Da (expressiveness) – the implicit thread of traditional Chinese translation theories

Although in traditional Chinese translation theories xin (faithfulness) has been held as the dominant principle, da (expressiveness), which has gone through four stages of development, may be considered more relevant. This paper aims to study the notion of da by considering four representative and related concepts that are part of the history of Chinese traditional theories. Da was initiated by ancient Buddhist sutra translators as a criterion for their translation practice. It turned out to be framed as a seminal concept within xin-da-ya (faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance), the principle for translation formulated by Yan Fu at the beginning of the twentieth century. Later it was refined by Fu Lei in his discussion of shensi (spiritual likeness), which served to ease the tension between xin and da. Finally, Qian Zhongshu proposed huajing (realm of transformation), where da was finally transformed into a metaphysical concept, reflecting the most idealized approach to translation.