V02issue02.06.2022.0613.pdf Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 02 No. 02 (2022) ISSN (online): 2766-791X ISSN (print): 2770-6354 - 1 - 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. Communication across Borders: Translation & Interpreting; Vol. 02 No. 02 (2022) ISSN (online): 2766-791X ISSN (print): 2770-6354 - 2 - 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) ISSN (online): 2766-791X ISSN (print): 2770-6354 - 3 - 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(ab) 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) ISSN (online): 2766-791X ISSN (print): 2770-6354 - 4 - 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) ISSN (online): 2766-791X ISSN (print): 2770-6354 - 5 - 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