English Abstracts of Major Papers

Trends, Features and Prospects of Translation Criticism in China’s New Era of Development
By LIU Yunhong  (Nanjing University, Nanjing, China) & XU Jun (Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China) p.5

Abstract: The first two decades of the new century have witnessed a boom in China’s translation industry. While significant progresses have been scored in all its subfields, what the formerly overlooked domain of translation criticism has achieved in both practice and theory is the most remarkable. Despite these achievements, however, translation criticism has yet to fully shed the lower-status image to which it had been relegated, and its legitimacy and proper value remain to be fully recognized. To further promote the practices in this subfield and to deepen criticism-specific researches, it is necessary that China’s translation scholars pay more attention to the subfield in question, gain a better understanding of its current situation, and explore the possibilities for its future development. 
Keywords: translation criticism; trend; feature; future development 

Redefining Criticality for a Reconstructed Chinese Mode of Translation Criticism
By LAN Hongjun  (Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China) p. 14

Abstract: What defines criticism as such is the criticality with which its practice is infused. In the case of Chinese translation criticism, the criticality tends to be defined in terms of xin (fidelity) and he (harmony), the two axiological categories that endow the Chinese approach with both its intellectual integrity and its moral propriety. While such a definition embodies the spirit of traditional Chinese culture, the new era of China’s development calls for a revamped translation criticism, which in turn demands are definition of criticality for this practice. In response to the demand, and to make sure that China’s translation criticism successfully adapts itself to the new era, this paper argues that the criticality at issue should be defined anew, and, to that end, that Chinese translation scholars should deepen their understanding of both translation’s essential nature and the changed and changing expectations for translation criticism practiced in China.
Keywords: Chinese translation criticism; criticality; tradition; reconstruction 

An Integrated Interdisciplinary Model for Translation Criticism: Categories and Approaches
By WANG Shuhuai  (Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China) p. 23

Abstract: For China’s translation criticism to pull itself out of the stagnation it is currently suffering, an exposure to critical practices from other disciplines may help. This paper proposes an integrated interdisciplinary model for translation criticism as a possible solution to the problem of its stalled development. The model first identifies five categories of translation criticism, i.e., the descriptive, the diachronic, the paratextual, the translator’s personality-oriented, and the combined translation-translator-society criticism. It then expounds and synthesizes the research approaches offered by five inter-disciplines, i.e., contrastive linguistics, functional linguistics, stylistics, literary theory, and critical discourse analysis. The introduction of this new integrated interdisciplinary model is expected to open up new possibilities for conducting translation criticism.
Keywords: translation criticism; the Integrated Interdisciplinary Model; categories; approaches 

Technical Terms Employed in Tang China’s Discourse on Translation
By CHEN Deyong  (Anhui Science and Technology University, Chuzhou, China) p. 32

Abstract: China developed its own system of technical terms for translation as early as the Tang Dynasty, and this ancient terminological system calls for a comprehensive study because of the historical value, disciplinary significance and enlightenment on the current translation practices such a study would necessarily accord. To conduct the study, we have adopted the method of checking the literary and the historical sources concerned against each other, for the verification of their relevance and authenticity, and have first extracted specialized translation terms from Quantangwen (A Complete Collection of Tang Writings). These terms are then classified into three major categories: the ontological, the pragmatic and the critical, with the logical relations existing among the terms carefully sorted out. From a synchronic and static perspective, each category is further classified and the specific terms in each subcategory are analyzed and interpreted. From a diachronic and dynamic perspective, the continuity and evolution of the terms’ usage are determined. With these steps taken, a translation terminology system with Chinese characteristics is constructed.
Keywords: Quantangwen; translation term; translation discourse; the Tang Dynasty 

Lin Shu’s Translation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Captain of the Pole-Star: A Re-assessment
By WANG Xiulu (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China) p. 42 

Abstract: Lin Shu (1852-1924) was the most influential and accomplished fiction translator in the early modern history of Chinese literature. Although most of Lin’s translations have been well researched, his rendition of Arthur Conan Doyle’s short-story The Captain of the Pole-Star, which appeared in a 1911 issue of Xiaoshuo Shibao (The Fiction Times), remains largely unexplored and even unknown to scholarship today. The only study of this translation was conducted by Japanese scholar Watanabe Hiroshi 渡辺浩司, who, having found Lin Shu’s TT not entirely faithful to the original, dismissed it as a poor translational work. Subjecting Lin’s rendition to are examination in its historical context, this paper argues against Hiroshi’s assessment on the basis of a close reading of and a careful comparison between the translation and the original text. The findings show that the Gothic aesthetics informing Conan Doyle’s original work is creatively reproduced and rewritten by Lin Shu, whose masterful balancing and reconciliation of the two seemingly opposing elements of “the scientific” and “the supernatural” in the original has added much to the value of his version of the story.
Keywords: Lin Shu; translation; The Captain of the Pole-Star

Composite-interrelationships and Rubaiyat’s Canonization in China
By LI Hongshun (Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China) p. 49

Abstract: The translation and canonization of Rubaiyat in China (1919-2019) can be roughly divided into three stages, with its rendition by Guo Moruo, Huang Kesun and Zhang Hongnian respectively deemed the three landmark translations to result from this process. A reexamination of the process from the perspective of composite-interrelationships reveals that it is the inter subjectivity among the mediating translator Fitzgerald, the ultimate TL translators such as Guo, Huangand Zhang, the publishers involved such as the Chuangzao Quarterly, as well as the critics concerned such as Rosetti, Wen Yiduo and Qian Zhongshu that has contributed decisively to the cannon formation in question. The intertexuality between the text and its paratexts, and that between many direct and indirect retranslations as well, are also found to have played an important role in Rubaiyat’s canonization. And as the original Persian culture in Rubaiyat, filtered through the English culture of Fitzgerald’s version, finally found its way into the target Chinese culture, a tripartite cultural interaction has resulted, and an intercultuality eventually becomes inscribed in the translation cannons.
Keywords: composite-interrelationships; Rubaiyat; canonization; indirect translation