Modern Social Science Research

The emergence of large artificial intelligence (AI) models has brought profound transformations in the field of translation. Grounded in the theoretical framework of “Jingjie” (“translation realm”), this article adopts “Jingjie” as a criterion for evaluating English translations of classical Chinese poetry. Taking Su Shi’s ci poem “Lin Jiang Xian: Returning to Lingao at Night” as the source text, the study comparatively assesses translation outputs generated by Wenxin Yiyan 4.0 and 5.0 against the renowned translation by Xu Yuanchong. The objective is to systematically evaluate Wenxin Yiyan’s performances and capabilities specifically in poetic translation. Results indicate that, in horizontal comparison, Wenxin Yiyan 5.0 demonstrates notable improvements over version 4.0 in terms of semantic fidelity (“translation meaning”), yet both versions are not as good as Xu Yuanchong’s rendition with respect to aesthetic resonance (“translation flavor”) and evocation of poetic aesthetic (“translation aesthetic”).This suggests that the profound artistic and linguistic complexity inherent in poetic translation render it difficult to full replaced by AI. Looking ahead, as deep learning techniques and multi-modal translation technologies continue to evolve, human–AI collaborative translation holds increasingly promising prospects. Scholars and practitioners need to adopt a balanced, critical perspective—acknowledging both the opportunities and challenges posed by AI in translation.

Translation realm; Poetry translation; “Linjiangxian: Returning to Lingao at Night”; Wenxin Yiyan; Xu Yuanchong