Construction of Female Images in the English Translation of <i>To and Fro</i> Written by Li Chi

Literary translation is a rewriting in which different elements of a literary work are manipulated to construct reality and project desired images into the target culture. This paper analyzes the images of key female characters in To and Fro written by Li Chi, studies how these images have been reframed in the English version, and explores the motives for such rewriting. It has been found that large changes have been made to the characterization of three key female figures in the translation: Duan Lina’s and Pearl Lin’s images have been improved by deleting some undesirable descriptions and Shi Yupeng has been excluded completely from the translation. Such changes have helped to project a better picture of contemporary Chinese women, which is in line with the aim of its publisher Foreign Languages Press to present a modern and friendly image of China to other parts of the world.