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Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 02 No. 02 (2022) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

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On Translating Red Tourist Attractions in Guangzhou Based on the Variational 
Translation Theory 

Chuqi WU1, Jingjing HUANG2 

1School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China, E-mail: 
969017449@qq.com  

2 Corresponding author: same as above, E-mail: juliahjj@163.com 

Fund: The study is one of the achievements of Innovative Projects of Colleges and Universities under the Department of 
Education of Guangdong Province (Project No. 2019WTSCX024) 

Abstract 
Due to the great historical significance of red tourist attractions, special attention needs to be paid to the translation of red 
tourist attractions. It will be beneficial for the sustainable development of red tourism and telling compelling Chinese stories 
in a good way. Based on the Variational Translation Theory (VTT), the paper analyzes the translation of tourist texts of the 
red tourist attractions in Guangzhou on the “List of 100 National CPC-related Tourist Attractions and Scenic Spots (2016)” 
with the seven translation techniques derived from VTT, which are adding, deleting, editing, narrating, condensing, 
integrating, and altering. According to the author’s research, most of the translations of red tourist attraction texts applied 
Complete Translation, though few adopted VTT. On the whole, the current situation of the translation of red tourist attractions 
is not optimistic, since only a few texts have English translated versions and many problems exist in current versions. The 
paper is supposed to inspire an increasing number of scholars who can show their interest in the translation of the tourist texts 
of the red tourist attractions, and thus spread Chinese culture and convey Chinese values in a good and correct way.  
Keywords: Variational Translation Theory (VTT)1, red tourist attractions, the translation of tourist texts 
1. Introduction
Red tourist attractions, usually known as revolution-themed tourist attractions, are important destinations of patriotism 
education in China: tourists learn about revolutionary history and legacy during the visit. The centenary of the founding of 
the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2021 ignited a wave of studying the history of the CPC by paying in-person visits to 
the revolutionary sites, conducing to the thriving red tourism. 
Translation of red tourist texts is more than cross-language and cross-cultural translating  red tourist texts resonate with 
political leanings and patriotic mood. In addition to conveying the factual information in the red tourist text to the target 
reader, the translation aims at finding as much echo in the hearts of foreign visitors as in Chinese visitors, therefore facilitating 
the cultural exchanges between China and the world. 
Liu, Zhang, and Wang (2021) pointed out that “if we follow the original text too much, we cannot express the content 
perfectly” (p. 4), and suggested that Variational Translation Theory—hereinafter referred to briefly as VTT—is viable to 
seeking the balance between the original text and the target text. Unlike complete translation, the theme of variation translation 
is adaption, a way of compromise by taking the demands of the reader, the translator, the source text, and the target text into 
consideration. 
Guangzhou, one of the most visited cities in China by foreigners undertakes the mission of carrying forward the spirit of the 
red revolution as well as introducing the revolutionary history of the motherland. Therefore, this study selects six red tourist 
attractions in Guangzhou from the "List of 100 National CPC-related Tourist Attractions and Scenic Spots (2016)" jointly 
issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and The General Office of the State Council, PRC in 2016 as 
examples to explore the translation techniques applicable to translating red tourist attractions based on VTT. The six red torist 
attractions are The Memorial Museum of Comrade Mao Zedong Sponsoring The Peasant Movement Institute, Guangzhou 

1 Variational Translation Theory (VTT) is put forward by the Chinese author Professor Huang Zhonglian, and the official 
English translation of such theory is given in 2020 with the publishing of the book Variational Translation Theory by Springer.  



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Uprising Memorial Hall, the Martyr Memorial Park, Sanyuanli People's Anti-British Struggle Memorial Hall, Huang Huagang 
Mausoleum of 72 Martyrs, Site of Huangpu Army Military Academy, Guangzhou.  
2. Introduction Basis
2.1 The Development of VTT 
Variation translation has long been widely used and explored in translation practice at home and abroad, though it was in 
1998 that Professor Huang Zhonglian formally put forward the concept of variation translation and then VTT systematically 
four years later. 
Tan Zaixi took French translator De Abrangur and German translator Herder as examples in his book A Short History of 
Translation in the West published by the Commercial Press in 2004 to prove that the practice of variation translation has a 
long history in the west, especially in the unprecedented golden era of the translation theories from 17th century to the 19th 
century (as cited in Du, 2021). For De Arbangur, the most important thing about translation was to help readers understand 
the content of the source text rather than translate all the words. Therefore, De Arbangur would do some adding or deleting 
in the translation as long as it was helpful for target reader’s understanding, attending little to the form and content similarity 
between the source text and the translated one. To be more specific, Herder added some expressions in his translation of the 
Temple of Shakespeare in the hope that the readers could better understand the source text with such a supplement.  
As for the exploration of variation translation and VTT in China, both Yang (2018) and Du (2021) suggested that the practices 
of variation translation could be traced back to the translation of the Buddhist Scriptures in China. Then, the practices of 
translation saw a further development through the Tang Dynasty, the late Ming Dynasty, the early Qing Dynasty, and the May 
Fourth Movement in 1919. During this long period, incomplete translation took a great part of all the translation materials. 
China, however, witnessed the Vernacular Promotion Movement thereafter. Under the influence of Lu Xun and other scholars, 
the translation practice of Western literature in China began to emphasize the complete translation without missing a word 
(Huang & Zhang, 2020, p. 2). According to Huang (2002a), Chinese scholars hoped to save the reform of Chinese characters 
and the development of literature by borrowing western ideas and literature after the May 4th Movement (p. 13). Huang 
(2002a) also indicated that the liberal changes of content and form by the translator are blamed as betrayal at that time (p. 11). 
Therefore, the concept of complete translation became prevailing to avoid losses in the learning process of Western literature. 
In contrast, variation translation was dismissed as a worthless practice of translation and the exploration of VTT in China 
developed slowly at that time but still captured the attention of some scholars including Zhang Zhongyue and Professor Zhou 
Zhaoxiang of the Hong Kong Baptist Convention.  
In the words of Huang (2002b), he pointed out that variation translation takes the external context as the premise and the 
reader as the center to solve the cultural contradiction between the source text and the multi-level target language readers' 
needs. In the same year, based on the studies on Yan Fu’s translation works and the practices of translation, Huang (2002c) 
put forward VTT systematically, pointing out the four key factors, seven adaptation techniques, eleven variational translation 
methods, and seventeen research directions of VTT. It was also in 2002 that Huang Zhonglian released his book Variational 
Translation Theory published by China Translation and Publication Corporation. Guo (2003, as cited in Yang, 2018) regarded 
the foundation of the VTT as a breakthrough in the process of translation in China. 
Further deepening of and research on the theory was conducted. Ten pairs of typologies were summarized by Huang Zhonglian 
in the paper Research Methods of Translation Variation Theory in 2011. Huang and Li (2014) discussed the twelve translation 
methods about their similarities and differences by comparison and contrast to deepen the research of variation translation. In 
addition, numerous conferences related to the study of VTT have been held, such as the second High-level Forum on 
"Theoretical Translation and Translation Methodology" with the theme of "Criticism and Reflection on Translation Change 
Theory" at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in 2018. 
Founded in China in the late 1990s, VTT has constructed from 1998 to 2008, developed from 2009 to 2017, and expanded 
from 2018 on (Huang & Yang, 2018).  It was labeled as China’s first original translation theory. Based on the Chinese 
monograph Variational Translation Theory which was published in 2002 by China Translation and Publication Corporation, 
Huang Zhonglian integrated findings and insights from 2002 to publish the English version of Variational Translation Theory 
by Springer in 2020 (Huang & Zhang, 2020).  
With social and economic development and the advent of the information age, the application of the VTT has been diversified 
from traditional literary genres such as fiction, poetry, and drama to “other well established and clearly defined types of text 
for translation such as multimedia texts, tourism texts, and legal documents” (Williams & Chesterman, 2004, p. 9).   



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 02 No. 02 (2022) 
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Zhou (2005) suggested that the VTT will provide interpreters with a psychological buffer and a flexible platform to cope with 
challenges and open up a new field to some extent by analyzing the necessity, feasibility, and evaluation of the adaptation of 
interpreting such theory. Hu (2004) said that the techniques of variation translation are efficient to meet the needs of 
advertisement translation as advertisements may be misunderstood because of different cultures if being translated word by 
word and sentence by sentence. The discussion on the application of variation translation in advertisements has been existing 
since the end of the 20th century. VTT’s application has been widely used in all walks of life with the further development of 
VTT. Machine translation will also involve variation translation in the future as VTT will “significantly improve the efficiency 
of making full use of the foreign information” (Huang & Zhang, 2020).  
2.2 Variation Translation Vs. Complete Translation 
Complete translation refers to the translation activity in which the translator converts the cultural information of the source 
language into the target language to achieve a similar even the same style. Ji (2015) pointed out that complete translation pays 
attention to the integrity of information conversion, including the integrity of content, form, and style, and seeks to maximize 
the "similarity" between target text and source text. On the contrary, variation translation is a translation activity in which the 
translator uses adaptation techniques such as adding, deleting, editing, narrating, condensing, integrating, and altering to ingest 
the original text’s contents to meet the specific requests of specific target readers under specific conditions (Huang & Zhang, 
2020, p. 7). 
Huang and Zhang (2020) suggested that what existed between complete translation and variation translation is creative writing 
added in the variation translation, and it is the variation translation that makes the concept of translation specialized and 
concrete. In the book Variational Translation Theory, Huang and Zhang (2020) indicated that the amount of information in 
the Complete Translation (a) is different from the amount of information in the variation translation (b) because of adaptation 
(p. 91). Then the seven variational translation techniques can be seen as adding(a>b), deleting(a<b), editing(a≤b), 
narrating(a≈b), condensing(a b), integrating(a b), and altering(a b). Compared with complete translation, “variation 
translation is characterized by five words: abundance, swiftness, excellence, economization, and preciseness (Huang & Zhang, 
2020, p. 165)”. Therefore, variation translation better fits in with the current needs of society in the quest for reading efficiency 
along with increasing cross-cultural exchanges. 
Though some differences, such as content, macro-form, and input of translators, do exist in the complete translation and 
variation translation, scholars admit that similarity also exists in these two forms of translation as well. Ji (2015) said that 
complete translation and variation translation are formally opposite, but they both pursue the best integration point between 
"similarity" and "acceptability" in different ways. It is said that complete translation can be seen as the starting point of 
variation translation as both of them “involve translating the original work and contain the information of the original work” 
(Huang & Zhang, 2020, p. 16). 
3. VTT Applied in the Tourist Texts of Red Tourist Attractions in Guangzhou 
VTT is constituted by one core philosophy, two contradictions, four key factors, seven techniques, and eleven methods, and 
the former ones are the cause of the latter, interrelated with each other (Huang & Zhang, 2020). Generated by the four factors 
of the VTT and bringing about the eleven variational translation methods, these seven translation techniques have seen wide 
application in variation translation. Therefore, an analysis of the seven variational translation techniques is conducive to 
exploring how VTT is applied in the tourist texts of red tourist attractions in Guangzhou. By field visit, the application of 
VTT in the six Guangzhou red tourist attractions listed in the "List of 100 National CPC-related Tourist Attractions and 
Scenic Spots (2016)" is shown as follows. 
3.1 Adding (a>b) 
The way of adding information to the original works is adding by means of explanation, commentary, writing and the like to 
assure target readers easier and more precise unscrambling of information. Generally speaking, the adding part in the 
translation of tourism translation texts can be divided into two categories according to their functions. One type of adding is 
to achieve contextual coherence and fluency with the aim of enhancing the target readers' understanding of tourist attractions, 
and the other is to add explanations of culture-loaded words with Chinese characteristics to ensure textual legibility among 
foreign tourists. 

3.1.1 Adding for Cohesion  
Adding for cohesion in VTT refers to writing in the technique of adding. Writing means adding relative content of the source 
text to the target one. According to the position of the adding part, writing can be divided into three types: writing before 
translating which is used to explain the background foreshadowing for the post, writing after translating which is used to 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 02 No. 02 (2022) 
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supplement the previous, and writing while translating which is used to serve as a bridge to connect the whole article firmly 
(Huang & Zhang, 2020, pp. 93-94). 

Translation Example 1. 
Source text:  

 
Target text:  

The Memorial Museum of Comrade Mao Zedong Sponsoring The Peasant Movement Institute, with the short title 
of NongJiangSuo Museum, is a Second-Class National Museum that is established on the base of the Guangzhou site 
of the Peasant Movement Institute, or the national key cultural relic protection unit. 

The former site of the Canton Panyu Confucian School was founded in1370 (3rd year of Hongwu Period in the 
Ming Dynasty). The historical buildings, with yellow tiles and red walls, look solemn and magnificent. In the Ming 
and Qing Dynasties, it was the main place to develop the Confucianism talents and offer sacrifices to Confucius. In 
1926, Mao Zedong sponsored the Sixth Peasant Movement Institute here, with the in-depth study of Chinese peasant 
problems, training a large number of peasant movement cadres, which made an important contribution to the Chinese 
revolution. The historical buildings which are the site of Peasant Movement Institute have become a historic 
revolutionary memorial from then on. 

Selected from the travel brochure of The Memorial Museum of Comrade Mao Zedong Sponsoring The Peasant Movement Institute  

The outstanding characteristics of writing while translating are connecting the preceding and the following and cleverly 
embedding supplementary content for the translation to make it more coherent and increase the amount of information (Huang 
& Zhang, 2020, p. 93).  
The underlined part of the selected paragraph is the added part of the English translation of the official tourism brochure of 
The Memorial Museum of Comrade Mao Zedong Sponsoring The Peasant Movement Institute. At first glance, the two 
supplementary sentences seem unnecessary. After all, if the two supplementary sentences are chopped, the paragraph flows 
still smoothly, causing little impact on the understanding of the translation. However, if examined in the whole text, the two 
supplementary sentences make the text more coherent and structured, especially with the use of the two added phrases “the 
historical buildings”. The first supplementary sentence on the description of the architectural appearance is to highlight the 
solemnity of the place, which provides rationality for Mao Zedong's sponsorship of the sixth peasant movement here, and the 
place is rated as the key national cultural relic protection unit. The second supplementary sentence tells the time of this site 
being regarded as a historical memorial hall of the Chinese Revolution, echoing the last sentence of the first paragraph, which 
does great help to the tourists’ understanding of the historical significance of The Memorial Museum of Comrade Mao Zedong 
Sponsoring The Peasant Movement Institute. 

3.1.2 Adding for Comprehension 
When it refers to adding for comprehension in VTT, it is generally related to explanation in the technique of adding. 
Explanation means explaining part of the content of the source text in the target one because target readers are not that familiar 
with those parts as it has profound meaning or it is terminology, including literary quotation, ancient sayings, words, and so 
on (Huang & Zhang, 2020, p. 92). 

Translation Example 2. 
Source text: 

 
Target text: Canton Panyu Confusion School was one of the main educational institutes in Guangzhou city in the Ming 
and Qing Dynasties. The Confucian scholar (corrected) studied Confucian here and started from the Title of Xiucai as 
the first step into the Imperial Examination System. The Imperial Examination System was the (corrected) of talent 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 02 No. 02 (2022) 
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and officer selection in ancient China. It was started in the Sui Dynasty, completely established in the Tang Dynasty, 
and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Finally, it was abolished during the reform of the new educational 
system in the late Qing Dynasty. The Imperial Examination System lasting more than 1300 years in China, had played 
a significant role in the history of China and resulted in a wide range of influences. The Chinese Imperial Examination 
Culture is displayed in the Guangji Hall, which is behind the Minglun Hall. The exhibition is divided into three parts 
respectively: The history of The Chinese Imperial Examination System, The process of the Chinese Imperial 
Examination System, The Number One Scholar Zhuangyuan in Guangdong Province. 

Selected from the travel brochure of The Memorial Museum of Comrade Mao Zedong Sponsoring The Peasant Movement Institute  

The explanation is usually added as part of the text rather than being a footnote. By doing so, the information content and the 
length of the text would increase (Huang & Zhang, 2020, p. 92). In this example, both phrases and sentences are added to the 
tourist text as supplementary parts for foreign tourists to better understand the background relevant to Chinese culture. 
In Example 2, the word “ ” is translated into “Canton Panyu Confusion School”. “ ” is a typical culture-loaded 
word that appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, which refers to the place of learning mainly open to the children of the 
nobility. “ ” now refers specifically to Confucius Temple usually set up by local governments in ancient China, and it is 
where ancient scholars studied traditional Confucian culture. If “ ” is translated into “School”, its historical implication 
is dismissed. Therefore, adding the word “Confusion” precisely conveys the connotation of “ ”.  Another adding of the 
location word “Canton” to modified “ ” avoids confusing tourists with other Confusion Schools.  
In addition, three complete sentences are added here in explanation of what the Imperial Examination was and how the 
Imperial Examination developed. Meanwhile, they also serve as a supplement to the following sentence which says that The 
Imperial Examination had a history of more than 1300 years. The Imperial Examination, namely “ ” in China, was one 
of the most important talent selecting systems in the history of China. The system is well-known to the Chinese but quite 
foreign to non-native tourists, thereby necessitating exhibiting The Chinese Imperial Examination Culture and the variational 
translation technique adding is used here. The application of VTT here has indeed been of great help for foreign tourists to 
break cultural barriers and understand Chinese culture, thus enjoying a better tourist experience. Another culture-loaded word 
“ ” is translated into “Number One Scholar Zhuangyuan”.  The translation explains the meaning by referring to the New 
English-Chinese dictionary and keeps its Chinese pronunciation Zhuangyuan. 
3.2 Deleting (a<b) 
The way of deleting information unwanted to the target readers is deleting. In the variation translation, translators will tell 
what is unwanted for the target readers from the original texts and retain information that tallies highly with readers’ demands. 
The deleting unit can be a word, a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph. Huang (2002a) suggested that any information that 
directly or indirectly conforms to the needs of readers to a high degree can be retained, and any information that deviates from 
it or has little relationship can be discarded (pp. 113-115). By doing so, better communication can be achieved. 

3.2.1 Deleting for Prominent Information 
From the perspective of the reality of translation, need is the initial driving force of translation activities. The goal of deletion 
is to get the most out of the smaller pieces and make the most of the useful information (Huang, 2002a, p. 114). 

Translation Example 3. 
Source text: 

 
Target text: The tombstone of Alexand Hiss Everett, who was the first U.S. minister to China. 

(Selected from the exhibition of Whampoa Military Academy Memorial) 

Translation Example 4. 
Source text: 

 
Target text: Zhan Tianyou(1861-1919): An English teacher at the Guangdong Real Learning Academy. 



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(Selected from the exhibition of Whampoa Military Academy Memorial) 

The description of honorary titles and awards is a unique expression with Chinese characteristics, which is very common in 
the introduction of red tourist attractions (Zhang, 2021). However, given consideration to foreigners' reading mentality and 
requirements for the layout of the scenic spot introduction column, both Zhang (2021) and Huang (2002a) suggested deleting 
such information properly to remain the appealing tourist text.  
In Example 3, the translated introduction of Alexand Hiss Everett keeps only one piece of the information-his title “the first 
U.S. minister to China” and deleted other details in the Chinese text that he was dead in Guangzhou in 1847 and he was buried 
in a foreigners’ cemetery in Huangpu, a very significant cemetery as the manifestation of Sino-us relationships. From the 
perspective of foreign tourists, these deleted details were of little help and distract their attention. In example 4, the Chinese 
version of Zhan Tianyou's introduction tells that he was known as "the Father of China's Railway". The translator has taken 
this fact as irrelevant to the theme of the development of the Whampoa Military Academy Memorial and thus deleted it in the 
translation. Such deletion is questionable and Zhan’s being the Father of China’s Railway reveals the influential power of the 
faculty of Guangdong Real Learning Academy as well as unveiling him as a household name in China. Thus the seemingly 
irrelevant information accentuates the prominence of Zhan Tianyou in the eyes of foreign tourists. 

3.2.2 Deleting for Political Information 
From the superstructure level, any translation is to serve the national politics and economy (Huang, 2002a, p. 7), therefore 
translators generally have a certain sense of cultural input or cultural output when translating. For example, several translations 
of Moment in Peking published in Japan made substantial modifications to the facts and circumstances of China's resistance 
to Japanese aggression. The discussion of the Japanese editions of Moment in Peking here aims at examining the sensitivity 
of Japanese translators to cultural exchanges. 

Translation Example 5. 
Source text: 

 
Target text: After re-occupying Guangzhou, the Kuomintang army began to carry out massacres against the rebels. 
From 13th to 19th, more than 5700 revolutionary soldiers and revolutionaries were killed, including more than 
200Communist Party members. The city was enveloped in white terror. 

(Selected from the exhibition of the Guangzhou Uprising Memorial Hall) 

In example 5, the Chinese text depicts the blood and carnage in detail: dead bodies were found everywhere from "Under the 
Baiyun Mountain "," by the Pearl River" to “all the streets and lanes of the city”. All these appalling descriptions were abridged 
in the translation. The translator downplays the emotional touch by delivering a condensed version in one single sentence that 
“the city was enveloped in white terror”.  

Translation Example 6. 
Source text: 

 
Target text: The Guangzhou Uprising was quelled, under the all-out counterattack of the Kuomintang authority in 
Guangzhou. In order to preserve and accumulate the revolution force and power, key leaders and some rebels in the 
uprising fled to Hong Kong and later returned back to the battle lines across the country to continue their dauntless 
fights under the leadership of the Central and the Guangdong Committee of the CPC. 

(Selected from the exhibition of the Guangzhou Uprising Memorial Hall) 



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In an article, the content should be divided into primary and secondary ones. Appropriate deletion of secondary information 
can make cultural communication smoother. At the same time, under the ideology of peacetime, imperialism, with its obvious 
military and political components, can be slightly weakened to describe war objectively (Peng, 2017). 
In Example 6, the underlined Chinese version lists many place names including "Hailufeng", "Jiangxi Province", and 
"Jinggang Mountain" where the revolutions continued, the names of the following uprisings “ ” and land 
revolution of encircling the cities from the rural areas “ ”. All this information is considered 
secondary and therefore left out in the translation. Keeping these unfamiliar places and culture-loaded terms is of little help 
but baffling for foreign tourists to understand the red spirit of the revolutionaries. 
3.3 Narrating (a b) 
The way of translating an original work by changing the form, deleting the details, and keeping the main idea is narrating. In 
other words, narrating is a kind of paraphrasing. By narrating, what the translators concentrate on are the main ideas rather 
than the form of the original work. Generally speaking, narrating includes deleting and editing that involve variational 
translation techniques of which key steps are selection, arrangement and translation to convey contents in a clearer, more 
logical, and more impressive way. 

Translation Example 7. 
Source text: 

 
Target text: The revolutionary spirit of Anti-Imperialism and Anti-Feudalism swept Guangdong province after the First 
Kuomintang-Communist Cooperation. However, the Cooperation broke down after Chiang Kai-shek and Wang 
Jingwei Started their respective Anti-Communist Coups in 1927. 

(Selected from the exhibition of the Guangzhou Uprising Memorial Hall) 

Translation Example 8. 
Source text: 

 
Target text: On July 9th, 1926, the National Government of Guangzhou started the Northern Expedition. The picture 
shows the Launching Ceremony for the Northern Expedition. 

(Selected from the exhibition of the Guangzhou Uprising Memorial Hall) 

The original text of Example 7 explains the historical background of the rapid development of the anti-imperialist and anti-
feudal tide and then depicts the catastrophe in Guangzhou when the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist 
Party broke up after the outbreak of the anti-communist coup. In the English version, the translator purposefully deletes details 
such as the historical background and retells the main content of this paper: the development and breakdown of the First 
Kuomintang-Communist Cooperation. Similarly, the original text of Example 8 gives some details of the Northern Expedition 
Congress while what is left in the translated version is the Launching Ceremony for the Northern Expedition. If Example 8 
employs Complete Translation, the English version should be as such: “The National Revolutionary Army held the Northern 
Expedition Launching Ceremony in Guangzhou East field. In order to overthrow warlords and unify China, on July 9, 1926, 
with the support and promotion of the Communist Party of China, the Kuomintang army held its Launching Ceremony in 
Guangzhou and formally set out for the northern expedition”. More specific and detailed though, the complete translation 
version is far from being logical and clear. 
3.4 Integrating (a b) 
The way of combing two or more similar or logical parts, like a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter, etc., of the original work 
during translation is integrating. 

Translation Example 9. 
Source text:  



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Target text:  
In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei started their respective anti-Communist coups, and the Great 

Revolution encountered a severe failure. To salvage the revolution, the Communist Party planned another revolt-
Guangzhou Uprising-after the Nanchang Uprising and the Autumn Harvest Uprising. Named “Workers’ and Peasants’ 
Red Army”, a Worker’s, Peasants’ and Soldiers’ Democratic Regime-Guangzhou Soviet Government was established. 
It had played an important role in Guangzhou, the political, economic, and cultural center in South China, and was 
later the “Paris Commune of the East”. 

Although the Guangzhou Uprising suffered defeat due to the great disparity of strength between the two parties, 
it, along with Nanchang Uprising and Autumn Harvest Uprising, marked the beginning of the Communist Party’s 
independent leadership of revolutions and establishment of the People’s Army and played an important role in the 
history of the development of Communist Party and the People’s Army. 

(Selected from the exhibition of the Guangzhou Uprising Memorial Hall) 

Huang Zhonglian and Zhang Yongzhong (2020, p. 100) suggested that integrating should be used when the structure of the 
original text is not proper, like separating one paragraph into two. In the original text of Example 9, the foreword of the 
exhibition of the Guangzhou Uprising Memorial Hall is divided into three paragraphs. The first paragraph reveals the 
historical background of the Guangzhou uprising, the second paragraph depicts the outbreak and development of the 
Guangzhou Uprising, and the third paragraph unveils the historic significance of the Guangzhou Uprising. In the translated 
version the three paragraphs are condensed into two: the integrating technique is employed in merging the first two paragraphs 
into one. Such integration makes sense in that both paragraphs are pertinent to the history of the Guangzhou Uprising while 
the third paragraph shifts into the historic significance of the event, hence the need for separation from the first two paragraphs. 
4. Conclusion
The paper conducts an analysis of the English translated tourist texts of the six of Guangzhou's red tourist attractions which 
are listed on the “List of 100 National CPC-related Tourist Attractions and Scenic Spots (2016)” published in December 2016 
from the perspective of VTT, based on the seven variational translation techniques, especially adding, deleting, narrating and 
integrating. The aim is to encourage further study on the English translation of the red tourist attractions not only in Guangzhou 
but entire China. As red-themed tourism plays an increasing role in cross-cultural communication, hence the need for quality 
translation of the tourist texts.  
Findings of the translations of red tourist attractions do not seem optimistic. Bilingual or multilingual introductions are not 
usually accessible to foreign visitors. Yet among the bilingual introductions,   complete translation dominates. In this paper, 
the complete translation is examined in handling red-themed tourist texts as compared with the variation translation, and it is 
proven through case analyses that the variation translation stands out: the flexibility of the variation translation better fits in 
with the textual features and political purposes of the red-themed introductions.  
To conclude, wide and in-depth research on translating red tourist attractions from the perspective of the VTT is required for 
China to “tell compelling Chinese stories accurately and in a fantastic way”. 

References 
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Translation Variation Theory—Based on Premier’s Press Conferences 2019-2021 (Master’s thesis, Inner 
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Hu, Y (2004). Translation Variation of Advertisement (Master’s thesis, Wuhan University of Technology, Hubei, China). 
Huang, Z (2002a). Variational Translation Theory[M] (In Chinese, [M]). China Translation and Publication 



Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 02 No. 02 (2022) 
ISSN (online): 2766-791X 
ISSN (print):    2770-6354  

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