Representation Of Aesthetic Values In Wang Baotong’s English Translation Of San Zi Jing: A Perspective Of Translation Aesthetics

San Zi Jing, as one of the most representative textbook of enlightenment inancient times of China, is simply structured with three Chinese characters in eachline from the beginning to the end, yet all the information covering Chinese historyof thousand years, traditional ethic codes and functional literacy are skillfully put inharmony for an organic whole. It is really a unique wonder in Chinese history. Inorder to make San Zi Jing better understood and widely accepted all around theworld, some translators and researchers at home and abroad have made greatcontributions to it. However, not enough attention has been put on the Englishtranslation studies of San Zi Jing until now. Most of the studies have lingered on thecomparisons, such as general comparisons between the original text and the Englishtranslations or among different translated versions. They haven’t gone further into itsdistinctive aesthetic and cultural values. Therefore, by taking Wang Baotong’sEnglish translation as the research object, this thesis probes to make a tentative studyon the representation of aesthetic values in San Zi Jing from the perspective oftranslation aesthetics to make up for the shortcomings of the translation studies onSan Zi Jing.Translation aesthetics is an interdisciplinary subject that applies basic aesthetictheories to analyze, expound and solve the aesthetic questions during the translationprocess. It is an integration of translation and aesthetics and a translation theory withdistinctive Chinese characteristics. In Liu Miqing’s An Introduction to TranslationAesthetics, he discusses translation aesthetics in the light of aesthetic subject andaesthetic object, and introduces the features of aesthetic representation. He analyzesthe constituents of aesthetic object from two aspects: formal aesthetic system,including the characteristics of its phonology, lexicon and syntax; non-formalaesthetic system, referring to the sentiments and ideals expressed as well as imageand symbol used in the source text. Liu Miqing’s view on the translation aesthetics theory is used as the theoretical basis in the present study to illustrate therepresentation of aesthetic values in San Zi Jing, with the hope to shed light on theresearch of Chinese classics translation from translation aesthetics approach.The main body of the paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter Onepresents a theoretical framework about what translation aesthetics is, making areview of the historical origin and development of translation aesthetics theory.Based on Liu Miqing’s views, the present thesis provides a general introduction ofthree constituents in translation aesthetics: aesthetic subject, aesthetic object andaesthetic representation. In Chapter Two, on the basis of the detailed elaboration offormal and non-formal aesthetic system in the aesthetic object, a thorough researchon the formal aesthetic values in sound, form and meaning, and non-formal aestheticvalues in imagery and sentiments and ideals in San Zi Jing is carried out. ChapterThree illustrates how the formal aesthetic values in sound, form, and meaning arereproduced in Wang Baotong’s translation of San Zi Jing, namely, phoneticcompensation of aesthetic values in sound, adjustment of aesthetic values insyntactic form, and transference of aesthetic values in meaning. In Chapter Four, thethesis expounds that the images of historical figures and specific objects are directlyreproduced in Wang Baotong’s translation of San Zi Jing by means of literaltranslation or transliteration; free translation is employed as explanation to representthe allusions used as images. And the ideals in ethics culture and folk culture areflexibly represented by combining foreignization and domestication; free or literaltranslation with supplementary footnotes is applied to reproduce the ideals inhistorical culture and traditional Chinese classics culture. The aesthetic values in SanZi Jing are smoothly reproduced in Wang’ version with these translating strategies,which can be concluded that reproducing aesthetic values of Chinese traditionalclassics in the translation is feasible, and the theory of translation aesthetics hasinstructive significance on the predicable aesthetic criteria for the translation oftraditional Chinese classics.