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Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting 
ISSN 2766-791X 

Vol. 1 No. 2; 2021 
www.jhkpress.com 

Experiential Metafunctional Analysis of “Shan Xing” and Its English 
Versions 

Huaming CHENG1 

St. Paul University Philippines; Guangzhou College of Commerce, China 

E-mail: kylechm@126.com  

This paper is the phased achievement of a school project of Guangzhou College of Commerce (No.: 2019XJYB008). 

Abstract 

This paper attempts to analyze and compare transitivity processes of “Shan Xing” and its 11 English versions 

from the perspective of Experiential Metafunction of Halliday’s Functional Linguistics and makes a comment on 

the similarities and differences between them. This study can give clues to the study of poems and their 

translations of the transitivity processes, by exploring the differences of participants and circumstantial elements 

with the theoretical framework of Functional Linguistics which can provide a necessary theoretical basis for the 

study of poetry translation. 

Keywords: Functional Linguistics; Experiential Metafunction; “Shan Xing”; English versions of “Shan Xing” 

About the author: CHENG Huaming, a doctoral candidate of St. Paul University Philippines, an associate professor at 

Guangzhou College of Commerce, is mainly engaged in comparative linguistics and translation research. 



 

 

1. Introduction 

“Shan Xing (Chinese: 山行)” is a seven-character quatrain of the Tang Dynasty by the poet Du Mu (Chinese: 杜牧), 
which describes the author’s mountain climbing, and highly praises the beauty of the mountain in the late autumn. 
This poem shows a colorful picture of the autumn mountain, where there are stone path, white clouds, homes, maple 
groves, frosted leaves, which constitute a touching autumn color. In this poem, Du Mu uses emotions to control the 
scene, quickly and accurately capture the image of natural beauty, and integrate his own emotion into it, so that 
emotional beauty and natural beauty are blended one scene. The first sentence of the whole poem “Yuan Shang Han 
Shan Shi Jing Xie (Chinese: 远上寒山石径斜)”, depicts a winding mountain road to the hills. “Yuan (Chinese: 远)” 
describes the length of the mountain road; “Han (Chinese: 寒)” indicates the late autumn. These two words “Xie 
(Chinese: 斜)” and “Shang (Chinese: 上)” take concerted action, which express the mountain is high but the slope is 
slow. The second sentence “Bai Yun Sheng Chu You Ren Jia (Chinese: 白云生处有人家)” is the description of what 
the poet sees, where the white clouds float is “You Ren Jia (有人家)”. These three characters make people feel that the 
mountains are full of life. It correlates with “Shi Jing (Chinese: 石径)” in the first sentence. This is the passageway for 
the mountain dwellers. The third sentence is “Ting Che Zuo Ai Feng Lin Wan (Chinese: 停车坐爱枫林晚)”, in which 
the word “Wan (晚)” is exquisitely used and it contains many meanings. Firstly, it shows that the scenes of the first 
two sentences are seen during the day, and those of the last two sentences are evening scenes. Secondly, because in the 
evening there are sunset, gorgeous sunset glow and red maple leaves which reflect each other, while maple grove is 
particularly beautiful. Thirdly, the poet lingered, and in the evening he was reluctant to leave in the car, and he loved 
the red leaves. Finally, because parking for a long time, observing into the micro, he realized the truth of the fourth 
sentence “Shuang Ye Hong Yu Er Yue Hua (Chinese: 霜叶红于二月花)”, which sentence is such an interesting 
epigram. The fourth sentence is the center of the whole poem. It is the poet’s strong colorful writing, condensed out of 
the pen. Huo (1995: 351) thinks that the poem contains new ideas, exquisite layout. In the bleak autumn wind it 
intakes gorgeous autumn color, and compares the spring wind, is pleasing to the eye. Recently, the main research on 
this poem includes: Gong (1985) explained new meaning of “Er Yue (Chinese: 二月)”. Zhong (2010) analyzed three 
English translations of the poem from empathy perspective. Li & Xu (2012) illustrated the poem from the perspective 
of cognitive stylistics. Zhao (2013) reinterpreted the text. Besides, there are several articles of teaching design of the 
poem. From the point of view of the research content, the results of the comparative translation study of “Shan Xing” 
are rare. This article analyzes Experiential Metafunction of “Shan Xing” and its 11 English versions from the 
perspective of Experiential Metafunction of Halliday’s (Halliday, 1994) so as to provide a better method for poetry 
translation study.  

2. Experiential Metafunctional Analysis of the Poem 

Experiential Metafunction is an important part of systemic-functional grammar by Halliday. Experiential 
Metafunction consists of multiple semantic systems, the most important of which is transitivity system. Its role is to 
use the experience of the real world and the inner world in a number of processes to express it, and identify the 
participants involved in the process and circumstantial elements (Wang, 2002: 1). Transitivity includes six processes: 
material process, mental process, relational process, verbal process, behavioral process and existential process (Hu, 
2003: 71). From the perspective of transitivity of experiential function, there are four processes in “Shan Xing”, i.e.: 

(1) Material process / Relational process: “Yuan Shang Han Shan Shi Jing Xie (Chinese: 远上寒山石径斜)”; 
(2) Material process / Existential process: “Bai Yun Sheng Chu You Ren Jia (Chinese: 白云生处有人家)”; 
(3) Material process / Mental process: “Ting Che Zuo Ai Feng Lin Wan (Chinese: 停车坐爱枫林晚)”; 
(4) Relational process: “Shuang Ye Hong Yu Er Yue Hua (Chinese: 霜叶红于二月花)”. 

In terms of functional discourse analysis, during transitivity analysis, it is necessary to indicate the related elements, 
such participants and circumstantials after the type of process is determined. In sentence (1) of material process, 
“Shang (Chinese: 上)” is the process, and the actor is the poet himself, which is omitted. “Yuan (Chinese: 远)” 
represents the circumstantial of space, and “Han Shan (Chinese: 寒山)” is the range. “Shi Jing Xie (Chinese: 石径

斜)” shows the relational process: “Shi Jing (Chinese: 石径)” is the carrier, and “Xie (Chinese: 斜)” is an attribute; In 
sentence (2) of the existential process, “You (Chinese: 有)” is a process, “Bai Yun Sheng Chu (Chinese: 白云生处)” 
represents the circumstantial of space, which includes a material process, “Ren Jia (Chinese: 人家)” is an existent; In 
sentence (3) of the material process, “Ting (Chinese: 停)” is a process, “Che (Chinese: 车)” is the goal, “Zuo Ai Feng 
Lin Wan (Chinese: 坐爱枫林晚)” represents the circumstantial of cause, which also includes a mental process; In 
sentence (4) of the relational process, “Shuang Ye (Chinese: 霜叶)” is the carrier, “Hong (Chinese: 红)” is an attribute, 
“Yu Er Yue Hua (Chinese: 于二月花)” is the circumstantial of comparison. 



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Table 1 “Shan Xing” and Analysis of Transitivity Processes 

Poem Transitivity Process 
(1) Yuan Shang Han Shan Shi Jing Xie (Chinese: 远上寒山石径斜) Material process / Relational process 
(2) Bai Yun Sheng Chu You Ren Jia (Chinese: 白云生处有人家) Material process / Existential process 
(3) Ting Che Zuo Ai Feng Lin Wan (Chinese: 停车坐爱枫林晚) Material process / Mental process 
(4) Shuang Ye Hong Yu Er Yue Hua (Chinese: 霜叶红于二月花) Relational process 

3. Experiential Metafunction Analysis of Its Translations 

On English translations of the poem “Shan Xing”, these 11 versions have been collected (See Appendix). For 
convenience, the following versions are arranged by the order of time: Weng (Weng, 1985: 57), Wang (Wang & 
Knoepfle, 1989: 49), Xu2 (Xu, 1990: 328-329), Kotewell (Guo, 1994: 227), Zhuo (Zhuo, 1996: 181), Sun (Sun, 1997: 
431), Xu3 (Xu, 2001: 531), Yang (Yang, 2001: 274), Seaton (Seaton, 2006: 123), Tang (Tang, 2010: 7), Liu (Liu, 
2015: 182), which represent 11 translations. For comparison, a sentence-by-sentence analysis is given below. 

3.1 “Yuan Shang Han Shan Shi Jing Xie (Chinese: 远上寒山石径斜)” 

Table 2 English Versions of “Yuan Shang Han Shan Shi Jing Xie” 

Translated By Process Participant Circumstantial 

Weng Material process: runs  Actor: a narrow stone path  
Place: off the main road 
Manner: winding, climbing, 
vanishing 

Wang Material process: winds Actor: the narrow stone trail Place: far up into the mountains 

Xu2 Relational process: are 
Carrier: the stony paths  
Attribute: aslant 

Place: far up on the cold 
mountain  

Kotewell Material process: climb 
Actor: I  
Range: the chill mountain’s 
steep stone paths 

 

Zhuo 
Material process: ’s 
meandering 

Actor: a stony path  Place: high up the chilly mount 

Sun Material process: wound Actor: the stone trail  Place: far up the mountainside 
Xu3 Material process: leads Actor: a slanting stony path Place: far to the cold hill 

Yang Material process: winds Actor: a flag-stone path  Place: up into the chilly hills 

Seaton Material process: turns Actor: rocky path  
Place: far climbing Cold 
Mountain 

Tang Material process: sloped Actor: the rocky path  Place: far up the chilly mountains 

Liu 
Material process: is 
winding  

Actor: an askew stone-paved 
path 

Place: up the chilly mountain far 
away 

The first sentence “Yuan Shang Han Shan Shi Jing Xie (Chinese: 远上寒山石径斜)” is discussed below. The 11 
English translations in terms of the type of process, participants and circumstantials are analyzed in the table 2 above. 
According to the process type, only one of all the translations is used the relational process. The process translated by 
Xu2 is “are”. The carrier is “the stony paths”, and the attribute is “aslant”. “Far up on the cold mountain” represents 
the circumstantial element of the place. All the other translations belong to the material process, most of the actors are 
“path”. Weng translates it as “a narrow stone path”; Zhuo as “a stony path”, Xu3 as “a slanting stony path”, Yang as “a 
flag-stone path”, Seaton as “rocky path”, Tang as “the rocky path”, Liu as “an askew stone-paved path”. Weng adds 
more information of “narrow”, while Xu2 and Liu respectively translate the meaning of “slanting” and “askew” to 
indicate the meaning of the original poem “Xie (Chinese: 斜)”. Kotewell also uses the material process, which 
translates the omitted actor “I”. The process is “climb”, and the range is “the chill mountain’s steep stone paths”. In 
“the narrow stone trail” translated by Wang and “the stone trail” by Sun, all use “stone trail” to translate “Shi Jing 
(Chinese: 石径)”. The processes translated by Wang, Sun, Yang and Liu, which are translated as “wind” or others, 
contain the meaning of the rugged mountain road in the original poem. In addition, the other material processes are 
“runs” by Weng, “climb” by Kotewell, “’s meandering” by Zhuo, “turns” by Seaton, “sloped” by Tang. 

Then the circumstantial to represent place “Han Shan (Chinese: 寒山)” is discussed. Most of them are translated as 
“cold/chilly mountain(s)/hill(s)”, such as “far up on the cold mountain” translated by Xu2, “high up the chilly mount” 
by Zhuo, “far to the cold hill” by Xu3, “up into the chilly hills” by Yang, “far climbing Cold Mountain” by Seaton, 
“far up the chilly mountains” by Tang, “up the chilly mountain far away” by Liu. In the first sentence “Han (Chinese: 



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寒)” is used to evoke the fourth sentence “Shuang Ye (Chinese: 霜叶)” (Huo, 1995: 351). Among the translations “off 
the main road” by Weng, “far up into the mountains” by Wang, “far up the mountainside” by Sun do not appear the 
coldness of “Han Shan (Chinese: 寒山)”. In the circumstantial, Weng has added “winding, climbing, vanishing” to 
illustrate the rugged mountain path. Generally speaking, the first sentence can follow the process of material and be 
translated as “A stony path winds up to the chilly mountain far away”. 

3.2 “Bai Yun Sheng Chu You Ren Jia (Chinese: 白云生处有人家)” 

Table 3 English Versions of “Bai Yun Sheng Chu You Ren Jia” 

Translated By Process Participant Circumstantial 

Weng 
Existential process: 
perch 

Existent: a few tiny cottages 
Place: into the cloudy heights 
where 

Wang 
Relational process: is 
 
Relational process: are  

Carrier: this 
Attribute: a cloudy place 
Carrier: the cabins  
Attribute: almost invisible  

 

Xu2 Material process: plant 
Actor: people 
Goal: their dwellings 

Place: where white clouds are 
made and formed, there  

Kotewell Existential process: are Existent: homes of men Place: deep in the white clouds 

Zhuo are silhouetted Goal: homes 
Place: ’gainst the white clouds’ 
very fount 

Sun 
Existential process: 
stood 

Existent: some abodes 
Place: where the clouds were thick, 
there 

Xu3 
Existential process: 
appear  
Material process: are 

Existent: cots and bowers 
Place: where fleecy clouds are 
born, there 

Yang Relational process: are  
Carrier: houses 
Attribute: just discernible 

Place: amid the thick white cloud 

Seaton Existential process: Existent: some man’s home Place: where clouds grow 

Tang 
Existential process: 
stood 

Existent: some cottages 
Place: where white clouds had 
risen 

Liu Existential process: is 
Existent: a cottage which is 
hidden in the white clouds 
depth 

 

The 11 translations of the second sentence “Bai Yun Sheng Chu You Ren Jia (Chinese: 白云生处有人家)” are 
displayed above. From Table 3, there are seven versions using the existential process, while the process of translation 
does not appear in Seaton, six of the other transitive processes of the translations are “perch” (translated by Weng), 
“are” (by Kotewell), “stood” (by Sun), “appear” (by Xu), “stood” (by Tang), “is” (by Liu). Among them, Sun presents 
a better translation, which shows the “hidden” homes in the mountains. The translations of the existent are “a few tiny 
cottages” by Weng, “homes of men” by Kotewell, “some abodes” by Sun, “cots and bowers” by Xu3, “some man’s 
home” by Seaton, “some cottages” by Tang, “a cottage which is hidden in the white clouds depth” by Liu. For the 
existent “Ren Jia (Chinese: 人家)”, Kotewell, Zhuo and Seaton translate it as: “homes of men”, “homes” and “some 
man’s home”. Here “home” is a place where people live. The poet thought that the mountains and forests were 
uninhabited, but he vaguely saw other people. There is a kind of warm feeling, in line with the meaning of the original 
poem. When Weng translates it as “a few tiny cottages”, Tang as “some cottages”, Liu as “a cottage”, “cottage” here 
refers to “villa”. People in the mountains cannot form cottages because they are scattered. Xu3 translates it as “cots 
and bowers”: “cot” refers to “shed, small house”; “bower” refers to “pavilion”. There are errors in the understanding 
meaning of the original poem. There are other translations “the cabins” by Wang, “their dwellings” by Xu2, “houses” 
by Yang. Wang and Yang translate it as the relational process. There are two relational processes: “is” and “are” in the 
translation by Wang. The carriers are “this” and “the cabins” respectively; the attributes are “a cloudy place” and 
“almost invisible”. The relational process of translation by Yang is “are”. The carrier is “houses”, and the attribute is 
“just discernible”. Xu and Zhuo translate it as the material process. The process translated by Xu is “plant”. The actor 
is “people”, and the goal is “their dwellings”. The process translated by Zhou is “are silhouetted”, and the goal is 
“homes”. Zhuo’s “silhouette” reflects a kind of outline, which is a certain background of the outline, more in line with 
the original poetic conception, because there are white clouds in the mountains, and the house cannot be clearly seen 
the full picture. 

Finally, the circumstantial elements of the place to translate “Bai Yun Sheng Chu (Chinese: 白云生处)” are discussed. 



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There are two versions: “Sheng (Chinese: 生)” and “Shen (Chinese: 深)”. “Sheng (Chinese: 生)” can be understood as 
in the formation of white clouds, “Shen (Chinese: 深)” means in the depths of the mist. Weng translates it as “into the 
cloudy heights where”, Kotewell as “deep in the white clouds”, Zhuo as “’gainst the white clouds’ very fount”, Sun as 
“where the clouds were thick, there”, Yang as “amid the thick white cloud”. Zhuo’s “fount” refers to “(literary or 
humorous) the place where sth important comes from” (Wehmeier, 2004: 692), It explains the origin of white clouds, 
that is, where white clouds come from. The second sentence describes “Bai Yun (Chinese: 白云)” in order to contrast 
the fourth sentence with a strong contrast of color. “Frosted leaves” are extremely “red”, which gives a feeling of 
being redder than early spring flowers (Huo, 1995: 351). Both translations of Kotewell and Zhou embody “Bai Yun 
(Chinese: 白云)”, and Zhuo also shows the formation of white clouds. Other translations “where white clouds are 
made and formed, there” by Xu2, “where fleecy clouds are born, there” by Xu3, “where clouds grow” by Seaton, 
“where white clouds had risen” by Tang embody the formation of white clouds. Taken all the analysis into 
consideration, this sentence can use the existential process to be translated as “There are a few homes of men where 
the thick white clouds stay”. 

3.3 “Ting Che Zuo Ai Feng Lin Wan (Chinese: 停车坐爱枫林晚)” 

Table 4 English Versions of “Ting Che Zuo Ai Feng Lin Wan” 

Translated By Process Participant Circumstantial 

Weng 
Material process: pull up; 
entranced 

Actor: I 
Goal: my carriage 

Place: here 

Wang 
Mental process: love 
 
Material process: pause  

Senser: I 
Phenomenon: seeing the 
maples  

Time: at sunset 
Place: in my cart 
Purpose: to watch them 

Xu2 Material process: stop 
Actor: I 
Goal: my cart  

Cause: only cause I love the beautiful 
sight—of a maple grove, all red  
Time: before the approach of night 

Kotewell Material process: stop 
Actor: I 
Goal: my carriage  

Cause: because I admire the maple 
grove at nightfall  

Zhuo Material process: bring  
Actor: I 
Goal: my carriage to a halt 

Cause: attracted by th’ maples 

Sun Material process: stopt  
Actor: I 
Goal: my cart 

Purpose: to watch the maple forest late 

Xu3 Material process: stop  
Actor: I 
Goal: my cab 

Place: at maple woods 
Purpose: to gaze my fill 

Yang Material process: stop  
Actor: I 
Goal: my carriage 

Cause: for I love the maple trees  
Time: in the twilight 

Seaton 
Material process: halt  
 
Behavior process: sit 

Actor: I 
Goal: my carriage 

Manner: adoring, evening, maple 
grove 

Tang Material process: stopped 
Actor: I 
Goal: my cart 

Manner: sitting therein to enjoy, 
looking at the lovely maple trees at 
dusk 

Liu Material process: stop Actor: I 
Cause: due to loving maple trees in 
late Autumn  
Purpose: to go sightseeing 

The third sentence is “Ting Che Zuo Ai Feng Lin Wan (Chinese: 停车坐爱枫林晚)”. It means to stop the cart because 
of the beauty of the evening maple forest. The original verse uses the material process, while Wang uses the mental 
process “love” and material processes “pause”. The senser is “I”; the phenomenon is “seeing the maples”. The 
behavioral process of translation by Seaton is “sit”, which should be a misunderstanding. This is similar with the 
original English translation “and I sit to admire” by Kotewell. Guo (1994: 227) revises it. The revised circumstantial 
element “because I admire the maple grove at nightfall” expresses the concept of cause, and accords with the meaning 
of the original poem. Because of loving the late maple forest, he stops to watch the view (Huo, 1995: 350). Here “Zuo 
(Chinese: 坐)” does not mean “sit down”. Selected Notes of All Tang Poetry by Sun & Yan  (2002: 3712) and Selected 
Tang Poems by the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (2003: 580) explain “Zuo 
(Chinese: 坐)” means “because” rather than “sit”, so these two foreign translators mistranslated it. Other translations 
are material processes. The process of the original poem is “Ting (Chinese: 停)”. Weng translates it as “pull up”, Yang 
as a phrase “bring…to a halt”, Seaton as “halt”, while the other translations are “stop” or its different forms to indicate 



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the action of stopping. All the actors are “I”; the goals are “my carriage”, “my cart” or “my cab”. The circumstantial 
elements indicating cause include “only cause I love the beautiful sight—of a maple grove, all red” by Xu2, “because 
I admire the maple grove at nightfall” by Kotewell, “attracted by th’ maples” by Zhuo, “for I love the maple trees” by 
Yang, “due to loving maple trees in late Autumn” by Liu. Other circumstantial elements of purpose are “to watch 
them” by Xu2, “to watch the maple forest late” by Sun, “to gaze my fill” by Xu3, “to go sightseeing” by Liu. Based 
on the above analysis, this sentence includes the material process and mental process and can be translated as “I stop 
my cart because I love the maple grove in late autumn”. 

3.4 “Shuang Ye Hong Yu Er Yue Hua (Chinese: 霜叶红于二月花)” 

Table 5 

English Versions of “Shuang Ye Hong Yu Er Yue Hua” 

Translated By Process Participant Circumstantial 

Weng Relational process: is 
Carrier: the twilight mountainside 

Attribute: ablaze 

Cause: with crimson maples 
more vivid than spring flowers 

Wang Relational process: are 
Carrier: the leaves 

Attribute: as red as prairies 
Time: in the flowering spring 

Xu2 Relational process: are 
Carrier: maple leaves after a frost 

Attribute: more beautiful in tone 

Comparison: than flowers in 
February  

Accompaniment: with their 
colors better known 

Kotewell Relational process: are 
Carrier: whose frozen leaves  

Attribute: redder 

Comparison: than the flowers 
of early Spring 

Zhuo Relational process: are  

Carrier: th’ frost-redden’d leaves at 
dusk 

Attribute: brighter 

Comparison: than the bloom of 
spring 

Sun   
Cause: with frost-bitten leaves 
more crimson than spring 
blooms 

Xu3 
Relational process: 
look  

Carrier: frost-bitten leaves 

Attribute: redder 

Comparison: than early spring 
flowers 

Yang Relational process: are  

Carrier: the leaves after early frost 

Attribute: as crimson as spring 
flowers 

 

Seaton Relational process: 
Carrier: frosted leaves 

Attribute: far redder  

Place: there 

Comparison: than March bloom 

Tang Relational process: was 

Carrier: the red colour of the maple 
leaves with frost 

Attribute: deeper 

Comparison: than that of 
“Second Moon flower” 

Liu Relational process: are 
Carrier: whose leaves  

Attribute: much redder 

Comparison: than the flowers in 
February of spring 

 

Below is the analysis of the last line of poem “Shuang Ye Hong Yu Er Yue Hua (Chinese: 霜叶红于二月花)”. 
Sun translates it as a circumstantial element of cause “with frost-bitten leaves more crimson than spring blooms”, but 
all the other translations belong to the relational process, which is the same with the original poem. The carrier of 
translation by Weng is “the twilight mountainside”, and the carriers of the other 9 translations are “the leaves” by 



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Wang, “maple leaves after a frost ” by Xu2, “whose frozen leaves” by Kotewell, “Th’ frost-redden’d leaves” by Zhuo, 
“frost-bitten leaves” by Xu3, “the leaves after early frost” by Yang, “frosted leaves” by Seaton, “the red colour of the 
maple leaves with frost” by Tang, “whose leaves” by Liu. All the carriers are consistent in the original poem “Shuang 
Ye (Chinese: 霜叶)”, and most of the attributes are translated as “redder” or “red”. The translation by Xu “more 
beautiful in tone” is not clear in the meaning. The attribute is translated by Zhuo “brighter” (The color of the frosted 
leaves has been translated in the carrier “frost-redden’d”). The translation by Yang is “as crimson as spring flowers”, 
and the translation by Tang is “deeper” (The color of the maple leaf has been translated in the carrier “the red colour”). 
colour”). But “redder” indicates a more reddish meaning. Most of the circumstantial elements are translated as the 
concept of comparison. Weng’s “with crimson maples more vivid than spring flowers” expresses the circumstantial 
element of cause, and Wang’s “in the flowering spring” indicates the circumstantial element of time. Other 
circumstantial elements, such as “than flowers in February” by Xu2, “than the flowers of early Spring” by Kotewell, 
“than the bloom of Spring” by Zhuo, “than early spring flowers” by Xu3, “than March bloom” by Seaton, “than that 
of ‘Second Moon flower’” by Tang, “than the flowers in February of spring” by Liu, show the circumstantial element 
of comparison, in accordance with the original poem. Besides, Zhuo’s translation also adds the circumstantial element 
of time “at dusk”. On the translation of “Er Yue (Chinese: 二月)”, if it is translated as the second month, which is 
unclear. The translation of the second month of the lunar year is cumbersome and boring. “February” is incompatible 
with the whole meaning of the original poem (Wen, 1989: 176). The Chinese “February” is a spring blossom. It’s 
different from English “February”, which is still in the winter. Guo (1994: 227-228) considered that the version of 
“early Spring” to translate “February” is an exact version. To keep the same process of relational, the full sentence can 
be put into “The frosted leaves are much redder than the flowers in early spring”. 

4. Conclusion

On the theoretical basis of the experiential function of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics, this article 
analyzes and compares these 11 versions. Through the analysis of functional linguistics, the language of translations is 
discussed, and it can help us study some translation problems from a new perspective. The analytical framework of 
functional linguistics can be applied to describe poetry and its translation. This paper is not intended to judge the 
translation of famous men. It is hoped that this paper discusses the translation of ancient poetry into English from the 
perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics. To maintain the process in the English translation equivalent to that in 
the original Chinese poem, the whole poem may be translated as: A stony path winds up to the chilly mountain far 
away; There are a few homes of men where the thick white clouds stay. I stop my cart because I love the maple grove 
in late autumn; The frosted leaves are much redder than the flowers in early spring. In consideration of rhyme, 
coherence and cohesion as well, some adjustments are made on the above initial version offered. The rhyme of the 
whole poem presents as “aabb”, with 15 syllables in each sentence. Finally, a better revised version is displayed as 
follows:  

A Mountain Trip 

Du Mu 

A stony path winds up to the chilly mountain far away, 

Where are a few homes of men amid which the thick white clouds stay. 

I stop my cart ’cause the maple grove in late fall I favor: 

The frosted leaves are much redder than the early spring flower. 

Appendix: Eleven English Translations of “Shan Xing” 

Weng: // Autumn Glory // / Du Mu / Off the main road runs a narrow stone path, winding, climbing, vanishing into 
the cloudy heights where perch a few tiny cottages. / Here I pull up my carriage, entranced. For the twilight 
mountainside is ablaze with crimson maples more vivid than spring flowers (Weng, 1985: 57). 

Wang: // trip to the mountains // / — du mu / the narrow stone trail / winds far up into the mountains / this is a cloudy 
place / the cabins are almost invisible / I love seeing the maples at sunset / and pause in my cart to watch them / the 
leaves are as red as prairies in the flowering spring (Wang, 1989: 49). 

Xu2: // A mountain tour // / Far up on the cold mountain, / The stony paths are aslant. / Where white clouds are made 
and formed, / There people their dwellings plant. / I stop my cart, only cause / I love the beautiful sight — / Of a 
maple grove, all red, / Before the approach of night. / Maple leaves after a frost — / Are more beautiful in tone — / 
Than flowers in February — / With their colors better known (Xu, 1990: 328-329). 



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Kotewell: // Traveling in the Mountains // / By Du Mu / After I climb the chill mountain’s steep stone paths, / Deep in 
the white clouds there are homes of men. / I stop my carriage, because I admire (Original Translation: and I sit to 
admire) the maple grove at nightfall, / Whose frozen leaves are redder than the flowers of early Spring (Guo, 1994: 
227). 

Zhuo: // A Mountain Scene // / Du Mu / A stony path’s meandering high up the chilly mount, / Where homes are 
silhouetted ’gainst the white clouds’ very fount. / Attracted by th’ maples my carriage to a halt I bring: / Th’ frost-
redden’d leaves at dusk are brighter than the bloom of spring (Zhuo, 1996: 181). 

Sun: // Mountain Trip / Du Mu // / (Tang, 803-853) / Far up the mountainside the stone trail wound, / Where the 
clouds were thick, there stood some abodes. / I stopt my cart to watch the maple forest late / with frost-bitten leaves 
more crimson than spring blooms (Sun, 1997: 431). 

Xu3: // GOING UP THE HILL // / A slanting stony path leads far to the cold hill; / Where fleecy clouds are born, 
there appear cots and bowers. / I stop my cab at maple woods to gaze my fill; / Frost-bitten leaves look redder than 
early spring flowers (Xu, 2001: 531). 

Yang: // Travelling in the Mountains // / Du Mu / A flag-stone path winds up into the chilly hills, / Where houses are 
just discernible amid the thick white cloud. / I stop my carriage for I love the maple trees in the twilight, / The leaves 
after early frost are as crimson as spring flowers (Yang, 2001: 274). 

Seaton: // Traveling among Mountains // / Far climbing Cold Mountain, rocky path turns. / There, where clouds grow, 
some man’s home. / I halt the carriage, sit adoring, evening, maple grove; / There frosted leaves: far redder than 
March bloom (Seaton, 2006: 123). 

Tang: // Melody on Autumn Mountains // / By Du Mu / The rocky path sloped far up the chilly mountains. / There 
stood some cottages / where white clouds had risen. / I stopped my cart, sitting therein to enjoy / Looking at the lovely 
maple trees at dusk. / The red colour of the maple leaves with frost was deeper than / That of “Second Moon flower” 
(Tang, 2010: 7). 

Liu: // Mountain Trip // / Du Mu / Winding up the chilly mountain far away is an askew stone-paved path, / There is a 
cottage which is hidden in the white clouds/ depth. / Due to loving maple trees in late Autumn I stop to go sightseeing, 
/ Whose leaves are much redder than the flowers in February of spring (Liu, 2015: 182). 

 

Notes:  

①The original translation of the third sentence by R. Kotewell & N. Smith is “I stop my carriage, and I sit to admire 
the maple grove at nightfall”, in which “sit” is the misunderstanding of “Zuo (Chinese: 坐)”. Guo (1994: 227) puts it 
into “I stop my carriage, because I admire the maple grove at nightfall”. 

②In order to save space, the lines of the English translation are separated by “/”, and the titles are separated by “//”. 

 

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