Chapter 1 Literature Review
Culture studies is a relatively new approach in the translation history.The effect of culture was first proposed in the book of Translation,History and Culture, which was jointly compiled by Susan Bassnett andAndre Lefevere in 1990. Since then, culture translation has drawn manyscholars' attention. This concept has been valued in the translation circlefor two decades in China. In this first chapter，the thesis mainly focuseson two key points. Those are general introductions of "Cultural Turn" intranslation study as well as translations of Zhmngzi both at home andabroad.
1.1 The Introduction to Cultural Approach to Translation
In China, the cultural turn has been valued in the translation circlefor two decades. Before this, the metaphysical debate between theoriesand practices in translation studies seems to have never stopped. A binaryopposition status is demonstrated in the entire process from translation ofBuddhist scriptures, which lays emphasis on "Technology" instead of"Dao" in the mid of 1990s to today's advocacy of "Dao" instead of"Technology", The appearance of cultural translations undoubtedly opensanother window for China's translation studies.However, when cultural studies are included in the translationstudies, the definition of cultural translations is not explicit enough. Atpresent，there are many definitions of cultural translations. Some peopledeem it as perspective while others regard it as method. Some peopledefine it in a positive aspect while others provide the opposite one.Among China's contemporary translators and translation theorists, Mr.Wang Zuoliang respectively had Cultural Comparison in Translationsand Translation and Cultural Prosperity published in TranslationCommunication in 1984 and 1985. He points out, "studies on translationtheories includes two aspects of language and culture". Attention shouldbe paid to not only language but also cultural issues in the translation.According to him, "genuine equivalence should be equal in all aspects ofeach culture such as connotation, function, scope, emotions andinfluences, etc." Later, Cai Yi, Tan Zaixi and Ke Ping successively havetheir papers published which discuss the translation issue from thecultural perspective. Although the perspective is the same, the usage ofthe word "cultural translation" varies. Sometimes its concepts are evencontradictory.(迟庆力，2007)First of all, cultural differences are demonstrated at the lexical levelin the most direct way. Cultural-loaded words in a culture cany its mostfundamental concepts about the world and represent the mostcharacteristic part of a culture. Although the most basic guarantee ofcultural exchanges is intercommunity of human experience, theuniqueness of the culture must be understood for the sake of successfulcommunication. Each culture has its own uniqueness such as its spiritualculture including aesthetic standards and value system, etc., on the insidelevel and material culture including diet and vessel, etc., on the surfacelevel. So to speak, it covers all levels of a culture. These culturaldifferences are demonstrated in cultural-loaded words in different ways.It's just because of this that cultural-loaded words are usually imported orexported first during the flow of cultural information although ways oftranslation varies according to different circumstances.(迟庆力’ 2007)Second, in the translation activities, cultural-loaded words are oftenthe tough part. The concepts expressed by cultural-loaded words and theirsignificance usually don't exist in another culture or it's hard to find aword or phrase which has completely equal meanings with them. ReubenBrower holds, "Part of the excitement of doing a translation is the feelingof foreignness, even of the obscurity, of the haunting original" (ReubenBrower ,1974:14). Translators are not alone in this. Readers, recipients oftranslated literary works, equally expect a culture which is different fromtheirs in the works and an extremely for
