Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the instructors in at my university for their tremendous help who have helped me a lot during my writing of this thesisstudy. This thesis could not be finished without their help and support. First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Ge Jihong. She provided me with invaluable support, patient pertinent instructions and great tremendous encouragement. I benefited a lot from her insightful comments and suggestions during the process of writing this thesis. Without her invaluable help, my thesis would not have taken its present form. Secondly, my thanks also go to some of myI would like to thank my dear classmates who helped me a lotabundantly in one way or another. They generously supported and shared some treasured materials resourcesthey have with me. Words would fail to express the depth of my appreciation to for all of the above people I mentioned. I shall always treasure their generous help up in my mind.

Abstract
Hong Lou Meng is one of the four famous classic literary works in China, which focuses on Chinese culture, history, literature and art. Meanwhile, byIt is one of the few texts which reflecting reflects the linguistic cultural features of the Chinese nationChina in all multitude of aspects. , Iit has also been so extremely popular and wide-spread both at home and abroad that and has been translated into more than ten different languages.more than ten kinds of language versions of it have come out. Up to nowAmong them two completely translated editions that have been critically acclaimed are, A Dream of Red Mansions, which was translated by the famous Chinese famous translator couple,s Yang Xianyi (the Yangs version) and his wife Gladys Yang, and The Story of the Stone, which was translated by Oxford Universitys Sinologists David Hawkes and John Minford (Hawkes version)., are two completely translated editions that have been praised highly in the translation field. Studies on the English version of Hong Lou Meng have drawn more and more

scholars attention at home and abroad since the 1970s. Although extensive studies has been performed and published As to researches oon the contrasts between the twon English versions of Hong Lou Meng, contrasts and evaluations are in the majority, yet, thorough and comprehensive discussions on factors which affect the two versions, especially from view of intercultural communication and cultranslation are comparatively less than other kind of view sparse, and are therefore on are open to further development.the development stage. Based Basing on the original literary classic, the two prior mentioned English translations as well as other on the previous studies of the two translationson the two English versions and modeled on the original work as well as the Yangs and Hawkes versions, thise thesis selects studies the translation of culture elements in the two English versions from the perspective of intercultural communication and cultranslation. The thesis also takes performs explanatorily comparative studyies on of the two English versions and analyzes different methods used by their translators and highlights the influential influencing factors on the translation of cultural elements of this great novel. This thesis is made upcomprises of five major segments parts. The first part, above all reiterates, states the significance of this thesis. Then itIt then briefly introduces Hong Lou Meng, the its author Cao Xueqin and the two English translations versions of Hong Lou Mengof it. The second part is literature review whichreview, which gives provides the theoretical background of this thesis and introduces existing studies on the English versions of Hong Lou Meng. The third part makes a comparative study of the two English versions from the aspects of translators, translators translation thoughts and their translation methods. The forth part is also a comparative study on of the translation of cultural elements, such as clothing, dietetic, religion and poetry. The last part is theLastly conclusion of the whole thesis and is presented which points out the main findings of this thesis. The aim of this thesis is to explore This thesis aims at exploring the impact of the translation of a literary work hass from intercultural communication awareness and

cultranslation perspectives, and the exerting positive influence it exerts over onthe cultural exchange between China and the outside world.

Key Words: Hong Lou Meng,

English version, intercultural communication,

cultranslation comparative study

3.1.3 The Intention of Translators

Translation is a kind of activity with specific purpose. That is to say, the a translators should always bear in mind the purpose of his of translation in mind as to wisely choose the translation strategy. As tTranslators, who are always the creator and thus the core of the translating translation process, they inevitably and strongly influence the purpose of the translation.determine the realization of the purpose to some extent. As forfor the English translation of Hong Lou Meng by Yang Xianyi and his wife Gladys Yang, their translation of Hong Lou Meng was initiated and entrusted by Foreign Language Press which had a longolicy was to and systematically plan to translate as much Chinese literature works into English as possible, with the aim aiming to developing and expanding the influence of Chinese culture. Under this conditionBearing this in mind, the Yangs and his wife began ventured their work, aiming to utilize their work to promote bearing the ideas of promoting cultural exchanges and spreading Chinese culture in mind all the time. They faithfully conveyed the cultural messages appeared which appear in Hong Lou Meng although they and seldom talked about their own translation philosophy. Even in the preface of A Dream of Red Mansions, there is no mention of their translation propositions philosophy or of the and problems arising in the practice process of translatingtranslation. The only remark revealing their true attitude toinherent motivation behind the translation was made in at a seminar in 1980 by them: We Chinese should know the foreign cultural heritage. Foreigners also should know what a profound cultural heritage China possesses. We should employ faithful translation in order to be faithful to Chinese culture and Chinese civilization. This is not only a translation problem of the Chinese cultural heritage but also involves in a faithful conversion of the values and spirits of Chinese culture, a conversion of Chinese peoples daily life, their happiness and sadness, love and hatred. This remark clearly expressed expresses the Yangs intention

of translating Hong Lou Meng, and explained explaines the reason why he and his wife adopted foreigniazation of translation as well. The Story of the Stone translated by David Hawkes, howeveron the other hand, was published by Penguin Books Ltd. The intention of Hawkes intension es translating Hong Lou Meng is to introduce Hong Lou Meng, which he considers to be athe wonderful Chinese social conventional novel to western readers. The motive of his work comes fromHis work is motivated by his own ardently love and appreciation of the novel itself and as well as an eager desire to share the pleasure of his pleasure gained from reading the book with western readers. The target language readers are of important position in who naturally are the primary target audience in Hawkes view. What hHe wishes is to make his translation be enjoyable for the English readers. He also mentioned mentions pleasure, which refers to a can be interpreted as a kind of aesthetic pleasure. Only when the a translator represents the literary and aesthetic function of the original text in the language familiar and comprehensible to the target ed audience language readers can this aesthetic pleasure be experienced in person. Therefore, Hawkes by intending to convey the appreciative intends to convey the appreciation value of the original text, which has decided the choiceautomatically chooses his translation strategy to be of translation strategy, namely, domestication, in his translation.

From the examples, we can see that Hawkes used uses more distinct rhetoric method to translate, such as the repetition of indefinite articles a and becomes, paralylism of a pledge of friendship and a source of embarrassment. Thus in this regard Tthe author thinks is of the view that the Yangs translation is more elegant and while Hawkes translation is more direct. About There is not too much difference between the translations regarding the translation of the clothing culture;, the words sash and cummerbund as used in either mean belt; scarlet and crimson are thehave the same meaning of as the Chinese character . There is not too much difference between these translations. The Yangs translation of is musk while Hawkes just translates it to medicine, so, the Yangs is more accurate also Hawkes translation as. Bracelet limits it is to a decorative dressing item while Yangs

interpretation asonly a kind of dressing item while a chaplet illuminates additional use as a counter is always used for counting numbers when while we are praying.

The cultural differences lead to the misunderstanding of problems in various fields, including in of course the foodcuisine. When complete literal translation is hard for target language viewers to appreciate, an annotation is needed then to make this acieve successful intercultural communication successfully achieved. According to A

Comprehensive Dictionary of Hong Lou Meng (1991:215), qiong su refers to either some snacks made of cream or to wines name. means meat dishes especially made by the imperial kitchens. With regard the two translators, they allWhile both the translations convey the basic information of the food items by rendering it word to word. The difference is that, Hawkes pays more attention to transfer to the target readers theon conveying the culture connotation by adding the explanation inside the text. For that he illucidates,these presents were especially made in the

imperial kitchen. By using repetition plus intra-textual explanation, Hawkes helps foreign peopleers have a better understanding of the context.

(zhai jie, no eating or drinking)is a cultural-condensed religious behavior, which in our eastEast-Asian ern culture means not eating any meat or drinking any alcohol, but while living a reclusive life and clearing ones mind in order toas a show his of piety. Such a kind of behavior is held practiced before sacrifice, worship of Buddha worshipping or grand ceremonies. The Yangs employ the strategy of literal translation to render this into as observing a fast, which not only conveys the eastern religious custom to the target language readers, but also fully reproduces the original meaning. Hawker, however, renders it into as in retreat, which leads to the loss of the original meaning, . This is because retreat refers to retirement for a time for religious meditation, which only partially conveys the actual meaning without only has the meaning of living a reclusive life and clearing ones mind, without the meaning ofexpounding not eating any meat and drinking any alcohol.

This example is what theConsider the instance of the original text wherein old granny of the Jia scolded Lady Ring, for her foolish act as to of beingbe a matchmaker for her husbands relationship with a maid. refers to the three submissions and four virtues of women in feudalist China. The three submissions refer are that : a woman was is required to obey her father before marriage, her husband during married life, and her sons in widowhood. The four virtues are morality, physical charm, propriety in speech and excellent excellence in needle work. These standards guidelines for woman women are the reflection of reflect the long-lasting held idea that man is superior to woman. This kind of idea is no longer the standard of a good woman any more now. Sso both translators choose to translate it briefly. Yang Xianyi knows quite well that this novel is about feudal society and he tries to mirror Chinese feudal values by words of like submission and obedience, showing his concern understanding for of the traditional values and source-culture-orientation. However, it is unimaginable to Westerners that women have to be obedient to men either in household or social life. Considering this circumstances, Hawkes only uses general words like wifely virtues and wifeliness, intentionally avoiding words of like submission and obedience for the easy comprehension of Western readers, which. This though in some way decolorizes the original Chinese concept of womens submission to men, showing Hawkes subjectivity in translation and his Western value orientation.. From the above, we can see that the Yangs version is longer while Hawkes is very short, only five words. According to the traditional Chinese hierarchical principles, the younger generation should not use the same word in their names that comes in theas those of the names of the elders in of the family. And a servant is, of coursedefinitely, not supposed to use the same word in thehave the same names of their masters. The request for avoiding the tabooThis can be interpreted isas a way to maintain the principles rule of authority in a family, the honorable over the humble, the old over the young, which is unimaginable for Westerners who may feel it very strange to change a maids name just because hers is the same as her mastersemployer. In this example situation the Yangs

adopt foreignization strategy to transmit translate the Chinese custom faithfully to the Western readers mainly influenced by their source-culture-orientation. While Hawkes, considering the absence of the custom in Western culture and the tedious explanations on it he has to give, applies domestication strategy and chooses to completely leave out leave the relevant sentences out completely, showing his evident target-cultureorientation. The title of the poem is , and this poem can be divided into four parts. In each part, the first two sentences are ended with and respectively which are the words in the title. Hawkes translates to won and to done tactically, so the title of his translation is Won-Done Song and the first two sentences in each part are ended with won and done, combing the meaning and form perfectly. Won and done are two common words in English. Won is the past participle of the verb win and done is the past participle of the verb do. The past participles themselves express vividly the connotation of the poem: no matter what beautiful things you get in the world, it will be missing eventually. Moreover, the last sentence in every part is endedboth ends with one. All of this contributes to the coherence in rhyme, which means the last syllable sounds the same in at the end of the line. The consummate combination of the form and sound makes Hawkes rendering of this poem the a classic. The Yangs translation is more like a prose than a poem. They translate the title into All Good Things Must End literally, which conveys the main idea of the whole poem. The Yangs version is expressive, too, but expressiveness is not enough, for as a Chinese classical poem is a special literary form which demanding demands beauty both in form and sound. In Chinese culture, is always considered to be the highest ideal of Buddhism disciplines. While salvation is a concept in Christianity and to be saved from their sins is the goal perseveringly pursued by Christians. Because, as according to the Bible, every human being is born with sin, and only after he obeys the laws instructed by God piously can he get salvation and go to the paradise. Consequently, the substitution substitutingof salvation for immortalitys is nodoesnt create any

significant difference of

from transferringbelief while translating Cao Xueqin

masterpiece from China Chinese to the Western, allowing domesticating domestication of what cultural elements which is are totally different from those in the western cultures.