Hong Lou Meng is definitely a challenge to any translator as it utilizes many levels of colloquial and literary language and incorporates lots of classic poetry. The study on the translation of it can be rather demanding and overwhelming. Still, many a translator has devoted themselves to the cause and made great contributions. There exist plenty of researches on different English versions of Hong Lou Meng as well as on the comparisons between two or among several versions. 

After a comprehensive literature review, it turns out that quite a few scholars have chosen the same topic as this paper but only from different perspectives or with different support theories. Their studies are conducted mainly from three different perspectives, namely, from cultural translation perspective, domestication and foreignization perspective and German functionalist perspective. Thus the originality of this paper lies in its distinctive research perspective of functional equivalence.

2. Literature Review 

2.1 Current Situations at Home and Abroad

Chinese scholars, on the whole, have done some rather comprehensive and systemic researches on various themes regarding the translation of Hong Lou Meng. In terms of the translation of food names, there also exists quite a few relevant studies. Those studies are conducted mainly from three different perspectives, namely, from cultural translation perspective, domestication and foreignization perspective and German functionalist perspective. In spite of different points of view, all those researches as well as this paper try to provide some instructive suggestions and inspiration for later diet-related translation practices. On the other hand, the studies carried out overseas are not so sufficient, and mainly focus on the translation of culturally-loaded contents.