Ku Hungming's Cultural Orientation Of Translation

This paper intends to make a case study of Ku Hungming's cultural orientation oftranslation through analyses of Ku's special rendering of Lunyu.Ku t-Iungrning is reputed with Yan Fu and Lin Shu as "The Three Elitists ofFujian Province". Ku Hungming was a pioneer of translating the Chinese classics intoEnglish and he made an enormous hit in the late Qing dynasty. He contributed greatlyto the spread of traditional Chinese moral values and modes by translating theConfucian classics. As most of his works were written in English, his culturalconceptions were not so familiar to many Chinese. In the field of translation studies, little research has been done on his translation practice and his translationsignificance.Ku's major contributions consist in two aspects: on the one hand, he translatedmany Chinese classical works, notably Lunyu, Zhongyong and Daxue, through whichhe won great reputation in his time; on the other, he introduced many English poemsinto China; for example, he rendered William Cowper's narrative poem The DivertingHistory of John Gilpin and Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner into elegant classicalChinese.Ku's philosophical quotations as well as his fluent expressions left a stunningimpression on the English readers. Through a detailed probe into the features of Ku'sspecial translation of Lunyu, the paper borrows AndréLefevere's conception ofrewriting and Vermeer's skopos theory to appreciate Ku's cultural orientation oftranslation. The paper points out that Ku's translation practice should not be blindlynegated. Conversely, in terms of the positive impact and outcome, Ku has realized hisintended purposes and Ku's translation is justified. Ku's cultural orientation oftranslation is still inspiring today.This paper is composed of introduction, body and conclusion, specifically asfollows: The introduction clarifies the author's motivation to write this paper, the researchobjective, and last but not least, the research methodology of the paper.Chapter One is a review of the researches made on Ku Hungming. The authorwill explore the domestic criticisms of Ku Hungming, be it favorable or unfavorable.Meanwhile, relevant theories of this paper are also elaborated.Chapter Two rnakes a short introduction to Ku's life experience, his works andtranslations. It provides a detailed investigation of features of content and form ofKu's translation of Lunyu through comparisons and contrasts with James Legge'sversion.Chapter Three probes into the motivation and purposes of Ku's translation ofLunyu and elaborates on Ku's ideological orientation. The author discusses Ku'stranslation from the perspective of skopos theory and rewriting theory and points outthe underlying reasons for Ku's special translation of Lunyu. Based on Lefevere'srewriting theory and Vermeer's skopos theory, Ku's cultural orientation of translationis better understood and appreciated.The last part concludes that the comparisons and contrasts with both the originalof Lunyu and Legge's version reveal Ku's peculiarity. Ku's target-reader-orientedapproach was determined by his special purposes and ideological consideration. Hemanipulated the original by using the strategy of domestication. The outcome of histranslation proved that Ku had attained his intended purposes. Therefore, Ku'stranslation is justified. The author hopes that the author's tentative attempts will beconducive to the research of Ku Hungming as well as the translation studies in China.