A Chronological Study of Translation Discourse in the Paratexts of English Translations of Classical Chinese Poetry

Translation discourse refers to any statements which are related to and based upon translating.From the 16 ^thcentury to the 19 ^th, translation of classical Chinese poetry produces rich translation discourses in paratexts.Research shows that from the 16 ^thcentury to the 18 ^th, the translation discourses, more from texts of translated classical Chinese poetry, were more rumors than facts, but in service of the West's spiritual quest for any knowledge of China and its culture; in the 19 ^thcentury, when British Empire's enterprise of expanding colonialism in the Orient heightened a realistic need of understanding China, three predominant models of translation discourses took their shape in James Legge, Francis Davis and Herbert Giles' translations.Such discourses consist of statements as to who select what and how to translate for whom.To conclude, the challenge and difficulty in translating classical Chinese poetry lie less in how to transplant its form than in how to interpret China faithfully and communicate real Chinese sentiment to the west in an increasingly globalized world.