Although those relevant studies have been carried out from different aspects, few researches have been performed from the “artistic flavor” perspective and the comprehensive studies on recreating the aesthetic conceptions are also in scarcity. Therefore, this study chooses Moonlight over the Lotus Pond to be the source text and two English versions translated by Zhu Chunshen and Yang Xianyi respectively to compare, so as to a systemic study of English translations from the perspective of artistic flavor.

1.2 Significance of the Study 

This study adopts artistic flavor to analyze the two English versions. With the application of artistic flavor, this theory proposed by Liu Shicong can be the highest standard for prose translation. It also can be applied into comparing two versions of Moonlight over the Lotus Pond. And the comparative study of two English versions is also the most important part of the study. There is no denying that much attention will be paid to whether they succeed in reproducing the original flavor and how they do this. The purpose of this study is to turn out the translatability of artistic flavor and explain the methods of recreating artistic flavor. 

1.3 Framework of the Thesis

The whole thesis has four chapters. The first chapter gives information about the background, value and framework of research. The second chapter discusses some studies on artistic flavor, for making a theoretical basis for the following. It mainly includes the significance of artistic flavor in translation, the meaning of artistic flavor, the translatability of artistic flavor and some general principles of prose translations. The next chapter makes a comparative study and analysis of the two English versions of Moonlight over the Lotus Pond from the perspective of artistic flavor raised by Liu Shicong. The forth chapter makes a summary of the study, including the major findings, limitations and some suggestions for future related researches.