ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between Chinese culture and Chinese translation. It discusses the problem of cultural dissemination via translation in China’s context. The chapter introduces some elements of Chinese cultural translation using the translation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as the prime example. Jianping Zhu strongly advised Chinese translation workers to improve self-awareness, strengthen cultural consciousness and criticism, and boldly follow their own path of translation practice, translation criticism, translation studies and translation teaching. The Chinese translators were increasingly adopting foreignization strategies without considering the norm and attitude of the target culture, making the effect of exporting culture even less ideal. The chapter examines in some detail the complicated situation of translating a particular area of Chinese culture – TCM – into English, including the problem of standardizing the terminology and the important role played by background knowledge in trying to produce the correct translation.
