David Hawkes' Directional Reconstruction of the Image of Tanchun in The Story of the Stone: A Perspective of Cognitive Salience

Tanchun is one of the most complicated characters in Hong Lou Meng.As a daughter of a concubine in a prominent family, she is noble and elegant, yet bitter and sensitive, while her most distinguished image is a capable and stern administrator.Her multi-faceted character is basically represented in David Hawkes' English translation, yet some subtle changes can be detected: her image as an elegant lady is weakened while her image as an able administrator enhanced; she becomes sterner, sharper and more outstanding.These changes are caused by a series of changes in the manner and content of salience through a directional reconstruction of the level of specificity and cognitive reference point, or a change of the relationship between base-profile and trajector-landmark.The cognitive salience theory helps us grasp the translator's deep intention in the directional reconstruction of character images.