A Critical Study On The English Translation Of Huang Di Nei Jing From The Perspective Of Practical Philosophy

On the basis of a long-term practice of medical treatment as well as theoretical reflection,Traditional Chinese Medicine(abbreviated as TCM)has been built up and continually improved under the guidance of plain Materialism and Dialectics of ancient China.Currently,it is not only a popular medical treatment option in China,but is also attracting attention from the international medical community for its curative effects.TCM Classics record experiences and wisdom of ancient Chinese accumulated in their fighting against diseases in the long history.They are featured with a holistic view of "integrating human into nature",the treatment methods basing on syndrome differentiation,and the thinking manner of classifying everything according to their manifestation.Huang Di Nei Jing is one of the earliest existing TCM classics.It expounds the movement of qi,blood and fluid within human body,the connection between viscera and meridians,the etiology,the pathogenesis,the diagnoses and treatments according to theories like Yin and Yang,Five Elements,Vital substance,Five-elements motions and six climatic changes,etc..There are various English versions of Huang Di Nei Jing,for which it has always been a heated topic in the study of English translation of TCM.This study,after sorting out the updated research results,finds out that the critical study on the English translation of Huang Di Nei Jing is scrappy,rare and non-systematic.In view of that,this study takes a perspective of Practical Philosophy.By absorbing the suitable concepts and ideas of Gadamer’s Hermeneutics and Habermas’Theory of Communicative Action,this study accounts for their common and complementary views of truth,meaning and ethics,holding that translation criticism should be dialectical,historical and orientative.Combining with the philosophical,scientific and linguistic features of Huang Di Nei Jing,this study builds up a "Criticism Model for the English Translation of Huang Di Nei Jing"(or "Model"for short),showing that the criticism on the English translation of this ancient book should be hierarchical,multidimensional and systematic.According to the "Model",the criticism starts from judging the "truthfulness" of the translation,which mainly focuses on highlighting the features of the target text and objectively displaying the "differences"between the source text and the translated version.Then,at the stage of judging the"effectiveness" of the translation,efforts will be made both on explaining the translators’behavior under certain historical circumstances and elucidating the "effective history" of this very edition.At the final stage of judging the "virtuousness" of the translation,the criticism will depend on whether the translation behavior conforms to the ethical norms of communication.This study chooses four English versions of Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen to put the"Model" into practice.They are separately translated by Ilza Veith,an American Medical historian,Maoshing Ni,a Chinese American Clinical physician of TCM,Li Zhaoguo,a Chinese TCM translator and Paul Ulrich Unschuld,a German Medical historian.The results lead to several findings.Firstly,Veith’s translation is not "true" or "virtuous"enough,but is well-accepted in the West and quite influential in history.Secondly,Ni’s translation has attained global publicity among average readers,displaying the translator’s"phronesis",although the translation’s "truthfulness" remains debatable.Thirdly,Li’s translation is true to the source text,and the translator has set a good example in following the ethical norms of communication when he translates TCM classics to the world on behalf of the source culture.Fourthly,Unschuld’s translation is also true to the source text and source culture,and is creative in many ways.Furthermore,it shows to the target readers that the translator has overcome his preconception and transcended the limitation of his horizon by sticking to the ethical norms of communication.By making a tentative effort to research into the common and complementary ideas and values of two major schools of Practical Philosophy as well as applying them to the study of translation criticism,the present study is conducive to generate criticism principles and to build up a special criticism model.The principles and "Model" proposed in this study will shed light on theoretical studies of the translation criticism of Chinese classics of science and technology,as well contribute to the construction of a theoretical framework for the translation of Chinese sci-tech classics.The criticism of the four English versions of Huang Di Nei Jing is carried out according to the newly-established "Model"which is systematic and multidimensional,and is helpful to make dialectical,historical and orientative conclusions.It is believed that the present study can provide an innovative theoretical view and a new research approach for the translation criticism on Huang Di Nei Jing,and a useful reference for future researches into TCM classics.