CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

Chinese gardens, part of the important heritage of man’s civilization, are regarded asthe mother of the world gardens and one of the wonders of the world art. The history ofChinese gardens dates back to over 3,000 years ago when China was under the reign ofShang and Zhou dynasties. Since then, Chinese gardens have gradually developed byfollowing a unique style of building and patterning when the Chinese have established anew school in the world of landscape gardening art. Following the principle that theworks of men should match those in the heaven, the Chinese ensure that their gardens arebuilt with unique designing techniques and exquisite construction craftsmanship, withhills, stream, flowers, grasses, houses, pavilions, bridges and, in some cases, pagodas in agarden well laid out, bringing about remarkably impressive images. Meanwhile, Chinesegardens are renowned for their delicate combination of natural beauty and classicalChinese literature, calligraphy, painting and theatre etc, implying rich culturalconnotations. Therefore, the distinctive charm of Chinese gardens appeals to tourists allover the world.

Translation plays an important role in introducing the art of the building andpatterning of Chinese gardens to the world. Quality translations of the texts of publicityfor Chinese gardens not only display the unique charm of the Chinese gardening art, butalso promote China’s cultural exchanges with other parts of the world. However, due tocultural barriers, the publicity task often seems far more formidable than the translatorcan handle as such texts often teem with literary quotations or allusions with peculiarways to explain the theories of the Chinese gardening that readers with different culturalbackgrounds usually find hard to interpret. As a result, some of the translated work thatappeared to be far from satisfactory could hardly turn out to be a positive force in thecultural exchange.

.......................

1.2 Rationale and Research Questions

In practice, the Cultural View on Translation is of great significance for thepreservation and transmission of the cultural elements implied in the texts of publicity forChinese gardens, as well as for the “cultural construction” of the traditionally culturalelements in the texts of publicity for Chinese gardens in the target culture. According tothe Cultural View on Translation, the basic unit of translation is not a word, a sentence, oreven a discourse, but culture. What is more, it is held that all cultures are equal and, thus,in order to promote cultural exchanges between cultures, translators are supposed toretain the cultural elements in their translations to show the distinct charm of differentcultures. All in all, the Cultural View on Translation emerges with strong vitality in that itconforms to the global trend of economic integration and cultural diversity.

The study from the Cultural View on Translation is the first attempt scholars haveever made to take the cultural turn or to work on the basis of culture or, better, of culturalinteraction towards solving the problems arising in the process of translation.Furthermore, the dearth of academic efforts to have pushed ahead the study from thecultural view makes it justified to make more efforts. Since the 1990s, the Cultural Viewon Translation has gradually been accepted and recognized in the field of translation as aresult of its initiative in protecting weaker cultures and promoting cultural diversity.

.....................

CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Previous Studies on the Translation of the Texts on Chinese gardens

The distinct charm of Chinese gardens has been appealing to scholars at home andabroad for centuries. Great efforts have been made to introduce its history, designingtechniques and cultural connotations of Chinese gardens to the west. According to TangLihong (2009), it was not until the publication of Ji Cheng’s Yuan Ye that classicalChinese gardens had been studied systematically. Its Japanese version has exertedprofound influence on the development of the Japanese Gardens and architecture. (Liu,2005: preface) In 1988, the English translation of Yuan Ye done by Alison Hardie, anexpert on the Chinese garden design of the period when China was under the reign of theMing dynasty, came out under the title of Craft of Gardens. (He, 2012: 9). In addition,the English version of Chen Congzhou’s Shuo Yuan, On Gardens and Famous ChineseGardens was very well received of all the translated works of the texts on Chinesegardens.

It is certain that apart from the works mentioned above, there are plenty of translatedtexts on Chinese gardens. However, they are of poor quality in terms of the use oflanguage or the delivery of cultural connotations. Regardless of emerging problems intranslation, it is not until very recently that scholars have turned their eyes to the study oftranslation of the texts on Chinese gardens. Therefore, it is fair to say that research in thisarea is still in its preliminary stage.

........................

2.2 The Theoretical Potential of the Present Study

From what has been mentioned above, it can be seen that there has been a risinginterest in studying the translation of the texts on Chinese gardens. Over the last decade,many scholars have conducted researches under the guidance of different theoriesincluding pragmatics, the skopos theory, the adaptation theory, text analysis approach,functionalist approach, etc. Apart from studies conducted from the perspective of varioustheories, more specific topics have also been explored, including translation of terms,ethical problems in translation, etc.

Generally speaking, the theory-guided studies not only proved the guidingsignificance of different theories, but also brought into existence numerous translationstrategies of practical value, while studies exploring specific topics barely touched beforehave greatly expanded the range of study in the field of translation study by providingmultiple new perspectives. However, several problems could be concluded from thosestudies. Briefly, previous studies on the translation of texts of publicity for Chinese gardens were productive and inspiring but were limited not only in scope but also indepths. On the one hand, the majority of those studies were case studies. In other words,they somehow lacked the support of sufficient corpora, thus weak in persuasive force. Onthe other hand, as for the illustration of cultural elements embedded in the texts onChinese gardens, part of the studies have touched on the topic, but they were usuallycarried out in a random manner or, in other words, unsystematically, and withoutadequate theoretical support.

......................

CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.............8

3.1 Language and Culture.................8

3.2 Culture and Translation...............9

CHAPTER FOUR CULTURAL ELEMENTS AS TRANSMITTED TO ORCONSTRUCTED IN THE TARGET CULTURE.......... 17

4.1 Cultural Elements Observable in Texts of Publicity for Chinese Gardens...18

4.2 Cultural Elements as Transmitted to or Constructed in the Target Culture............19

CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION..................33

5.1 Review......................33

5.2 Major findings and Research Significance............33

CHAPTER FOURCULTURAL ELEMENTS AS TRANSMITTED TO OR CONSTRUCTEDIN THE TARGET CULTURE

4.1 Cultural Elements Observable in Texts of Publicity for Chinese Gardens

Chinese gardens are a rich source of Chinese culture, especially classical culture thatexerts great influence on every aspect of the lives of the Chinese people. In studying theworks on Chinese gardens, it has been found that five major cultural elements frequentlyappear in the texts, i.e., ecological elements, material elements, institutional elements,behavioral elements and mental elements.

Ecological culture refers to an aspect of culture that emphasizes harmony betweenman and nature, instead of a human-dominant one. Such emphasis is embedded in thedesigning techniques of Chinese gardens. The cultural element implied in Chinesegardens mainly lies in the emphasis on the harmony between man and nature by creatingvarious scenes in Chinese gardens.

Material culture refers to food, clothing, architecture, transportation, productiontools, villages, cities, etc. (Liu Miqing, 1999: 36) It is the material realization of certaincultural landscape. In Chinese gardens, the material cultural elements are found primarilyin the production tools and architecture.

......................

CHAPTER FIVECONCLUSION

5.1 Review

This thesis primarily deals with the translation of cultural elements in texts ofpublicity material on Chinese Gardens from the perspective of cultural view ontranslation. After a brief introduction of the research background, rationale, researchquestions and the organization of the thesis, as well as a review of relevant studies and anintroduction of the theoretical framework, it probes into the analysis of the corpora. Theanalysis is made of five cultural strata, namely, ecological, material, institutional,behavioral and mental strata. Meanwhile, translations of the cultural elements in thetypical samples have been closely examined. The discussion has been done within thecontext of the cultural view on translation to judge whether the translation of culturalelements is effective, partially effective, or ineffective, focusing on whether thetranslation adds to the interaction between the two cultures involved.

reference(omitted)