Modern Social Science Research

“China in the Classics” is a key cultural innovation program produced by China Central Television (CCTV). It focuses on outstanding ancient Chinese cultural classics, selecting the most worthy traditional cultural works to narrate their formation, core ideas, and the illuminating stories surrounding their transmission. Currently, “China in the Classics” has no English subtitles. This study focuses on the Chinese-to-English subtitle translation of selected excerpts. The author chooses the classic segment “Wang Yangming’s Enlightenment at Longchang” from the eleventh episode of Season One, which is based on the Instructions for Practical Learning (Chuanxi Lu). From the perspective of Sino-Western differences in thinking patterns, and through a comparison with translations generated by artificial intelligence, this study finds that the AI-generated translations exhibit a pronounced tendency toward “Western-style thinking.” In disseminating Chinese cultural classics, language serves as the vehicle, but what is more important is a thorough understanding of the philosophical ideas embedded in the classics in order to accurately convey their cultural core. The translation of dramatic texts must balance academic precision with stage communicability. Through strategies such as combining literal and free translation, cultural compensation, and syntactic restructuring, effective cross-cultural transference of core Confucian ideas can be achieved. This study can serve as a reference for the translation practice of classics-adapted dramas and contribute to the international dissemination of fine traditional Chinese culture.

China in the Classics; Instructions for Practical Learning; Lu-Wang School of Mind; Audiovisual translation; Cross-cultural dissemination