On The C-E Translation Of Weapon-names In Shui Hu Zhuan From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

As one of the Four Great Classical Novels in ancient China,Shui Hu Zhuan occupies an important position in ancient Chinese classics.Shui Hu Zhuan is an encyclopedic literary masterpiece which contains a great deal of ancient Chinese traditional cultures,such as patriarchal clan system,custom,etiquette,diet and weapons.Even Hong Lou Meng,one of the Four Great Classical Novels,was deeply nurtured by Shui Hu Zhuan.At the same time,Shui Hu Zhuan is also one of the earliest novels written in vernacular Chinese.With the historical background of the peasant revolt led by Song Jiang in the late Northern Song Dynasty,Shui Hu Zhuan tells a story about one hundred and eight heroes and heroines with loyalism,who are driven to revolt.They get rid of the cruel and pacify the good people,enforce justice on behalf of Heaven,and pledge their loyalty to the royal.Shui Hu Zhuan with the war theme covers rich cultures of weapons,involving hundreds of weapons.The unique historical background of Shui Hu Zhuan also makes the weapon in Shui Hu Zhuan very special.Shui Hu Zhuan takes the Song Dynasty as the historical background,and in this period,the weapon-culture was unusually rich,with the alternation of hot and cold weapons.As an integrated part of Chinese weapon-culture,weapons play an extremely important role in both the life of ancient Chinese people and literary works.China has a long history,which has experienced many changes of dynasties.However,the changes of dynasties were often achieved by wars.Therefore,as the paramount materials in the war,weapons were often one of the important factors that determine the outcome of a war.Similarly,in time of war,weapons were essential to the defense of ordinary people.Therefore,weapons would appear in some plots as the shadow follows the form in most ancient Chinese literary works.The importance of weapons in the real world of ancient China endowed weapons with rich cultural connotation,and the people who practiced martial arts in ancient times even saw weapons as lives.Therefore,in ancient Chinese literary works,weapons always reflect weapon-holders’ identity,status,financial capacity,personal taste,stature,strength and even conduct.Nowadays,China has been vigorously promoting the going-out strategy.It is not only conductive to the enhancement of the understanding of the Chinese culture in the international community,but also beneficial to the enrichment of the cultural diversity in the world to actively promote the Chinese culture in the world.The great significance of weapons in the real world of ancient China as well as their indispensable status in ancient Chinese literary works have determined the great value of the translation of the weapon-culture.Weapons are the core of the weapon-culture,and weapon-names are the high concentration of the weapon-culture,so the translation of weapon-names is of great significance to promote the Chinese weapon-culture in the world.However,the translation of weapon-names now ischaotic,and the quality of translation in literary works is uneven.This problem needs prompt solution,otherwise it will impair the real effect of the spread of the Chinese weapon-culture,and even make the international community misunderstand the Chinese weapon-culture.Besides the attainment of translators,this bad situation is closely related to the present publishing aim to seek quick success and instant benefits.Therefore,the translation of weapon-names has not been given enough attention to.Weapon-names are the high concentration of the connotations of weapons,which are able to arouse readers’ association as much as possible with weapon-holders’ identity,status,financial capacity,personal taste,stature,strength and even conduct.Therefore,readers’ associations with weapon-names should be given the top priority in translating weapon-names.Based on readers’ responses,the theory of functional equivalence put forward by Dr.Eugene Nida transfers the focus of the translation from the “text center” to readers’ responses,and evaluates the quality of translated texts through the similarity between source readers’ response to source texts and target readers’ response to translated texts,which is thus of theoretical significance in guiding the translation of weapon-names.Under the guidance of the theory of functional equivalence,the thesis reclassifies the weapon-names in Shui Hu Zhuan according to the naming rules of weapon-names,evaluates the quality of weapon-names in the four English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan through the comparative analysis of the weapon-names in the four English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan,and at last works out the translating methods.