An Analysis of Selected Modern Chinese Essays in English Translation from the Perspective of Translation Aesthetics

Prose occupies an important position in the development history of China’s culture. In today’s world of cultural exchange, we should not only absorb and learn from the advanced culture, but also focus on conveying the beauty and the essence of Chinese culture to the world. As a literary genre, prose is mainly divided into narrative prose and lyrical prose, which are shorter in length and full of emotions. In narrative prose, the author often conveys his inner thoughts and feelings through descriptions; in lyrical prose, the author often expresses his feelings directly. Most of the domestic and foreign studies focus on the translation of novels or poems, but less on the translation of prose. Therefore, based on the theory of translation aesthetics, this paper discusses Zhang Peiji’s English translated prose, The Selected Modern Chinese Essays, and analyses it in terms of the formal system (including sound, lexicon and syntax) and the non-formal system (including style, emotion and context).