at least similar, reading experience as the readers of the original. When translating cultural words, it is better to make his translation easy for the readers to understand, but at the same time, too much domestication is unnecessary. The key point is whether the target message can provide in the target culture the same effect that the source text has in the source culture. In the process of the concrete comparing and analyzing, it is found that in some circumstances, both versions achieve functional equivalence, though they might differ in some way or the other. Generally speaking, both translations are well handled and have their own strong points. With an aim to transmit the value and spirit of Chinese culture and the life of Chinese faithfully and adequately, Yang adopts foreignization method and does better in preserving the cultural, stylistic and aesthetic value on the whole, especially on phonetic, lexical level. Whereas Ching&Payne bear the purpose of arousing interest of the readers in the western countries in their mind. By employing domestication method, they adapt to the target culture and attempt to make the version more understandable and entertaining. With a briefer and easier version, they do better in adapting to the target culture and pleasing the target readers, especially on the syntactic level. As indicated by the analysis in the above chapter, Yangs version as a whole is better than Ching&Paynes in the representation of the unique Chinese values. However, no translation is ever perfect, both of them leave some room for improvement in some cases. Once an original text has overcome the obstacles separating two languages, it begins a new life, being reproduced in the target language and read by the target language readers who would have been denied that opportunity without the translators efforts. If functional equivalence is achieved in rendition, we can say the translated version conveys almost exactly the same impact as the original does. Due to the limited time, research energy and writers ability, there are inevitable shortcomings and insufficiencies in this research. The examples selected for this research only occupy a small part of Biancheng and its two English rather than the whole texts. If the research could cover more examples, it could be more well-rounded. Anyway, it is the authors sincere wish that this thesis may shed some light on the study and practice of literary translation.
Acknowledgements
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Acknowledgements
This thesis would not have been completed without much generous assistance. I am deeply grateful to all those who have helped and supported me in my graduate study and in the process of writing this thesis. First of all, I would like to express my most heart- felt appreciation to my respected supervisor, Prof. Ma Gang, for his great patience, remarkable generosity, and illuminating guidance through the entire process from preparation to accomp lishment. By using his profound knowledge, Mr. Ma Gang gives me inspiring instruction, invaluable advice, precious direction, and constant encouragement throughout my whole postgraduate study, which enable me to gain enough confidence to finish the present thesis. I am also greatly indebted to all the teachers of English Department of Xidian University, who have instructed me in my postgraduate studies. In particular, I must devoutly thank Prof. Yang Narang, Prof. Jiang Ning, Prof. Wang Yanping, and Prof. Hong Wei, etc., for their delightful lectures on the linguistics and translation and insightful suggestions on this thesis. My sincere thanks also go to all my friends and acquaintances for their understanding, toleration and support during the completing process of this thesis. A great portion of my genuine debt is especially owed to my best friend Li Xuefeng, Yang Xiao, Sun Xiaoning, Hao Lipeng and Ma Zongmin who have selflessly shared with me some useful ideas, messages, materials, consultation, and technical assistance, and have evoked enlightening stimulus through discussion, argument, and oral presentation, which really arouses sentiment and attachment in my deep heart. Finally, I should extend my gratitude to my dearest family members who have stood besides me in hard times and encouraged me through my study years in college and graduate school. Without the help and support of these people, the thesis could not readily come out.
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Bibliography
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นฆฤถิตศสำฝวฯย ฑ฿ณว มฝำขา๋ฑพถิฑศัะพฟ

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Abstract

1.3 Structure of the Thesis

Chapter II An Overview of Translation Equivalence Theory

Chapter II An Overview of Translation Equivalence Theory

2.1 General Introduction to Translation Equivalence

2.2 Equivalence Studies in China

Chapter II An Overview of Translation Equivalence Theory

2.3 Equivalence Studies in the West

Chapter II An Overview of Translation Equivalence Theory

Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory

Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory

3.1 A Brief Introduction to Eugene A.Nida

3.2 Definition and Nature of Translation

Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory

3.3 Functional Equivalence

Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory

Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory

Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory

Chapter III Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory

Chapter IV An Introduction to Biancheng and Its Two English V ersions

Chapter IV An Introduction to Biancheng and Its Two English Versions

Chapter IV An Introduction to Biancheng and Its Two English V ersions

4.2 The Two Translated Versions and their Translators

Chapter IV An Introduction to Biancheng and Its Two English V ersions

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English Versions of Biancheng

5.1 The Reproduction of Image and Scenery

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

5.2 The Rendering of Culture-loaded Words and Expressions

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

5.3 The Treatment of Rhetoric Devices

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

Chapter V A Comparative Study On the Two English V ersions of Biancheng

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