Modern Social Science Research

This paper takes Yu Huas classic novel To Live and its English translation by Michael Berry as the research objects, focusing on the cross-cultural reconstruction strategies used to address cultural differences within the framework of Edward T. Hall’s high- and low-context culture theory. As a landmark work in the international translation of contemporary Chinese literature, To Live carries a deep imprint of rural cultural heritage and collective memory. Its text is rich in culture-loaded words, metaphorical expressions, and implicit ideological elements, all of which are hallmarks of a high-context culture. The widespread acceptance of Berry’s translation in the English-speaking world reflects the translator’s creative approach to bridging cultural differences. Through a detailed analysis of lexical, syntactic, and textual examples, this paper explores how the translation conveys high-context cultural features across languages while accommodating the reading habits of low-context culture audiences, offering both theoretical and practical insights into cross-cultural adaptation in literary translation.

High- and low-context cultures; Cross-cultural communication; Literary translation