Sex taboo in literary translation in China A study of the two Chinese versions of <i>The Color Purple</i>
Babel: Revue internationale de la traduction/International Journal of Translation, (2008)Abstract
Descriptions of sexuality are of great artistic values in many literary works. While translated into Chinese, such descriptions are often deleted or euphemized. These deletions and euphemizing are mostly lauded by translation scholars in China, who believe that they are justified by the intolerance of Chinese morality towards matters of sex. A study of the two Chinese versions of The Color Purple, however, shows that such an argument is not convincing at all because similar descriptions are readily found in Chinese literature, and there is no evidence showing that the Chinese morality is more lenient towards original writings than translated works. The most likely reason for these deletions and euphemizing is the sex taboo among some Chinese translators, similar to translation taboos illustrated by Douglas Robinson.