In order to make translation activities more accurate and effective, various translation theories are applied. China can be regarded as the leader in the practice of poetry translation, but it is still quite scarce in the field of poetry translation theory. Although some scholars have put forward a great deal of valuable ideas and stipulated many specific translation criteria, the specific guidelines or properties that should be given for specific poetry translation are seldom discussed. In fact, the translation works and relevant translation theories that tend to be pure and aesthetic have become fruitful in the Chinese translation field after the twentieth Century. Unlike western linguistics, in which translation theories have been systematically discussed and studied, traditional translation study in China have never been carried out in a systematic way.

Skopos theory is one of the newer models of translation theory. It believes that translation is a purposeful intercultural communication, and its purpose is to create a translation that meets the readers’ needs of the target language. The various English versions of Chinese poetry meet the needs of different types of readers and achieve various purposes, which coincides with the requirements and concept of the Skopos theory.

This thesis is going to focus on the different translation of Chinese poetry under the guidance of Skopos theory. The Skopos theory of translation is more common in business translation and intercultural communication thanks to its practicality. It is not so widely used in the translation of pure literature and in poetry translation. But from a different perspective, there could be many reasons for the fact that there are different versions for just one poem meeting different readers’ taste or achieving some kind of purpose could be one of the reasons. Therefore, it is worth studying with Skopos theory.

2 Literature Review on Skopos Theory

Skopos theory is the basic theory of western functionalism theory, which has aroused great repercussions in contemporary translation circles. Although Skopos theory has its shortcomings, it plays a very important role in the study of translation and translation practice.

2.1 Definition of Skopos Theory

The term “Skopos” derives from the Greek language, and is universally applied in the field of translation studies. It emphasizes the translation as a purposeful activity. It was founded by the German linguists Hans Vermeer and Katharina Reiss, and sometimes is substituted with intention and aim, or function (Nord, 2001: 52).

In Vermeer’s Skopos configuration, the intended audience should be given the priority in the process of deciding on the aim of translation, because the audiences are the potential receiver of translation. Different audiences are rooted in different culture, and vary in their expectation, knowledge, and communicative needs. In other words, the version of translation is related to certain target audience with target purpose, so translation is a text produced for intended audience with specific purpose.

2.2 Development Review of Skopos Theory

Skopos theory is a functionalist theory, which, in the 1970s, appeared in Germany and experienced four stages of development.

In the first stage, one of the founders of the theory, Kantharina Reiss, established the link between the original text and the function of translation, and introduced the functional concept to the translation criticism. She tried to prove that the most ideal interpretation should be one which serves a comprehensive communicative need, bearing an equivalent meaning to the original one, and form in conceptual content, language formality and communicative function, but in practice, the priority should be given to the functional features of the interpretation（Christina,1998）.

In the second stage, Vermeer proposed Skopos theory which points that translation is a very important language act with specific purpose and is grounded on the original text（Vermeer, 1987:29）. That is, translation has to be decided by the purpose. Translation activity must follow and obey certain rules, and the adequacy of the interpretation, the desired goal rather than equivalence, becomes the criterion to judge translation work.