Modern Social Science Research

Boasting extremely high artistic value and cultural connotations, Yuan Drama is a classic in the field of Chinese drama. Snow in Midsummer by Guan Hanqing is a paragon of Yuan Drama tragedies, containing significant literary and social implications. Translators can get clear translation ideas through Chesterman’s translation norms. So translated text can express the artistic value of Yuan Drama greatly while conforming to the cultural context and language habits of the target language. The couple of Yang Hsien - yi and Gladys Yang translated and published Selected Plays of Guan Hanqing, and their translations have been widely disseminated and highly accepted. Therefore, this paper takes Chesterman’s translation norm as the theoretical support, and conducts a translation study on Yang and Gladys’ Translation of Snow in Midsummer from the perspectives of expectancy norm and professional norms. This study can provide quality measurement standards for the dissemination of Yuan Drama in different cultures, allowing people with different languages and cultural backgrounds to appreciate the charm of ancient Chinese literature, enhance their understanding of Yuan Drama culture, and ultimately promote the Chinese opera culture globally.

Chesterman’s translation norm; Yuan Drama; Snow in Midsummer