Ideological Manipulation in English Translation of Chinese Children’s Literature: Case Studies

Abstract

It is widely accepted that translation is a form of rewriting and it is also true for children’s literature. Translation reflects a certain degree of ideological manipulation of the source text in order to either conform to the norms of the target culture or serve some ideological purposes. Since children's literature usually performs both didactic and pedagogical functions, ideological manipulation on children's literature translation is even more significant. Drawing on two English translations of Chinese children’s literature works, this article shows how ideology, cultural ideology to be specific, drives the adaptation and rewriting in translation. In source and target cultures, different norms of adult-child co-sleeping lead to the cover substitution for the picture book A New Year’s Reunion and different norms of father-daughter bond triggers plot adaptation for the adolescent fiction Bronze and Sunflower. The article further points out that conforming to target culture and considering target readers’ tolerance are principal contributors to the success of these two books in western world. Under the background of Chinese children's literature going global, this article attempts to shed some light on Chinese-to-English translation practice of children’s literature. Keywords: