Translation of “Red” Color Metaphors in the Poetry of Hongloumeng from the Perspective of Cognitive Poetics: A Corpus-Based Study
This corpus-based study, grounded in cognitive poetics, compares the Yangs' and Hawkes' translations of "red" color metaphors in *Hongloumeng* poetry, revealing that while the Yangs favor literal translation, Hawkes employs more diverse strategies to extend conceptual metaphors, reflecting underlying cultural and aesthetic disparities between Chinese and English.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
In the study of how humans understand the world through language, a field known as cognitive poetics, researchers look at how our brains use familiar experiences to make sense of abstract ideas. One of the most powerful tools for this is the metaphor, where we describe one thing in terms of another, such as saying a person is "bright" to mean they are intelligent. This process is deeply rooted in culture; the colors we see and the feelings we attach to them are not universal but are shaped by our specific histories and traditions. In Chinese culture, the color red is a powerhouse of meaning, symbolizing everything from joy and youth to wealth and health, a concept woven into ancient theories of nature and medicine. When a text rich in these cultural symbols is translated into a language where red might suggest danger or violence, the translator faces a complex challenge: how to carry the original meaning across a cultural divide without losing the soul of the work.
This question lies at the heart of a recent study examining the translation of the classic Chinese novel Hongloumeng, also known as The Story of the Stone. The novel is famous for its extensive use of the color red, but it also contains a vast collection of poems where these color metaphors are used with great precision. The researchers focused specifically on these poems to compare two of the most famous English translations: one by the husband-and-wife team Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, and the other by the British scholar David Hawkes. By creating a digital collection of all 178 poems from the novel and their English counterparts, the team was able to count and categorize every instance where a word for red appeared, analyzing exactly how each translator handled the metaphor.
The investigation began by identifying what the color red actually meant in the original Chinese poems. The researchers found that the term was not used randomly; it consistently pointed to six main ideas. Most frequently, red stood for beauty, appearing in phrases describing lovely ladies or blooming flowers. It also represented youth, wealth, health, purity, and, in rarer cases, temptation. Out of 72 instances of red-related terms found in the poetry, the vast majority carried positive connotations, with beauty alone accounting for more than half of the total. This confirmed that in the context of the novel's poetry, red is overwhelmingly a symbol of life, vitality, and attractiveness.
When the researchers compared how the two translators handled these 72 instances, a clear pattern of difference emerged. The Yangs' version tended to stick very closely to the original text, often translating the word for red directly as "red" or using other words that kept the color explicit, such as "crimson" or "vermilion." Their approach showed a strong preference for keeping the visual image of the color intact, even when the object described was not typically red in the real world. In contrast, Hawkes' translation was far more flexible. He frequently avoided the word "red" entirely, choosing instead to translate the underlying meaning of the metaphor. For example, where the original text might describe a "red sleeve" to signify a beautiful woman, Hawkes would often translate it simply as "a lady," skipping the color to focus on the person. He also used a wider variety of words, sometimes choosing "pink," "rosy," or even "golden" and "green" if those colors better fit the specific context or the feeling he wanted to convey in English.
The study found that while both translators understood the core message—that red in these poems usually meant beauty or youth—they took different paths to deliver it. The Yangs' version acted as a faithful mirror, reflecting the original words and colors as closely as possible, which resulted in a text that felt consistent but sometimes retained the specific Chinese cultural flavor of the color. Hawkes' version acted more like a bridge, prioritizing the feeling and the concept over the literal color, often extending the metaphor further to make it resonate with an English-speaking reader. For instance, in one instance where the text referred to "Jiangyunxuan" (a pavilion named for red clouds), the Yangs translated it as "red pavilion scented with rue," keeping the color, while Hawkes translated it as "Red Rue Study," focusing on the name of the place rather than the color of the building.
These differences were not accidental but stemmed from deep-seated cultural habits. The researchers argued that the Yangs' approach reflected a Chinese aesthetic that finds beauty in the richness and repetition of the color red, a symbol of celebration and life. Hawkes' approach, however, reflected an English aesthetic that values precision and often associates the word "red" with negative concepts like blood or danger. To avoid these unintended negative associations, Hawkes substituted the color with words that captured the delicacy or the specific object, such as using "silk" or "sunset" to convey the same sense of beauty without the heavy baggage of the word "red." The study concluded that neither version was wrong; rather, they were two different cognitive responses to the same cultural artifact, shaped by the translators' own cultural backgrounds and their understanding of how their target readers would perceive the color.
Ultimately, the research clarified a long-standing debate about whether Hawkes deliberately avoided the color red. The data showed that he did not avoid the concept of red, but he did avoid the specific word when it felt culturally awkward in English. He replaced the literal color with the metaphorical meaning, ensuring that the reader understood the beauty or the youth being described, even if the visual cue of the color was changed. This study suggests that translating a work as culturally dense as Hongloumeng requires more than just swapping words; it demands a deep understanding of how different cultures see the world and how they use color to build meaning. The two translations, therefore, stand as distinct but equally valid interpretations of the same poetic vision, each offering a unique window into the mind of the original author.
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