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A Dream of Red Mansions is one of the monumental works of Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese history. Since translation is a subjective and cultural activity that is based on communication among different nations and countries，it could be different. Nowadays， there are many kinds of translation of A Dream of Red Mansions. Among them，Yang and Hawkes are the most classical and typical ones. This paper aims to analyze reasons of these two translations， how cultural difference influence it， and then gives advice accordingly.
Translation is a subjective activity and translators are main characters in it. Yang Xianyi was a Chinese writer and was very familiar to Chinese culture. He would put more Chinese traditional culture into translation and be faithful to Chinese original culture. Hawkes’s mother tongue was English but he was a hingh-level sinologist. Although he had deeply researched Chinese culture， there was more or less deficiency for him to really integrate into it. Hence there will be difference between these two versions to some extent. For example：
Original Text：Qu Jing Tong You Chu.
Translation of Yang Xianyi：A winding path leads to a secluded retreat.
Translation of Hawkes：A path winds upwards to mysterious places.
Both these two kinds of translation are good but they differ in‘secluded retreat’ and ‘mysterious places’. From the perspective of cultural spreading，Yang’s translation is more original to Chinese culture while Hawkes’ translation is too straight forward to show original meaning.
Translation is also an essentially dynamic process，which is a two-way communication from not only translators but also readers. Readers’ personal understanding is another
Translation is a subjective activity and translators are main characters in it. Yang Xianyi was a Chinese writer and was very familiar to Chinese culture. He would put more Chinese traditional culture into translation and be faithful to Chinese original culture. Hawkes’s mother tongue was English but he was a hingh-level sinologist. Although he had deeply researched Chinese culture， there was more or less deficiency for him to really integrate into it. Hence there will be difference between these two versions to some extent. For example：
Original Text：Qu Jing Tong You Chu.
Translation of Yang Xianyi：A winding path leads to a secluded retreat.
Translation of Hawkes：A path winds upwards to mysterious places.
Both these two kinds of translation are good but they differ in‘secluded retreat’ and ‘mysterious places’. From the perspective of cultural spreading，Yang’s translation is more original to Chinese culture while Hawkes’ translation is too straight forward to show original meaning.
Translation is also an essentially dynamic process，which is a two-way communication from not only translators but also readers. Readers’ personal understanding is another