CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background
Chinese gardens, part of the important heritage of man’s civilization, are regarded asthe mother of the world gardens and one of the wonders of the world art. The history ofChinese gardens dates back to over 3,000 years ago when China was under the reign ofShang and Zhou dynasties. Since then, Chinese gardens have gradually developed byfollowing a unique style of building and patterning when the Chinese have established anew school in the world of landscape gardening art. Following the principle that theworks of men should match those in the heaven, the Chinese ensure that their gardens arebuilt with unique designing techniques and exquisite construction craftsmanship, withhills, stream, flowers, grasses, houses, pavilions, bridges and, in some cases, pagodas in agarden well laid out, bringing about remarkably impressive images. Meanwhile, Chinesegardens are renowned for their delicate combination of natural beauty and classicalChinese literature, calligraphy, painting and theatre etc, implying rich culturalconnotations. Therefore, the distinctive charm of Chinese gardens appeals to tourists allover the world.
Translation plays an important role in introducing the art of the building andpatterning of Chinese gardens to the world. Quality translations of the texts of publicityfor Chinese gardens not only display the unique charm of the Chinese gardening art, butalso promote China’s cultural exchanges with other parts of the world. However, due tocultural barriers, the publicity task often seems far more formidable than the translatorcan handle as such texts often teem with literary quotations or allusions with peculiarways to explain the theories of the Chinese gardening that readers with different culturalbackgrounds usually find hard to interpret. As a result, some of the translated work thatappeared to be far from satisfactory could hardly turn out to be a positive force in thecultural exchange.
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1.2 Rationale and Research Questions
In practice, the Cultural View on Translation is of great significance for thepreservation and transmission of the cultural elements implied in the texts of publicity forChinese gardens, as well as for the “cultural construction” of the traditionally culturalelements in the texts of publicity for Chinese gardens in the target culture. According tothe Cultural View on Translation, the basic unit of translation is not a word, a sentence, oreven a discourse, but culture. What is more, it is held that all cultures are equal and, thus,in order to promote cultural exchanges between cultures, translators are supposed toretain the cultural elements in their translations to show the distinct charm of differentcultures. All in all, the Cultural View on Translation emerges with strong vitality in that itconforms to the global trend of economic integration and cultural diversity.
The study from the Cultural View on Translation is the first attempt scholars haveever made to take the cultural turn or to work on the basis of culture or, better, of culturalinteraction towards solving the problems arising in the process of translation.Furthermore, the dearth of academic efforts to have pushed ahead the study from thecultural view makes it justified to make more efforts. Since the 1990s, the Cultural Viewon Translation has gradually been accepted and recognized in the field of translation as aresult of its initiative in protecting weaker cultures and promoting cultural diversity.
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CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Previous Studies on the Translation of the Texts on Chinese gardens
The distinct charm of Chinese gardens has been appealing to scholars at home andabroad for centuries. Great efforts have been made to introduce its history, designingtechniques and cultural connotations of Chinese gardens to the west. According to TangLihong (2009), it was not until the publication of Ji Cheng’s Yuan Ye that classicalChinese gardens had been
