The C-E Translation Report On Prefaces Of The Illustrated Cannon Of Chen Style Taijiquan Based On German Functionalist Theory

Chenjiagou which is located in Wenxian, Henan province is widely recognized as the birth place of Taijiquan in China. Yang style Taijiquan, Wu style Taijiquan, Wuu style Taijiquan, or Sun style Taijiquan, which are also popular today in China, were all developed from Chen style Taijiquan. Chen Xin who is the sixteenth generation of Chen style Taijiquan master has concluded his life long practicing experience into The Illustrated Cannon of Chen Style Taijiquan. This book has set up a milestone for Chen style Taijiquan. After going through a lot of trouble according to stories told in prefaces of this book, this book was finally published in 1933. Since it was published, it has played an important role in the process of Chen style Taijiquan's development. It also contributes to spreading Chinese Taijiquan culture to the world over this seventy years.Preface is a crucial part for consisting of a book. So preface certainly plays an important role in translated work too. The English version of The Illustrated Cannon of Chen Style Taijiquan was translated by Alex Golstein who is from Australia. Alex's translated version comprehensively covers Taijiquan theories and movements. But it is still a pity to readers that seven prefaces can not be found in his book.In spite of Taijiquan theories and movements, those prefaces are also written in classical Chinese literary style. This classical Chinese literary style has fewer words than today's. But it still serves important functions such as expressive function, referential function and so on. Besides its special language and style, there are still some challenges to the author of this report. Because when she was doing translation, differences in terms of cultures and mindsets are also not easy to deal with. German Functionalist Theory which appeared in 1970s mainly consisted of three points. Firstly, it explained the nature of translation. Secondly, it analyzed participants in translation process. Thirdly, it proposed rules for translation. German Functionalist Theory provides a great guidance to the author during the process of translating prefaces in The Illustrated Cannon of Chen Style Taijiquan. This translation report was based on German Functionalist Theory and the author's translation practice. It would be helpful if this translation report can supplement translated version of The Illustrated Cannon of Chen Style Taijiquan and provide some benefits for reference. Literature review, method of quantitative analysis and way of qualitative analysis are used in this translation report. Source texts include seven prefaces written by Mr. Chen Dongshan (two prefaces), Mr. Kang Gewu, Mr. Li Shican, Mr. Du Yan and Mr. Chen Xin(two prefaces) respectively.Through hundreds of years of development, there is no doubt that Taijiquan is a treasure in Chinese culture. However, Taijiquan translation started only from decades of years ago. Besides, Taijiquan translated versions are mainly from the perspective of movements translation. And at the same time few people are working at Taijiquan classics translation. In order to attract more people to join in developing Taijiquan culture, a lot of works are expected to be done in the future.