Exploration of potential translation techniques involved in portraying ancient Chinese beauties' images

• Main Author: Zhao, Yu
• Other Authors: Cui Feng
• Format: Thesis-Master by Coursework
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Humanities::Language
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/158332
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In ancient times, many differences existed between the eastern and the western worlds as regards aesthetic perceptions held of women. This capstone project aims to explore the specific effective translation strategies and techniques that could be utilized to fully preserve and communicate ancient Chinese aesthetic perceptions of feminine beauty, in respect of women’s appearances and movement, to western readers. Eight books introducing the life stories of some ancient Chinese historical beauties had been chosen, namely Qian Gu Liu Ming: Wang Zhaojun《千古留名:王昭君》, Jue Dai Jia Ren: Xi Shi《绝代佳人:西施》, Hou Gong Mi Shi Quan Zhi Dao《后宫秘事全知道》, Da Tang Nv Ren《大唐女人》, Yan Yu Hong Yan《烟雨红颜》, Ming Chao De Chun Hua Qiu Yue 《明朝的春花秋月》, Gong Wei Jiu Meng: Dang Hong Qiang Dai Wa Xie Hou Guo Se Tian Xiang《宫闱旧梦:当红墙黛瓦邂逅国色天香》, and Zhong Guo Gu Dai Si Da Mei Nv Jiu Shi Zhe Me Jiao Yan《中国古代四大美女就是这么娇艳》, as the basis of selection of STs. Excerpts, depicting the appearances and movements of some well-known beauties, had been selected from these eight books. These excerpts were then translated to explore the concrete translation techniques involved in preserving images of the appearances and movements of these beauties. The conclusion derived is that when encountering Chinese aesthetic cultural terms and figures of speech including simile, synecdoche, metonymy, and hyperbole that describe ancient Chinese aesthetic notions about women, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of that particular example and then choose the most appropriate and viable technique from the list of feasible techniques detected and summarized in this project to retain the appearances and movements of beauties. Additionally, in places where literal and referent translation fail to communicate the relevant aesthetic sense understandably or vividly, the translator needs to take the initiative to transcreate flexibly to portray a clear and vivid picture in readers’ minds.