ssic masterpieces in ancient China, not only has a profound and lasting influence on Chinese society, but also is translated into English, French, Russian, German, and Japanese and so on. This masterpiece has become a work which is valued by all the world in 20th century. Scholars have not paid attention to studying the original work, but also begun to make researches on its translations. The English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan help spread the Chinese ancient literature to the English world and make a prominent contribution. This masterpiece used many Chinese common sayings. The Chinese common sayings contains many Chinese elements. And the translation of them could spread the Chinese culture and let other cultures know Chinese culture.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Studies on Chinese Common Sayings
Chinese common sayings is a broad conception. And there are different attitudes to the definition of Chinese common sayings. This thesis takes the opinion in The Study of Chinese Common Sayings in 20th Century: common sayings is a common language popular among the people, which contains proverbs, idioms and a two-part allegorical sayings(Wen Duanzheng,2004). Chinese common sayings is created by Chinese people in daily life, and it is passed down through oral language. These common sayings are created by working people and reflect their life experience and their dreams. Common sayings contain many Chinese unique culture or convention. They are the results of working people’s wisdom and experiences in production and life.
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2.2 Studies on Shui Hu Zhuan
Shui Hu Zhuan, as one of the most famous classic masterpieces in ancient China, plays a very important role in the literary field. Many scholars study this famous work from various perspectives. There are many scholars in ancient China who studied Shui Hu Zhuan. The first scholar who studied Shui Hu Zhuan is Qian Gezhuan. In his book, Basic Knowledge of Translation, he listed Pearl’s translation of “fangpi” as an example of mistranslation. And then pearl’s version is regarded as “cultural trap”, ”misreading”, ”mistranslation”, ”over translation”, ”dead translation” and so on. Those articles are limited to the negative attitude to Pearl’s translation or quote the Pearl’s translation as a translation example. Since 2003, there appear more articles about the study of English translation versions of Shui Hu Zhuan, which indicates the limitations of the study of the English translation versions of Shui Hu Zhuan have been broken down. These articles can be divided into two kinds, the study of its content and the study from linguistic level. Many scholars study Shui Hu Zhuan from the perspective of content, such as nicknames, some word, place names, titles, cultural communication a
