Translation Methods for Animal Images in Li Sao (离骚)

Li Sao is the most important part of Chu Ci or The Songs of the South which has an important position in Chinese literature. There are many cultural images in Chu Ci, especially Li Sao, and animal images constitute part of the cultural images in the classic. They convey both literal and implicit meanings. In other words, poet Qu Yuan uses them to symbolize good or bad things in the source text. The implied meaning of the animal images can only be grasped by putting them into the specific context. The translations in this study use various translating methods such as literal translation, substitution and interpretation to represent the symbolic meanings of the animal images, but sometimes it is seen that the translators fail to convey the original meaning correctly. It is assumed that only by achieving optimal relevance can target readers understand the original images easily.