A Study On Chi-Chen Wang’s Translation Of Modern Chinese Fictions

In the 1930s, Chi-Chen Wang was among the first group of translators who tried to introduce China to the West. In order to enhance the understanding of China in the western world, he focused attention upon translating modern fictions to reflect the present Chinese society back then. With great intentions and marked features, his works received great response in the American society. However, in the Chinese academic field, little attention has been paid to him or his translations of modern Chinese fiction.The research questions are two-fold.1) What kinds of modern Chinese fictions are selected by Chi-Chen Wang to translate? Why? 2) What are the features of Chi-Chen Wang’s translation of modern Chinese fictions? What’s the reason for these features?The present researcher adopts historical research as the major research methodology. In the process, auxiliary methods including documentary, statistical analysis, comparative study, deduction and induction are employed.Our findings are twofold:1) the prominent contextual features of Chi-Chen Wang’s translation of modern Chinese fictions show his preliminary norms in translation. This is subjected to his personal evaluation of the authors to be translated and his judgment of the literacy of the source texts, i.e. his personal poetics; 2) the textual features of deletions and condensations of the original works show Wang’s matricial norms. And the linguistic features of explicitation of the original texts, the use of hypotactic syntax and the retention of foreignness show his dilemma in translation strategy. This is dictated by his double identity as a responsible Chinese and as a translator in the US.