Transwriting Of Chinese Culture Of The Bridge Of Heaven

The Bridge of Heaven is the first novel written in English by S.I.Hsiung,a well-known Chinese bilingual writer in the West.It is also the second peak of Hsiung’s English writing after Lady Precious Stream.With the background of China’s modern history and the purpose of promoting Chinese culture,the novel was created in China’s Anti-Japanese War period.After being published in London in 1943,it was well received by western readers and became a best seller immediately.Soon after,it was translated in many languages and published in other European countries,making significant contribution to promoting Chinese culture and propagating China’s Anti-Japanese War in the West.By focusing on Hsiung’s The Bridge of Heaven,this thesis tries to analyze its writing strategy and translation strategy from the perspective of trans-writing while taking into consideration the special historical background at that time,thus concluding the features of its trans-writing,decoding the factors of its great success in the West and therefore putting up with some suggestions for the contemporary overseas promotion of Chinese culture.This thesis is comprised of five parts.Introduction mainly dwells on the study origin,approach and also relevant studies on The Bridge of Heaven and trans-writing,pointing out the limitation of current studies and putting forward research questions.Chapter one makes a detailed introduction of The Bridge of Heaven from its main contents,writing background and reception in the West.Chapter two and Chapter three respectively explore the writing strategy and translation strategy reflected in The Bridge of Heaven by analyzing the novel in detail and giving specific examples.The last part is conclusion,which states the inspiration this study gives to the contemporary overseas promotion of Chinese culture and points out the limitation of this study.Through the analysis of specific writing and translation strategies,it is found that as a transwriting novel which successfully promoted Chinese culture in the West during the period of China’s Anti-Japanese War,no matter it is examined from the perspective of writing or translation,the novel displays a kind of fascinating tension.In terms of writing,while Hsiung expresses strongly Chinese people’s desire for advanced social system in the West and their hope to merge into the trend of world development through the choice of historical context and shaping of main characters of the novel,he also promoted greatly the distinctive Chinese culture to westernpeople through the introduction of China’s basic cultural customs and conceptions.In terms of translation,on one hand,he underscored the distinctive features of Chinese cultures by keeping the exotic flavors of language and adding much information in the introduction of cultural phenomena;on the other hand,he merged appropriately with western culture by making small adjustments of contents and softening the attitude towards westerners,thus facilitating the overseas promotion of Chinese culture.