Love Anchored in Unique Ways --Translation and Interpretation of Tujia Minority Ballads “Fourth Sister Huang” and “A Seven-inch-long White Copper Pipe”

Tujia Minority, a significant ethnic group in Enshi, Hubei province, P. R. China, has created numerous ballads with artistic and cultural connotations. This paper will concentrate on the outstanding representatives of Tujia minority ballads: Fourth Sister Huang --a love story between a noble girl and a mountain vendor, and A Seven-inch-long White Copper Pipe, which describes an ordinary life scene of a couple. After reviewing the research on the translation of China’s minority ballads, this paper translates the two ballads and interprets them from the perspectives of cultural study, exploring their temporal-geographical features, characters’ identities, cultural philosophical connotation, Enshi’s pipe and tobacco culture and affections between couples. “Fourth Sister Huang” reflects the material and spiritual situation in the embryonic stage of the commodity economy. With the provision of relatively abundant commodities, the young people at that time could pursue their true love tactfully as well as boldly. The couple in the “A Seven-inch-long White Copper Pipe” expressed their deep love by sharing the pipe, which shows the importance of tobacco and pipe in Tujia people’s daily life. Both ballads extol the beauty of love between man and woman and apply the technique of “transmitting emotions by objects”. The stories and characters portrayed in the ballads, as well as their acquaintanceship and expressions, typically represent local customs, historical evolution and traditional Confucian creeds.