A Comparative Study Of Drama Translation During 1900-1914 And 1915-1929 Of China From The Perspective Of Polysystem Theory

Few systematic studies on drama translation in China have been carried out in contemporary Chinese translation research. Particularly, drama translation of the early 20th century has not attracted the attention it deserves. Before the New Culture Movement, drama translation developed slowly. After that, however, drama translation took a big stride.Based on the constant changes in the socio-cultural context in 1900-1914 and 1915-1929, this thesis tries to reveal the characteristics of foreign drama translation at its budding and developing stage in modern Chinese translation practice and touch upon the influence of the dominant ideology, translators'ideologies and translation norms on translators'choices. Assisted by Toury's translation norms and Lefevere's theory on ideology, this thesis uses the polysystem theory as its theoretical basis.Drama translation in 1900-1914 was at the periphery of the literary translation polysystem, characterized by translators'individual interests, strong political orientations and inadequate literary values. Translation strategies adopted were mainly free translation and sinicized adaptation. The selection of translated materials mainly came from Japanese dramas. In the 1920s, with the development of the New Culture Movement and the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, ideas like democracy and freedom spread widely across the country, giving rise to changes in the literary circle, especially the Chinese drama reform field. Translators adopted the faithful literal translation, accompanied by free translation and adaptation. Meanwhile, the more tolerant and diverse the society tended to be, the wider translators' choices were. Plays from various schools around the world swarmed into China. In terms of the quantity and quality of translated plays, drama translation in this period was superior to that of the previous period and brought some fresh air to the Chinese literary field. By means of a comparative study, the author has found that different characteristics at given times were greatly influenced by their dominant ideology and translation norms.This analysis of the drama translation in 1900-1914 and 1915-1929 from the perspective of polysystem theory provides a new angle for probing into the history of Chinese drama translation.