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History of Translation Theories

History of Translation Theories from early Russia to the Soviet Union

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Chapter 12 A Brief Introduction of Contemporary Chinese Translation Theories--from 1949 to Present

当代中国翻译理论简史（1949至今）

李瑞洋 Li Ruiyang, Hunan Normal University, China

Abstract

Chinese translation theories develop themselves on the grounds of traditional translation views and literary aesthetics. In contemporary China, translation is considered as an art which is actually an embodiment of translation and aesthetic. Aiming to clarify the development of contemporary Chinese translation studies, this paper first summarizes the changes in translation standards, that is, the pure critique,improvements and reinterpretation of the three-character translation standards by Chinese translators in the late twentieth century; then, it reviews the translation studies of Fu Lei, Qian Zhongshu and Xu Yuanchong in recent years and analyzes the aesthetic connotation in them. Meanwhile, this paper briefly states the limitations and expectations of future study, hoping to provide some useful suggestions for better enhancement.

Key words

Chinese translation theories, Translation criteria, Translation aesthetics, Tradition basis

摘要

中国学派的翻译理论深深根植于本国的文化土壤之中, 它实际上是在传统翻译观和文学美学的基础上发展起来的。在当代中国，翻译被认为是一种艺术，是翻译和审美的体现。为了厘清当代中国翻译研究的发展，本文首先总结了翻译标准的变化，即二十世纪后中国翻译家们对三字翻译标准的纯粹批判、修正和重新阐释；接着，回顾了近年来傅雷、钱钟书以及许渊冲看似一脉相承的翻译理论，分析了其中的传统继承和美学内涵。同时，本文简要说明了中国现存翻译理论的局限性和对未来研究的期望，希望能提供一些有益的建议，以便更好地提高翻译研究水平。

关键词

中国翻译理论；翻译标准；翻译美学；传统基础

1. Introduction

Chinese translation theories develop themselves on the grounds of traditional literary aesthetics until the modern times and even after 1949. What they all share in common is the search for aesthetic, philosophical and cultural resources in traditional culture as the basis for their arguments. The most typical is Yan Fu' s translation criteria of"faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance", which is originated from Zhi Qian's idea in the preface to his translation of Buddhist Scriptures. Fu Lei's "spirit likeness", Qian Zhongshu's "sublimation" and Xu Yuanchong's "translation aesthetics" are all developed form predecessor's translation views and inspired Chinese traditional literary aesthetic theory. In China, translation is considered as an art which needs to reach a certain aesthetic effect, therefore, translation theory is actually an embodiment of translation and aesthetic.(Xie, 2005: 59)

Yan Fu's translation criteria is not a systematic theory, but it is still held as a guideline for a long time and many Chinese translators have put forth new ideas on this foundation. His idea is rooted in the Chinese literary tradition and conforms to the habits of the Chinese mind, which is why it can survived for so long. On the one hand, before him, there was basically no such systematic translation criterion in China, his idea has filled a gap in Chinese translation theories. The idea of "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance" was concise and systematic, and thus it was taken by the community as the translation criterion. On the one hand, the theories of literary translation in China are deeply influenced by "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance". On the other hand, those who are engaged in literary translation work also feel that these golden words cannot solve the practical problems in translation practice, so they further elaborate them. As a result, some theories of literary translation come into being, such as Fu Lei' s "spirit likeness", Qian Zhongshu's "sublimation" and Xv Yuanchong' s aesthetics of translation.

2.Translation criterion

Translation criterion is of great significance to Chinese translation theory. Since Yan Fu’s idea, namely “faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance”, came into being, there has been years of discussion about it. The importance of translation criterion theory derives from both the theory itself and its derivative power. With the development of translation study, more and more critics of Yan Fu's idea have been raised. People have gradually come to realize that the translation criterion of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” is not perfect enough, especially the idea of elegance, which is doubted by many translators. In Translation As a Communication (2001), Cheng Yongsheng points out that there are three types of criticism on Yan Fu’ s translation criterion. The first type is pure critique; the second type is improvement; and the third type is a partial or full reinterpretation. (Cheng, 2001: 25)

2.1 Pure critique

Wang Zuoliang, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, was a representative of pure critique on Yan Fu’s translation criterion, and he clearly opposed Yan Fu's "elegance" idea. Since from the point of view of "elegance", Yan Fu advocated the use of quaint language for translation. He thought it was inappropriate to use vulgar words in any translation. However, Wang Zuoliang believed that Yan Fu's "elegance" was unreasonable. “If the original is not elegant, there is no need for elegance in the translation.”He took Gold Vase Plum as an example, which was a famous vernacular novel, he pointed out that “If you put these coarse social figures into graceful style of Zhou and Qin Dynasties and use refined words from Six Dynasties to convey the dialogue of them, the translation must be very ridiculous, causing a great loss of the meaning of the original text.” Wang Zuoliang did not think that "elegance" is equivalent to beautification. He opposed Yan Fu's quaint translation of any text, but insisted on that the style of the translation depended on the original text. (Wang, 1997：462), (Chen, 1929: 135)

2.2 Improvements

Unlike pure critique, many translators have put forward their own criteria while criticizing "faithfulness, expressiveness, elegance". Like Xv Yuanchong, Liu Chongde and Chang Xiefeng, they made improvements on the basis of Yan Fu's idea.

Xv Yuanchong, who was a professor at Peking University, regarded “faithfulness and smoothness” as necessary conditions for translation, but “elegance” as a sufficient condition. In other words, "faithfulness” and “expressiveness" are criteria that must be followed in translation, but the implementation of "elegance" depends on the specific text. In contemporary China where writings are in the vernacular instead of in classical Chinese, the idea of “elegance” can no longer be limited to the original meaning of quaint, but should turn to rhetoric. Xu refuted the idea that the relationship between translation form and the original content was dialectical unity. In his opinion, regardless of literal translation or free translation, faithfulness to the original content is the first priority. If only faithful to the form, ignoring the content, it was not a qualified translation. He considered that different literary genres shared different translation criteria. The prose translation criterion was concerned with “the faithful content of the original text, the smooth translation form, and the promotion of the advantages of the target text.” As for poetry translation criterion, he emphasized the beauty of meaning, sound and form. (Xu, 1984:9-17)

Liu Chongde, who was the vice president of Translators Association of China, presented his own translation criterion as “faithfulness, expressiveness and closeness (in style). He agreed on Yan Fu’s first two criteria-- “faithfulness” and “expressiveness”, but changed “elegance” into “closeness”. From his perspective, the unity of a literary work was composed of ideological content, language expression and style characteristics, and literary translation must also be a true representation of the original complete unity. He bored down on the importance of “closeness in style”, which meant that the translation style was determined by the author’s own writing style. The translator must know very well about the writing style employed by the author, and carefully select wording and phrasing to fit the original style while translating. In order to fulfill the criterion of "closeness", Liu Chongde clearly defined what kind of language ability a translator needed. He must be proficient in the native language and the language that needed to be translated. For one thing, he should translate the accurate thought content of the original text easily and smoothly and cause no rigidity to the readers. For another, he should notice every subtle difference in the author’s words, even a tiny particle, and find an appropriate form in the native language. (Peng, 2019:8)

2.3 Reinterpretation

Ma Zuyi, the author of A Brief History of Chinese Translation, reinterpreted the concept of "elegance" as translating in a standard language used throughout the country. Ma found the source of Yan Fu’s “elegance” in The Analects of Confucius. Confucius used the dialect of Lu state in his usual conversations, but when reciting The Book of Songs and The Four Books, he used the official language of the Zhou Dynasty, namely "Ya Yan"/elegant language. Yan Fu lived in the late Qing Dynasty, when the articles should written in classical Chinese, so he advocated the quint language. However, after the New Culture Movement in 1919, writings in the vernacular occupied the main historical stage, the criterion of “elegance” changed into using vernacular language while translating. (Ma, 1981:2)

Shen Suru , who was a honorary member of Translators Association of China, held a view that “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” formed a theoretical system of translation criterion. He defined translation as follows: "Translation is a cross-language and cross-cultural communication, which is to convey an original content of certain language expressed by the sender to the recipient with different cultural background as fully as possible”. He emphasized that translation was communication, so translation research could not be confined to the study of two language conversions, but should highlight how to achieve the purpose of conveying information through interlingual conversion. Therefore, he believed that “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” could not be considered in isolation. In order to achieve effective communication, all these three criteria must be met, and failure of any of it could lead to unqualified translations. For example, if the translated text was consistent with the original content, but difficult to articulate, then this kind of "faithfulness" was unqualified. (Shen,1998:156)

To sum up, it is difficult to decide which of the criticisms on "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance" is the most reasonable, but these pure criticisms, improvements and reinterpretations have reached three points of consensus: translation must have one criterion; Yan Fu's translation criterion has not reach the acme of perfection; "faithfulness" and "expressiveness" are the most important in translation. However, there is still no exact conclusion as to what the ultimate criterion of translation should be. Meanwhile, it seems that detailed questions have not been thoroughly discussed. For example, to what extent a translation can be considered "faithful".

3. Literal Translation Theories

By critically inheriting Yan Fu's translation criterion, Chen Xiying put forward a literary translation theory of "three similarities”--”similarity in form; similarity in meaning; similarity in spirit”, which had a profound influence on contemporary translation theory in China. In 1929, Chen Xiying published “On Translation" in New Moon, an influential literary journal sponsored by the New Moon School in the 1920s. The essay criticized the view that a good prose translation just needed to be up to the "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance". Many novel ideas were presented in this essay. Firstly, he introduced the concept of literature and non-literature. Quoting the English critic De Quincey, who divided literature into two categories: literature of wisdom and literature of force. According to his point of view, the former was didactic and the later was touching. Chen Xiying concluded that whether it was didactic or touching was the key to distinguish literature from non-literature. Secondly, he condensed "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance" into one concept--”faithfulness”, and seriously questioned the necessity of being elegant in literary translation; Thirdly, he divided "faithfulness" into three levels: similarity in form; similarity in meaning; similarity in spirit. “Similarity in form” means that the ideological content of the original work should be accurately conveyed; “similarity in meaning” means that the stylistic features of the original work should be fully presented; “similarity on spirit” means that the charm of the original work should be precisely expressed.(Chen, 1984:135-143)

Chen Xiying has set a precedent for the theoretical discussion of literary translation in contemporary China. His theory originated from the consideration of applying Yan Fu's translation criterion to literary translation. His theory was complementary to "faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance". The "three similarities" were held in high esteem in literature translation theory, and they were elaborated by many other translation theorist. Fu Lei summarized it as "two similarities", while Xu Yuanchong developed the "three similarities" into “three beauties” from the practice of poetry translation. Therefore, Chen Xiying's theory of "three similarities" served as a prelude of literature translation theory in contemporary China.

3.1 “Spirit Likeness” by Fu Lei

Fu Lei was a great translator and artist, who has long been engaged in the translation of Balzac's series. During his lifetime, Fu Lei has introduced over 30 world masterpieces to Chinese readers, greatly prospered China's literary field. Meanwhile, he has contributed himself in developing translation theory. The main translation theory developed by Fu Lei is the “spirit likeness”, which was first proposed in yhis translation work Le Pere Goriot. It is of great significance for people engaged in translation theory and translation practice.(Fu Lei, 2005:2)

3.1.1 Definition

In order to understand the essence of Fu Lei's theory of "spirit likeness", the exact meaning of "form likeness" and "spirit likeness" should be made clear. According to The Chinese Translation Dictionary, 'form likeness' refers to preserve the form of the original text, such as the genre, type, structure and rhetorical means. The term "spirit" means that the translation should reproduce the imagery and rhyming phrases of the original text in an exquisite manner. In 1951, in the preface to the retranslation of Le Pere Goriot, Fu Lei wrote that, "In terms of effect, translation should be like painting, and what is sought is not form likeness but spirit likeness." (Chinese Translation Dictionary Editorial Committe, 1997:466),(Fu Lei, 2005:2)

Fu Lei advocated "emphasis on the spirit likeness rather than form likeness", which was his personal aesthetic ideal of literary translation. Each language bears its own inimitable characteristics, unique cultural connotations and that fixed grammar rules. Even for languages as close as English, French, and German, there are many difficulties in translating each other, not to mention the huge span between Chinese and English. Literal translation of original syntax and word meanings does not quite work. He tried to remind translators not to weigh the gains and losses of linguistic forms, but to focus on delivering the spirit. (Zheng, 2000:89)

Jin Shenhua regards Fu Lei as the spokesman for Balzac in China. Literary translation is to convey the personality, style and flavor of the writer. Fu Lei has achieved this. His excellent artistic, extensive knowledge and rigorous academic attitude have made Balzac fortunate enough to have a spokesman. While translating Balzac's works, he strove for excellence of translation, thoroughly grasping the spirit of the original and retaining the author's logic, thought and style at full steam. (Jin, 1996:94)

3.1.2 Traditional Inheritance

Fu Lei inherited the ancient Chinese idea of literary aesthetics. As is known, Fu Lei is a translator and artist at the same time, so it is reasonable for him to borrow the concept of literary aesthetics "spirit likeness" to evaluate literary translation. Enlightened by painting, Fu Lei compared translation to painting. The "spirit" in Fu Lei's "spirit likeness" may be understood as "romantic charm" or "qi" of art. The Eastern Jin painter Gu Kaizhi proposes that form likeness contributes to spirit likeness, but Fu Lei put "spirit likeness" in the first place. Because Fu Lei believes that translation is more difficult than painting, in his view, materials and techniques of original and copied paintings are the same, while the rules and connotations of the source and target language are worlds apart. While in 1920s, from the perspective of painting, Chen Xiying illustrated "the similarity in form, similarity in meaning, similarity in spirit" in literary translation.

3.1.3 Aesthetic basis

The main unique feature of the "spirit likeness" is that Fu Lei considers literary translation from the perspective of literary aesthetics, bringing translation activities into the realm of aesthetics. The concepts of "spirit" and "form" have been proposed as early as in Chinese classical aesthetics. “Ancient aestheticians in China divided aesthetic objects into two parts: ‘spirit’ and 'form', with 'spirit' being the content, or the inner factors; 'form' is the texture, or the external factors." Later theories of poetry were influenced by the tendency of classical aesthetics of China to "pursue emotion" and “pursue realm ", and he "spirit likeness" gradually took precedence over the "form likeness ". Thus, the focus on spirit has become the mainstream of poetry. Having studied art history in his early years, Fu Lei was familiar with the "theory of form and spirit" in classical aesthetics, so he applied it to discuss the problem of literary translation. (Zheng, 2000:85)

3.2 “Sublimation” by Qian Zhongshu

Qian Zhongshu, with a great fame among intellectuals, is considered to be "the Kunlun Mountain of Culture" in contemporary China. Since he is one of the most erudite scholars in China, both well versed in domestic and foreign culture. His studies cover broadly from philosophy to philology, from poetics to aesthetics, from textual criticism to literary criticism. It is meaningful to research his translation theory, especially the pith of his translation thought—"sublimation".

3.2.1 Definition

In Lin Shu's Translations, Qian presented the “sublimation”. By criticizing Lin's translation, and analysing foreign scholars' arguments, Qian came up with his own view on translation — "sublimation". Qian takes "sublimation" fort he highest ideal of literary translation. In fact, this essay was first issued before the cultural revolution, but it was revised in 1981, with the biggest change of the meaning of "sublimation" from the "the highest criterion" to the "the highest ideal". “While translating literature from one language to another, any rigid and far-fetched trace should not exist and the original flavor should be preserved perfectly, in such way can be considered to reach ‘sublimation’. In the 17th century, such translation effect was thought to be the ‘transmigration of souls’ of the original, with the body transformed but the spirit retained.” That is to say, the translation should be faithful to the original so much as to read not like a translated version. A wonderful translation never merely or stubbornly sticks to the principles of absolute equivalent or approximate effect, but instead ought to flexibly reflect the full meaning and the intact flavour of the original work, in an idiomatic target language so as not to bear any trace of exotic touch. (Luo, 1984:696)

3.2.2 Traditional Inheritance

Qian Zhongshu’s "sublimation" is an inherited development of previous Chinese traditional translation theories. Developing from Buddhist translation theories, Yan Fu's three translation criteria and Fu Lei's "spirit likeness", "sublimation" is rooted in the Chinese traditional land and has become part of local theories. In Three Difficulties in Translation, Qian dates back the origin of Yan Fu's translation criteria and proposes his own opinion. He regards the three notions as an entire reality instead of viewing them separately. What he believes is that faithfulness is the most important one among these three criteria, because it includes the content of the other two criteria. To be more specific, faithfulness entails expressiveness and elegance to make a complement, which means expressiveness and elegance are the necessary conditions of faithfulness; Expressiveness is necessary for any translation, but elegance can not always be a polish to the original works. Without expressiveness and elegance, translation can not achieve the effect of faithfulness. Based on these findings, Qian puts forward his own translation theory--”sublimation”, which is a creative rethinking of the controversial propositions in Chinese translation history. It embodies some typical characteristics of Chinese traditional translation. “Sublimation” creates a harmonious and compatible condition for translation and puts the traditional propositions of "faithfulness" and "style" to the acme. (Luo, 1984:67)

3.2.3 Aesthetic basis

The traditional “realm” conception provides a breeding ground for Qian's "sublimation". Qian takes full advantage of the quintessence of Chinese traditional aesthetics. As soon as "sublimation" is mentioned, it associates people with an indescribable realm. Luo Xinzhang once praised "sublimation" to develop translation from the domain of aesthetics to the realm of art" . The aesthetic realm comes from the Buddhist realm conception, which is a universal feeling. At first, the realm conception referred to actual end or boundary, but later it expanded the connotation to the abstract realm, related with the heart. What the heart perceives is the "realm". in this sense, "realm" will show a strong sense of individuality. Influenced by the "realm", writers prefer to color the external world with their institutions and deliver their true feelings. With regard to the aesthetic meaning of "realm", Wang Guowei argued that, "To express the feelings and impress the readers, literary creation needs to grasp two keys, namely meaning and realm; all the first-rake literary works are the combination of meaning and realm, and if only completes the meaning or realm is incapable of being literature." Qian’ s “sublimation” inherits Chinese classical aesthetics but meanwhile surmount the original idea. What Qian pursues is the highest state of the translation, to preserve innate flavor of the original with the transmuted appearance. (Luo, 1984:19)

3.3 “Translation Aesthetics” by Xv Yuanchong

Xu Yuanchong is a famous translator and translation theorist. He is a pioneer of poetry translation in China, especially in traditional Chinese poetry translation. For one thing, he was inspired by many famous teachers, such as litterateur Wu Mi, essayist Zhu Ziqing, aesthetic master Zhu Guanqian, and poet Wen Yiduo. For another, he devoted himself to numerous translation practices. As a prolific translator, Xu Yuanchong spent around 70 years on literary translation, and he translated above 3000 Chinese traditional poems. Benefit from solid theoretical foundation and rich translation practice, he has put forward valuable translation theories.

3.3.1 Definition

The quintessence of Xu’s theory is “Art of beautifulization and creation of beauty as in rivalry”. His literature translation theories involves four aspects: Ontology, Methodology, Teleology and Epistemology. Their representative theories are as follows: Ontology-three beauties, referring to beauty in sense, beauty in sound and beauty in form; Methodology- three transforms, referring to generalization, equalization and particularization; Teleology-readers’ comprehension, appreciation and admiration; Epistemology-the essence of translation is not science but art. (Xu, 2003:75), (Han, 2009:18)

In Xu's aesthetic translation theories, the three-beauty principle have received the most attention. While translating poems, Xu believes the best words are those with beautiful sense, sound and form. In The Art of Translation, he illustrates more clearly, “The art of translation is to comprehend the original content (or the deep structure) through its form (or the surface structure) and then reproduce the original content with the form of the target language. This reproduction is absolutely not a word-for-word translation, but recreation of the original beauty in meaning. And meanwhile, the original beauty in sound and in form should also be reproduced when poem translation is concerned.” (Xu, 2006; 83)

Beauty in sense suggests that the translator should express the superficial meaning of the content, but also the sense in it. In the words of Xu, if the content and form of the poem are in consistent with each other, the translation will be harmonious. If they are inconsistent, the form takes the first priority. Beauty in sound accounts for that the translator should try his utmost to reproduce original meter, rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration. Xu strongly objects to translate poetry without rhyme. It is worthy of reproducing the rhyme where the original text appears. Beauty in form does not only mean the beauty of characters but also arrangement of structures. Achieving resemblance in form is necessary, but if not, at least it should be generally well-organized. Antithesis and form are emphasized in Chinese classical poems. Therefore, translator should be capable or creative enough to cover with the transformation of form the source language to target language.

3.3.2 Traditional Inheritance

Xv Yuanchong’ s translation theories can be condensed into “art of beautifulization and creation of the beat as in rivalry”. His theories are the inheritance and development of the predecessors. The translation criteria of “faithfulness, expressiveness and excellence(信达优)” is inspired by Yan Fu; With an attitude of keeping up with the times, Xv boldly innovates Yan Fu's criterion of "elegance" into "excellence" which is more in line with contemporary translation practice. That is, to give full play to the linguistic advantages of the target language; The “three beauty Principle” is enlightened by Lu Xun; Lu Xun supposed that the Chinese language is beautiful in three aspects: in sense appealing to the heart, in sound appealing to the ear and in form appealing to the eye. And Xv put forward the three beauty to be specific as beauty in sense, beauty in sound and beauty in form; “Three Resemblances” is expanded from Fu Lei’ s belief of “spirit likeness”. Xu confessed that his "three resemblance" benefited from Fu Lei. However, compared to Fu Lei's generalized, qualitative idea, which is the dichotomy of “spirit likeness” and “form likeness”, Xv’ “three resemblance” is a much more specific aesthetic judgment standard. (Xu, 2001:52)

3.3.3 Aesthetic basis

Translation aesthetics utilizes the theory of aesthetics to provide interpretation and guidance for translation practice. Aesthetics is the subordinate unit of philosophy, studying the essence and significance of beauty. Translation aesthetics perfectly combines translation and aesthetics into one whole. It employs interdisciplinary method to study the literary translation from the perspective of aesthetics, so it embodies the artistic and scientific nature of translation. Fang Mengzh defines translation aesthetics in A Dictionary of Translation Studies in China, “translation aesthetics refers to research the special significance of aesthetics on translation, to reach the combination of the scientificalness and artistry of translation from the perspective of aesthetics.” It means to utilize basic aesthetic laws and analyze aesthetic issues in translation. (Fang, 2004: Chapter18(2))

Xu Yuanchong has taken an absorption from former aesthetic and philosophical wisdom. Inspired by Wang Guowei's "realm" and Confucianism, Xu's aesthetic view is put forward, "To follow the heart and not to exceed the rules is the mature state of the translation art". "To follow the heart" refers to the process in which the translator, as the aesthetic subject, gives play to the creativity of the aesthetic subject when aestheticizing the original text, namely the aesthetic object, so as to reproduce the aesthetic elements of the original text and finally transmit the aesthetic pleasure to the readers; "Not to exceed the rules" means that the creative play of the aesthetic subject should not be contrary to the spirit and aesthetic intention of the original work. (Xu, 2003:73)

4. Conclusion

4.1 Limitations

A series of the translation views mentioned in above actually are not the established theories. Since these views hardly set up an organized and complete system, they can not be called the translation theories, such as Yan Fu's translation criteria, Fu Lei's "spirit likeness", and Qian Zhongshu’s "sublimation".

Yan Fu's views are presented for a specific purpose and under a unique background conditions. as mentioned by Wang Zuoliang, Yan’s target readers are the literati class of Qing Dynasty at the end of the 19th century, the upper class bureaucrats and intellectuals who had profound knowledge of ancient languages. With his patriotic mission in translation, He wants to save the nation from subjugation and ensure its survival by instilling in the feudal scholars the advanced Western thoughts. However, today's social environment is already a world away from Yan Fu's time, and the readership has also changed dramatically. If we still stubbornly adhere to Yan's translation standard and do not enrich its connotation in time, it can be out of accord with the times. (Wang, 1984:483)

In spite of the valuable innovation in translation, Fu Lei and Qian Zhongshu’ s views exist many problems in practical application. Fu's "spirit likeness" plays a connecting role in the aesthetic school of translation. Strictly speaking, Fu Lei does not put forward a specific theoretical system of translation, and his vies are basically summarized from his own translation practice. The linguistic expressions of his views are mostly poetic, not logical and well-reasoned. Likewise, Qian's “sublimation” is presented by highly poetic language and the classical quotations from Chinese traditional literary criticism, which is so obscure and vague as not to extract a clear and absolute definition. And the realm of “sublimation” is the ultimate goal of translation, hard to achieve in practice. One thousand readers create one thousand "Hamlet", every scholar may interpret their views with slight difference. There already have existed many researches studying on their views on translation from different perspectives and furthermore these researches do not reach a same viewpoint.

Xu Yuanchong’ s “creation of beauty as in rivalry” also shows its limitations of being not universally applicable due to its excessive translation requirements and lack of theoretical arguments. For one thing, Xu advocates to take advantage of the target language, but there is no superiority or inferiority of one language over another. It is impossible to find quantitative criteria to judge the superiority of the original work and the translation. For another, to what extent can the translator surpass the the original author? Although literary translation is the re-creation of the original work, the translator cannot, overstep the scope of translation. What’s more, it also involves many problems such as the translator's personal literary cultivation and translation ethics. which may apply to literary translators who have profound literary knowledge, high responsibility for spreading one’s own culture and have the goal of making great achievements in literary translation. (Wang, 2010: 106)

4.2 Future Study

Reviewing the development history of translation theories in contemporary China, both setbacks and achievements have been experienced. Chinese translation theories share a common framework, set in the Chinese background and start in a typical Chinese way. With a shift to "multicultural dialogue" and "interculturality" in the era of globalization, these aesthetic theories with national cultural characteristics will become the driving force for the advancement of Chinese translation aesthetics. Aesthetics is a reflection of culture, in which knowledge and information can be transmitted, but sentiment is hard to be perceived. Contemporary translation aesthetics should expand its research theoretical system and increase the exploration of interdisciplinary levels such as translation cultural aesthetics, translation cognitive aesthetics, translation communicative aesthetics, translation pragmatic aesthetics, etc. The construction of Chinese translation aesthetics theories should must be rooted in its own characteristic cultural soil, and draw nutrients from other national aesthetics theories.

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--Li Ruiyang (talk) 15:18, 8 December 2021 (UTC)--Li Ruiyang (talk) 12:34, 13 December 2021 (UTC)--Li Ruiyang (talk) 14:42, 15 December 2021 (UTC)