本科毕业论文（设计）

（2023届）

学位论文原创性声明

 郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文《CEA框架指导下<回家>（节选）汉英翻译实践报告》，是本人在导师的指导下，独立进行研究取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不包括个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。对本文的研究做出贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本声明的法律后果，并承诺因本声明而产生的法律结果由本人承担。                        

        学位论文作者：

                      日期：2023年5月14日

学位论文版权使用授权书

 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，同意学校保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权37266威尼斯官网将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。

 本学位论文属于

保密，在__年解密后适用本授权书。

不保密þ

学位论文作者签名：                      指导教师签名：

日期：2023 年5月14日日期：2023 年5 月14日

CEA框架指导下《回家》（节选）汉英翻译实践报告

摘要

 本篇实践报告选自作者孙悦所著的《回家》一书《亲爱的》章节，该书用朴实有力的语言为我们讲述孙海洋与更多被拐孩子家人的真实故事，文字所传达的意思十分触动人心。此篇聚焦于陈可辛如何筹备电影《亲爱的》帮助孙海洋，将孙海洋寻找儿子的社会热点推向前所未有的高潮，不仅让寻找孙卓更有希望，也帮助了更多被拐儿童。并且，其不仅仅单纯的道出了一个个孩子被拐后家人的寻亲故事，它还具有很大的社会价值和文学价值。

 “理解、表达、取舍”框架来自李长栓和施晓菁老师合著的《理解与表达：汉英翻译案例讲评》一书，本翻译报告以《回家》一书为基础，在“理解、表达、取舍（CEA）”框架的指导下，详细分析了翻译和审校的过程。翻译过程中由于文化差异、中英文句型句式的差异，会出现许多理解、表达、取舍的难点；作者采用重组、增词等翻译技巧集中解决词语和句子两方面的难点,具体包括多义词、专有名词等。

 根据这一框架，译者应充分理解源文本，并准确传达作者希望向读者表达的内容;译者应根据源文本和语境进行必要的调整和遗漏。最后，译者还应再现源文本的连贯性和风格。

关键词：《回家》；汉英翻译；“理解、表达、取舍”框架

A REPORTONTHE C-E TRANSLATIONOFCOMING HOME (EXCERPTS) UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF CEA FRAMEWORK

ABSTRACT

This translation report is selected from one chapter entitled Dearest of the book Coming Home by Sun Yue, which tells the true stories of Sun Haiyang and another families, whose children were abducted. It is touching and moving with simple but powerful language. This translation report is the climax, telling how Chan Ho-San, prepared the film “Dearest” to help Sun Haiyang to search for his lost son, making it a social hotspot, which not only gave Sun Zhuo hope, but also other abducted children. It not only simply tells the story of families after their children were abducted, but also has great social and literary value.  

The report applies the “Comprehensive, Expression and Adaption” Framework of Translation Analysis proposed by Li Changshuan and Lynette Shi. This translation report is based on the book Coming Home and provides a detailed analysis of the translation and review process under the framework of CEA. Due to cultural differences and differences in sentence patterns between Chinese and English in the translation process, there are many difficulties in understanding, expression, and adaption; The author uses translation techniques such as omission and addition to focus on solving the difficulties in both words and sentences, including polysemy and proper nouns.

According to this framework, the translator should fully understand the source text and accurately convey what the author wishes to convey to the readers; The translator should make necessary adjustments and omissions according to the source text and context. Finally, the translator should reproduce the coherence and style of the source text.

KEY WORDS: Coming Home; C-E translation; “Comprehensive, Expression and Adaption” Framework

1Introduction

Translation Background

30 July was designated as World Day against Trafficking in Persons in 2013, and Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General has pointed out that human trafficking is a despicable crime and that traffickers profit from people’s hope and despair. They victimize people in vulnerable situations and take away their basic rights. At present, it is urgent for all groups of society to pay attention to the problem of human trafficking, and it also requires more national institutions to join hands with the people of the world to combat human trafficking.

Based on this background, the author chooses this book for translation practice. Above all, the value of the book Coming Home is not only the 14-year journey of Sun Haiyang to find his abducted son, Sun Zhuo, but also to draw the attention of more people to the people who are still searching for children and to the ongoing efforts of the state to the judicial reform. Human trafficking knows no national or racial borders. By translating the book Coming Home, it is conducive to western countries to objectively and realistically understand the current situation of abducted children and the efforts that China has made. What’s more, it will also be helpful for Chinese and foreign scholars and experts to exchange and discuss the research results of this issue. Through this translation, the author hopes that on the one hand, people who are not aware of this phenomenon will begin to take it seriously and contribute to the prevention and fight against human trafficking as possible as they can; on the other hand, the author hopes that by presenting Sun Haiyang’s experience, countless victims at home and abroad will have the courage to insist on the pursuit of hope.

Difficulties in Translation

This translation report chose one of the chapter of “Coming Home”, in the process of translation, the author found that due to cultural differences and differences in sentence patterns in Chinese and English, there are many difficulties in understanding, expression, and adaption. If the translation report is not appropriately translated, the translated article will be very obscure; For example, some translations of Chinese proprietary government agencies in the article need to be properly annotated, letting target language readers have better understandings of this passage. For example, as for comprehension, polysemy, logical relation of the sentences and any other circumstances would occur during translation; or sometimes because of cultural and political differences, it is hard for foreign readers to have coherent and local understanding as same as source language readers. In this part, the author would analyze them in three parts based on the CEA framework—comprehension, expression and adaption. According to this framework, the translator should fully understand the source text and accurately convey what the author wishes to convey to the reader; The translator should make necessary adjustments and omissions according to the source text and context. Finally, the translator should reproduce the coherence and style of the source text. In the translation processing of chapters, the principle of respecting the mixed stylistic expression of the original work is the principle, and the original structure is retained, so that the translated text better reflects the style of the source language text. Translation practice improves translators' understanding of the principles of achieving textual equivalence in translation. Therefore, the author chooses to turn to CEA framework for help to instructing her to finish this translation report.

Significance

This translation report is selected from the “Dearest” chapter of the book “Coming Home” by the author Sun Yue. Through translation practice, the author found that there are many difficulties in understanding, expression, and adaption; The author uses translation techniques such as omission and addition to focus on solving the difficulties in both words and sentences, including polysemy and proper nouns, and she hopes that this translation report could provide relevant and meaningful references for later authors to write translation practice reports. Moreover, the author holds the idea that it is of great importance to let readers know the significance of translation in today’s world. Firstly,translation stays in line with the globalization. It must be said that nowadays globalization is further developed, and communication between countries is becoming more and more frequent, how can we break the language barrier? This requires translation to be carried out. It can be said that translation is developed under this demand, and the importance of translation is becoming more and more pronounced, and every country is actively training excellent translators so as to strengthen communication.Secondly, the need for cultural promotion of each country needs to be carried out through translation. Nowadays, culture has become a comprehensive competition, and China attaches more importance to the construction and development of cultural soft power and the export of China’s fine traditional culture. One of the main roles of translation is to let all countries in the world see Chinese culture through the translation of cultural contents, which can play a good propaganda role.

With regard to the academic field, the most important aspect of translation is comprehension and expression of the source text. To express it in the target language, it is essential to understand the purpose of the translation and to make the appropriate adaptations, additions and omissions. Firstly, this translation report aims to enrich the application of Skopos theory. Secondly, the author mainly utilize theframe work of “Comprehension, Expression, and Adaption (CEA)”introduced by professor Li Changshuan (2020). Through this translation, the author hopes to deepen the understanding of the frame work of CEA and enrich the use of the CEA framework, and to provide his own insights and opinions for following translation students.

Human trafficking crimes are a common problem in all societies around the world. Combating human trafficking can not only enhance family happiness, but also play an important role in promoting the harmonious development of society. The main character of the book Coming Home, Sun Haiyang, has persevered in the search for his son for more than 14 years, starting since his son was abducted at the age of 33. He not only looked for the children himself, but also helped others to look for their abducted children. He worked with those parents to promote the social anti-trafficking action. He is called asthe “Hero Father”. At the age of 47, he finally found his child with the help of the police. The love of a father for his son is not only about his unyielding spirit and his resistance to the injustice of fate, but also about the help and support of the community. This is an excerpt from Chapter 15-- Dearest of the book. This chapter focuses on how Chan Ho-San, prepared the film “Dearest” to help Sun Haiyang, bringing the social hotpots of Sun Haiyang’s search for his son to an unprecedented climax, which not only made finding Sun Zhuo more hopeful, but also helped more abducted children. In the interweaving of individual stories and the changes of the times, we see the perseverance of many ordinary people for family and kinship, see people with the same experience hand in hand to overcome difficulties, and see the promotion of social forces. By translating excerpts from this book, the author hopes that people who have never known about abductions before can do their part in time of need, and provide a platform for the victimized parents to support them when they are disappointed and lost.

1. Comprehension, Expression and Adaption (CEA)

Comprehension

According to Fu Lei (2005), in order to translate a text, the first thing is to experience the original work, and never start translating without reading the article carefully four or five times, which is the basic rule of translation, because “if the translator does not deeply understand, experience and feel the original work, he can never let his readers to understand, experience and feel it”. First of all, the understanding for the purpose of translation is completely different from the understanding for the purpose of reading for pleasure, which requires a more thorough and detailed understanding of the work than the understanding in general reading. From a macroscopic point of view, the understanding in translation should include the main theme of the original work, the author’s ideological point of view, the social, historical and cultural background of the work, etc. From a microscopic point of view, Huang Bangjie (1991) mentions that “the so-called understanding does not generally refer to long sentences with complicated structures or profound professions, but sometimes some very simple sentences and some very common words are also involved in understanding”. According to Li Changbang (2014), understanding is the basis of expression, but there are different levels of understanding, which can be a superficial understanding of sentence structure or a deeper understanding of how things work. Because of this, it is all the more important for translators to take a strict and serious attitude towards understanding. Secondly, Yang Lili (1993) points out that comprehension in translation adopts a bilingual way of thinking, thinking both in the source language and in the target language, with the two languages alternating in the translator’s brain. Guo Jianzhong (1999) also points out that because sophisticated translators are proficient in both languages and have accumulated extensive translation experience, they would naturally transfer between the two languages in their minds during the process of reading the source language, and when they read some expressions of the source language, the equivalences of the target language will naturally appear in their minds. To sum up, in translation, understanding is the basis of expression and adaptation. If the understanding is not in place, there is no reliable basis for the expression, and even a perfect translation is a wrong translation.

Expression

Expression is to express the meaning of the original text in target language after the translator has fully understood the original text. On the level of expression, many translators have summed up and summarized these from their own experience. According to Fu Lei (2005), understanding the original text may still be attainable in the realm of full and complete understanding, while the art of expression is various and may not be complete even after a lifetime of effort. Xu Yuanchong (1984) once mentioned the words of a French translator: “To translate is to understand and to make others understand.” This statement summarizes the two main stages of the translation process; among them, “making others understand” refers to expression, which can also be regarded as the minimum requirement for expression. Jiang Qian and He Gangqiang (2017) mentioned in A Course in Translation Basics that we know that correct translation needs to rely on correct understanding, but it is by no means an easy task for translators to express what they understand and comprehend in the target language with the corresponding writing and style. Expression is not only the result of understanding, but also the deepening of understanding, because when translators express themselves, they can further deepen their understanding of the original text and correct their previous misconceptions. In this sense, expression and comprehension actually promote and improve each other.

During the translation, the author thinks that comprehension is not difficult, but it is often difficult to translate in a appropriate target language because of cultural differences. The person who is engaged in translating from one language into another ought to be constantly aware of the contrast in the entire range of culture represented by the two languages. (Nida:1945). Generally speaking, domestication designates the type of translation in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers, while foreignization means a target text is produced which deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original (Shuttleworth & Cowie:1997). In translating the article, the author followed the principle of Functional Equivalence Theory, which is an important theory introduced by Eugene Nida. The Functional Equivalence is developed from the translation practice of the Bible. It refers to seek to achieve functional equivalence between the two languages, not just literal equivalence. Theoretically, Nida pursues the source language readers and translation readers to achieve the same feelings, aiming to let readers in different countries and different cultural backgrounds resonate with the same article, so that readers can have the same reading experience and cultural feelings. According to Andre Lefevere (1992), zero of equivalent word means in the target language, there is no direct equivalent of an expression existing in the source language because of different life experiences, customs and traditions, religions and philosophies. “The role of language within a culture and the influence of culture on the meanings of words and idioms are so pervasive that scarcely can any text be adequately understood without careful consideration of its cultural background” (Nida, 2001). Newmark (2001) also mentions that culture’s manifestation is peculiar to a community that uses a particular language as its means of expression. For Toury (2012), culture plays the main role in translation because of that the critique of a translation encompassing a careful analysis of the metatexts made in accordance with a given culture. Therefore, when the equivalents of some set phrases can’t be located in the target language, a substitute may be applied in the translation. (Li, N: 2021). Above all, in the process of translation, the understanding of the CEA framework is very helpful for the differences in cultural background, and on the basis of comprehension, domestication can be adopted to achieve better expression and appropriate adaptations can make it easier for readers to understand.

Adaption

Li Changshuan and Shi Xiaojing (2012) point out that “the expression form of the translation can be the same, similar or completely different from the original”. According to Ye Zinan (2013), the skill of translation is actually the skill of adaptation, and the source language and the target language are so different that translation cannot be carried out without adaptation. If the text structure, the form of the text, and the word choice of the original meet the purpose of translation and can accurately convey the author’s meaning, the translation will be remain its original form as much as possible. Otherwise, it is necessary to change the expression of the original text in order to achieve the translation purpose. In general, the expression needs to depend on the purpose of translation, and there needs to have adaptions in the process of translation.

The author believes that it is of great importance to clarify the type of the text for translation, which is very helpful to master the style that should be paid attention to in translation. Katharian Reiss is widely recognized as the co-founder, with Hans Vermeer, of the Skopos theory of translation. Reiss’ translation-oriented text-typology provides a systemic approach to translation. Reiss (2014) points the idea that typology of texts to be translated is the first step toward determining the literary, linguistic and pragmatic categories which provide the points of reference by which a particular translation is to be evaluated. she clarifies each text for translation into four text types according to their respective functions, which she defines as “informative”, “expressive”, “operative” and “audio-medial”. (1) The informative type (communication of content): it aims to convey information, knowledge, opinions, news, arguments, opinions, feelings, judgments, intentions and other facts. The focus of the text is on its content and topic; the text structure is concentrated at the semantic syntactic level; the language characteristics are logical. (2) Expressive type (communication of artistically organized content): It emphasizes the creative composition of the text and the aesthetic level of the language, the text structure is concentrated in the two levels of semantic syntax and artistic organization. (3) Operative type (communication of content with a persuasive character): It aims to illustrate that the recipient of the text can be appealed to or persuaded in a certain way. Therefore, according to Reiss, the text typology of this excerpt from Coming Home belongs to the expressive type, as a result, in the process of translation, when the norms of two languages and cultures conflict, on the basis of comprehension, appropriate adaptations can be made to make the expression more in line with the norms of the translated language, which is convenient for readers to understand and more authentic.

2. Case Analysis

The Realization of Comprehension

Understanding is the basis of expression and adaptation. If the understanding is not in place, there is no reliable basis for the expression, and even a perfect translation is a wrong translation.

Polysemy

Some words might have multiple meanings, among which one meaning is more common in daily life. Such words might be difficult to understand. And in Chinese, the same words or sentences have different meanings in different contexts, so we need to fully understand the original text and explain the words properly.

Example 1:

ST: 陈可辛沉默了很久，叹道：“太冰冷了，太冰冷了。”

TT: After a long time of silence, Chan sighed, “It’s so merciless, it so merciless.”

Analysis: in Chinese, “冰冷”always represents cold, which is not fit for the context of the ST. Therefore, the translator should consult the dictionary to look for more meanings. For example, here “冰冷”means merciless according to the context.

Example 2:

ST:“……开玩笑，我一个天天在案板上和面的人怎么可能喜欢吃面条呢？”

TT: “......How is that possible! How can I like noodles when I am the one who spends my day kneading the dough on the chopping board?”

Analysis: According to the context, the translator believes that “开玩笑”refers to the denial of Sun Haiyang in fact, rather than its common meaning “kidding”. Therefore, the translator prefers to translate it as “How is that possible” so as to conform to the mood of the author and the writing style of the source text.

Example 3:

ST: 他告诉我，他们在深圳的法院拍摄电影，问我是否想过去一趟。

TT: He told me that they were shooting the film at the courthouse in Shenzhen and asked if I wanted to come over.

Analysis: “法院”here points to a building which contains law courts according to the context. However, we often consider it as a large room in a building where trials and other legal cases happen, or the people present in such a room, especially the officials and those deciding whether someone is guilty. Above all, the translator tends to translate it as courthouse to better close to the source text.

Logical relation of the sentences

The biggest difference between Chinese and English is that English is a hypotaxis language while Chinese is a parataxis language. It means that English often has a lot of connectives, yet they are not necessary in Chinese. Therefore, we can find that Chinese focuses on the meaning, while English emphasizes on the structure. So in C-E translation, the translator tends to use some connectives to show the logical relation of the sentences. Example is listed below:

Example 4:

ST: 一开始，陈导主要是对彭高峰感兴趣，彭文乐回家的经过对于电影制作而言非常具有戏剧性，也很感人，叫上我或许是因为我和高峰常在新闻报道中一同岀现，引起了他的注意。

TT: At first, director Chan was mainly interested in Peng Gaofeng’s story, because the process of searching for his son Peng Wenle was very dramatic and touching for filmmaking, and I thought that he invited me maybe because I was often seen with Peng Gaofeng in the news, which caught his attention.

Analysis: Here the author added the word “because” to express cause and effect, which is more consistent with the characteristics of English that is hypotaxis.

Strategies for Translating Chinese names

Chinese names, as proper nouns, are an important part of the translation process. Due to the differences in the expression and writing order between Chinese and English names, the differences of the two languages and the customary acceptance methods of Westerners should be taken into account in Chinese-English translation (Luo Xue 2009:183). According to the Chinese phonetic alphabet spelling rules for Chinese names, when Chinese names are translated into foreign languages, the surname and first name should be written separately. The first letter of the surname and first name should be capitalized, and the tone sign can be omitted, and according to the Chinese custom, the surname comes before the first name.

In China, the cultures of the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan are of the same origin and inheritance. However, due to historical reasons, there are obvious differences in language expression and habits between the two sides of the strait. This has led to some differences in translation, the emergence of "one country, three translations". Therefore, when translating Hong Kong and Taiwan names, the translator respects the differences and adopts the conventional translation method. Examples are listed below:

Example 5:

ST: 陈可辛

TT: Peter Chan

Analysis: According to reasons mentioned above, the translator had searched websites and reports related to 陈可辛, the author found three two version of translation, one is Peter Chan, which is 陈可辛’s English name; and the other is Chan Ho-San. The author preferred to use the second version as it is commonly used and it will be more acceptable for foreign readers.

Example 6:

ST: 孙海洋

TT：Sun Haiyang

Analysis：In translating Chinese names into English, because the first letter of the surname and first name should be capitalized, and the surname comes before the first name. Therefore, the author translated it into Sun Haiyang rather than Haiyang Sun, which is common translation errors.

The Employment of Expression

Expression is to express the meaning of the original text in target language after the translator has fully understood the original text.

Proper Nouns

According to Zhang Yan (2015: 136), a proper noun is the name of a specific person, thing, or place. Untranslatability is the property of a text or any utterance in source language, for which no equivalent text or utterance found in target language. And it can be classified into two categories, one is linguistic untranslatability, and the other is cultural untranslatability. When it comes to cultural untranslatability, because of cultural differences, Chinese have four-character idioms, festivals, government related departments and institutions. Idioms have rich language, history and cultural connotations, coupled with condensed, fixed forms and harmonious rhythms, so throughout the ages, they have been widely used in people's daily spoken and written language (Mei Meng 2011: 3) In the process of translating from Chinese to English, literal translation sometimes cannot express the specific meaning of the article, so it is necessary to fully understand the meaning of the article, express it according to the understanding, and add notes when appropriate. Examples are as followed:

Example 7:

ST: “这就是别人的伤口已经鲜血淋漓了，你还要往上面撒一把盐。”

TT: “It is other man’sbloody wound, and you even did add salts to the wound.”

Analysis: “鲜血淋漓”“往上面撒一把盐”are Chinese four-character idioms and slangs. In order to make our translated version correct and clear, as well as conform to the habitual use of the TL, we should understand the whole meaning of the sentence, putting them in the context of the target language to determine the strategy of translation. Moreover we should also look for equivalent term in English. There are many similar translated texts in this translated work, such as “漫无目的”“缄口不提”“催人泪下”“恍然大悟”, and the translator all adopt the above method to deal with the ST, so as to get as close to the meaning of the ST as possible and realize the invisibility of the translator.

Example 8:

ST: 据我所知，有些孩子是在十几岁、二十几岁丢失的，这个年纪被拐卖去“养儿防老” 的可能性较小，往往会导致更严重的问题。时间长达数年的话，当地的户籍办理处会依据相关规定，联系其家属进行户口注销。

TT: As far as I knew, some kids was lost at the age of teens or twenties, which had little possibility of being trafficked to “be raised to provide against old age”, and it would lead to a more severe problems. If the period of time was several years long, the local household registration department would contact family members of the lost children to cancel their residence registration.

Analysis: Due to the different national conditions and social systems of China, many policies and government departments are unique to China. Therefore, we need to conduct certain searches and exert our own search quotient to find out the equivalent official version to make the translation easier to understand.

Maintain Coherence in Translation

According to Li Changshuan and Chen Dazhun, The language coherence depends on the narrative, which refers to the micro-level narration, flashback or supplementary narration. No matter what kind of narrative mode is adopted, when translating things from English to Chinese, if the narrative mode of the original text is not changed, the translation may not be able to smoothly convey the original meaning. The author thinks that the same is true for translation from Chinese to English. Examples are followed:

Example 9:

ST:据我所知，有些孩子是在十几岁、二十几岁丢失的，这个年纪被拐卖去“养儿防老” 的可能性较小，往往会导致更严重的问题。

TT: As far as I knew, some kids was lost at the age of teens or twenties, which had little possibility of being trafficked to “be raised to provide against old age”, and it would lead to a more severe problems.

Analysis: Because of the great difference between Chinese and English structures, it is quite normal to adjust sentence elements reasonably in the process of translation to achieve coherence. English always avoids long subjects with short objects, therefore, in order to avoid this, the author tended to translate “可能性较小”first to let the version more close to the habitual of targeted language.

Example 10:

ST: 我说：“即使是一个盲人，他要抱着一支蜡烛不放，你也不能说这蜡烛没有用了，就要把它掐灭。”

TT: I said, “Even if a blind man would tightly hold the candle in his hand, you could not extinguish the candle because of being useless.”

Analysis: Zhuang Yichuan argued that when describing cause and effect, it is customary to put the effect first and then the cause; On the contrary, the Chinese way of narration is to tell the cause first, then the effect. In order to conform to the habitual use of the target language, the author translated the effect first and make the targeted text more coherence.

The Process of Achieving Adaption

In the process of translation, when the norms of two languages and cultures conflict, on the basis of comprehension, appropriate adaptations can be made to make the expression more in line with the norms of the translated language, which is convenient for readers to understand and more authentic.

Annotation

As there are many differences between Chinese and English cultures, some cultural-loaded words in Chinese have no equivalent in English at all, resulting in a gap in meaning. In this case, annotations are often used to fill the gap in Chinese-English translation. Annotations can usually be used to supplement relevant information such as background materials and word origin, so as to facilitate readers' understanding.

Example 11:

ST:孙卓的故事只是电影的支线，但在上映当天，剧组的每一位主演及工作人员都应导演陈可辛的要求转发了我的一条微博，即孙卓的寻人启事。

TT:Although the story about Sun Zhuo was just one of the branches of the film, the night it came out, every main character and worker in the crew are required by director Chan to re-tweet my tweet--the missing person poster of Sun Zhuo, posted on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.

Analysis: One of the forms of annotation is literal translation with explanatory notes. Weibo may be unfamiliar to foreign readers, and some may not even know what Weibo is. However, Twitter is a foreign social network service platform similar to domestic Weibo, so the author added an annotation “China's Twitter-like Weibo” to make it easier for readers to understand.

Example 12:

ST: 那年中秋节，我收到了一张贺卡。

TT: I received a holiday card that year’s Mid-Autumn Festival (one of the traditional Chinese festivals that represents reunion).

Analysis: literal translation is “word-for-word” translation, which is restricted by the form of the original passage. There are no additions or deletions from the original text. As to translate the Chinese festival “中秋节”, the author chose to use the official version “Mid-Autumn Festival”. Also, the information about the season is preserved, but the deeper meaning is not conveyed, or the readers of the target language cannot get the information related to the holiday through such translation. Therefore, the author made annotations to remind foreign readers.

Example 13:

ST: 信息提供者告诉我，福建省长汀县有一个孩子是买来的，并且长期遭受买家的殴打和虐待。

TT: The informant told me of one kid in Tingchow county in southeast China’s Fujian province, who had been the victim of human trafficking and had been always beaten and mistreated by buyers.

Analysis: Place names are the product of history, the symbol of national territorial sovereignty, the guide of daily life, and the medium of social interaction. Chinese addresses are arranged in order from largest to smallest, while English addresses are just the opposite. Therefore, the translation needs to follow the style of the target language. For example:

Example 14:

ST: 福建省厦门市莲花五村龙昌里34号601室 李有财

TT: Li Youcai Room 601, No. 34 Long Chang Li, Xiamen, Fujian, China

What’s more, in this sentence, the author added necessary geographical information, telling readers its province and specific location in China to let them have a deeper understanding.

Amplification

Amplification means supplying necessary words in our translation work so as to make the version correct and clear, of course words supplied must be indispensable, either syntactically or semantically.

Example 15:

ST: 当时，彭文乐回家已经一年多了，彭高峰依然在继续关注寻子群体，还多次跟着我出去找孙卓。

TT: At that time, it had been over a year since Peng Wenle had returned home, but Peng Gaofeng was still paying attention to the group of searching for children and had followed me out several times to search for Sun Zhuo, my lost son.

Analysis: It is the first time that Sun Zhuo has appeared in this article, as a result, the author added “my lost son” to tell the readers who he is so as to let them read more smoothly and avoid confusion.

Example 16:

ST: 电影定档在9月25日，在那之前有一场试映活动，陈可辛请我们带几位家长先去看看。

TT: There was a test screening of the film before being set for release on September 25th, and Chan invited us to the spot with other lost or trafficked kids’ parents.

Analysis: For the sake of rigor, the author used the strategy of amplification to make explanations, because some of the children may not be trafficked, but lost.

3. Conclusion

First of all, the author has insufficient practical experience in this type of text, the translation skills are not solid enough, and the knowledge is not extensive enough, so she has encountered many problems in comprehension, expression and adoption in the process of  translating, which makes the translation become Chinglish and is not authentic enough. In this regard, the author will continue to consolidate his bilingual literary literacy in the future, continue to carry out translation practice to improve her own expression ability and translation ability. Practice makes perfect, as a result, the author believe that by persistently study and translating, her translation would become more smooth and authentic, ultimately laying a good foundation for higher-level translation work in the future.

Second, the cultural differences between Chinese and English. When translating, translators not only need to have a solid foundation in their own culture, but also need to have a deep understanding of the culture of the target language, so as to reduce the burden of readers’ understanding as much as possible and achieve the translator’s invisibility.

Third, many Chinese unique words and idioms will appear in this article, which is a great challenge for the author to understand, express and adapt. In the practice of translation, translators will query more relevant materials in the future, fully understand the original text, think critically, be flexible, and express the source text as perfectly as possible.

References

[1] Lefevere, Andre. Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literature Fame [M]. London and New York: Routledge Inc. 1992.

2. Li, N. (2021). Study on the Influential Analysis of Cultural Context in English-Chinese Translation. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 9(4): 201-205.

https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20210904.19

2. Newmark, P. (2001). A Textbook of Translation. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press

3. Nida, E. A. (1945) Linguistics and Ethnology in Translation-Problems, WORD, 1:2, 194-208.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1945.11659254

2. Nida, E. A. (2001). Language and Culture: Contexts in Translating. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press

3. Reiss, K. (2014).Translation Criticism – Potentials and Limitations: Categories and Criteria for Translation Quality Assessment. Taylor and Francis.

4. Shuttleworth, M. & M. Cowie. 1997. Dictionary of Translation Studies. Manchester, UK: St Jerome Publishing

5. Toury, G. (2012). Descriptive Translation Studies – and beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

6. Valero, C. (1995). Translation criticism as an independent area of study: Developing a framework for objective criticism. Livius, 7, 201-212.

7. 草婴，许钧. 译林[J]. 1995(5).

8. 傅雷. 傅雷谈翻译[M]. 沈阳：辽宁教育出版社，2005：8

9. 黄邦杰. 译艺谭[M]. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司，1991：49

10. 赫胥黎. 天演论[M]. 天津：国闻汇编，1897

11. 姜倩，何刚强. 翻译概论[M]. 上海：上海外语教育出版社，2015(2)

12. 李长栓，陈达遵. 联合国文件翻译教程[M]. 北京：中国对外翻译出版社，2014(1)

13. 罗雪. 中国人名的英译规范问题. 才智[J]. 2009(22)：183

14. 许渊冲. 翻译的艺术[M]. 北京：中国对外翻译出版社，1984：1

15. 叶子南. 高级英汉翻译理论与实践[M]. 北京：清华大学出版社(3)

16. 张焱. 英汉翻译过程中的难译现象处理[M]. 北京：中国社会科学出版社，2015(1)

17. 庄绎传. 汉英翻译500例[M]. 北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1980(1)

Acknowledgments

Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Mrs. Li Xiaodong, for her careful instruction, which allowed me to write my paper successfully. In class, you actively encouraged me to speak and listen to our ideas carefully. What’s more, your kindness gives me a lot of confidence to speak in class with courage and confidence. In the process of writing papers, you always kindly affirm my ideas and offer me the confidence to write. Admittedly, I have benefited a lot from you.

Secondly,I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my parents, Mrs. Hu Caifang and Mr. Wang Wenrong, without nurturing me with their hearts, I would not have had the opportunity to come to this school, receive higher education, and broaden my horizons. I also hope that in the future, I can live up to their expectations, leading them to see my world. I would also like to thank my friends, especially Tian Xiaowei, for her help during the writing process of my essay. Thank you to all the friends I met in college, it was my luck to meet you and I hope we can all meet at a higher point in life.

Finally, I would like to thank myself. Although you are always in procrastination, I am very grateful for your efforts during the preparation of postgraduate examination, as this is an opportunity to change your destiny, therefore, I am very happy that you can grasp it, and hope to meet NENU in September.

 “这就是别人的伤口已经鲜血淋漓了，你还要往上面撒一把盐。”

2012年夏天，我第一次向人道出了办理准生证的心酸经历。坐在我对面的是导演陈可辛。

 我告诉陈可辛，其实类似的事很常见。据我所知，有些孩子是在十几岁、二十几岁丢失的，这个年纪被拐卖去“养儿防老” 的可能性较小，往往会导致更严重的问题。时间长达数年的话，当地的户籍办理处会依据相关规定，联系其家属进行户口注销。这种事情家属是无法接受的，让他们承认失散的亲人死去了，永 远不会再出现了——这对他们来说无疑是一种伤害。

 我说：“即使是一个盲人，他要抱着一支蜡烛不放，你也不能说这蜡烛没有用了，就要把它掐灭。”

 陈可辛沉默了很久，叹道：“太冰冷了，太冰冷了。”

 其实当时我并不很清楚陈可辛是谁，只是忽然接到了一个电话，对方称是导演陈可辛的助理，在新闻里看到了我的寻子经历, 想约我聊一聊。

 一开始，陈导主要是对彭高峰感兴趣，彭文乐回家的经过对于电影制作而言非常具有戏剧性，也很感人，叫上我或许是因为我和高峰常在新闻报道中一同岀现，引起了他的注意。陈导约上彭高峰和我，加上他的两名助理，我们一起在深圳香蜜湖见面。当时，彭文乐回家已经一年多了，彭高峰依然在继续关注寻子群 体，还多次跟着我出去找孙卓。但是见到我们的每一个人都能感觉到，我和高峰的精神状态已经完全不同了。

 在陈可辛面前，我敞开心扉，讲了一个又一个故事。我讲到和高峰一起如何漫无目的地找孩子，讲到骗子打电话给我都会让我感到欣慰，讲到文乐回家后，我去给他过生日是如何伤心，还讲到了我始终缄口不提的那张死亡证明。

 陈可辛时而吃惊，时而愤怒，时而同情，时而感慨。他告诉我，电影一定会把这些东西呈现出来，这是电影人应该承担的社会责任。后来的很多事情也证明，陈导所关心的并不仅仅是一个催人泪下的故事能带来多少票房，他真正关心着我们这个群体的痛苦和挣扎，也发自内心地想要为我们带来希望。

 那天，我很希望能得到他们的帮助，因此也打算好了要请大家吃顿饭。我跟着他们进了一家装潢考究的餐厅，只见餐厅里摆放着各式各样可以自取的食物。他们一人拿了一个餐盘，这里舀一些，那里夹一些，装了满满的海鲜和肉类去烧烤。我看得出来 在这里吃饭不便宜，也不敢拿什么好食材，最后老老实实地吃了碗面。

 到了买单的时候，陈可辛的助理连说“不用不用”，拉扯着的时候，我才发现这顿饭竟然花了1500元，我吓了一跳，忍不住问：“怎么要1 500元啊？”

 他们很错愕：“这是自助餐啊，一人要收300元。”

 我瞪大了眼睛：“啊？这是自助餐？随便吃的那种吗？”

 “是啊，随便吃什么都行……我们还以为你就喜欢吃面条呢!”

 “……开玩笑，我一个天天在案板上和面的人怎么可能喜欢吃面条呢？”我欲哭无泪，但也不能回头重新吃一次了。彭高峰见状在一旁憋笑，憋了没几秒就大笑起来。

 这次见面后就一直没有下文，我也没放在心上。毕竟我这辈子，徒劳的事已经做得太多了。

 直到2013年，我又接到了陈可辛的助理打来的电话。他告诉我，他们在深圳的法院拍摄电影，问我是否想过去一趟。

 我惊呆了，没想到这部电影还真在拍，更没想到他们还真把我的经历改编进去了。等我赶到法院见到了整个剧组，一时间都怀疑自己在做梦。

 我几乎不花时间去看任何影视作品，对娱乐圈也不怎么了解，可是连我都一眼认出了现场好几位大明星。那一刻我恍然大悟：希望真的来了。

2014年，电影《亲爱的》杀青。剧组邀请彭高峰和我到北京去。我们跟电影主演们坐在一起时，陈可辛很关切地问我：“海洋，你需要什么就告诉我们，什么都可以说。”

 他们知道我就是想要孙卓，但他们拿不出来。

 我也知道他们可能是想要我开口要钱，但是我不要钱。

 桌上所有人都看着我，最后我说：“我什么都不需要，很感谢你们。”

 陈可辛对这个答案有些失望。后来，剧组总是邀请我一起参加宣传活动，希望能有更多人知道我的经历。

 有一回，在深圳大学的演播厅里，彭高峰和我及几位主演站在舞台上。下面坐满了大学生，黑压压的一片，各个都举着手机在录像或拍照。

 陈可辛忽然把话筒递给我，他说：“海洋，说一句你最想说的话好不好？就以’亲爱的'为题，一句话就可以。”

 我接过话筒，缓慢地一字一句地说道："……亲爱的孙卓， 我一定会找到你。”

 这之后似乎静默了几秒。

 接着掌声雷动，几乎要掀翻屋顶。那是我这辈子听过的最响亮、最持久的掌声，充满了年轻的祝福。那是一个多么有温度的场面，黑压压的人群里有着许多双极明亮的眼睛，专注、湿润、热忱。

 在电影宣传期间，陈可辛也不止一次地问我怎么才能够帮到我。 “电影要上映了，你有什么想法都可以说岀来。”他说。

 某一次我大胆地提出：“能不能把孙卓真实的寻人启事也放在电影里？让更多人看到他的照片，也许会有更多人打电话给我提供线索。”

 陈可辛一口答应道：“我一定会给你放上去。”

 电影定档在9月25日，在那之前有一场试映活动，陈可辛请我们带几位家长先去看看。

 那天我们带了十多位家长，其中包括符建涛的妈妈彭冬英、徐剑锋的妈妈杨素慧。我始终认为符建涛和孙卓很可能是被同一伙人作案拐走的，也希望能早日有关于符建涛的线索。杨素慧则是我印象很深刻的一位寻子家长，她的儿子徐剑锋在1991年失踪。孩子失踪不久后，杨大姐就离婚了，到电影上映时她已经独自寻找了二十多年。

 试映现场，在漆黑的影厅里，我的视线也模糊了。我反复伸手去拨开难断的水帘，好看清楚荧幕上变换的画面。电影结束后，孙卓的寻人启事真的浮现岀来，我的照片和手机号码也被展示出来，上面写着：韩德忠的原型孙海洋依然在寻找孙卓。

 灯亮了。我有些恍惚，感到笼罩我的沉沉黑暗似乎一睁眼就能溶解消散。

 走岀电影院，我信心坚定，孙卓很有可能会因为这部电影而被找回。

 后来剧组还去了湖南卫视的《快乐大本营》，这个节目连我都知道，收视率惊人。在节目上，扮演韩德忠的张译还特地说了一段话。

 他说：“《亲爱的》这部电影，票房卖多卖少，其实不是最重要的。我们今天来到这里，还有另一个目的。我们最大的梦想就是一定要找到孙卓。”

 这时屏幕上浮现出孙卓的寻人启事和我的电话号码。张译把我的电话号码念了一遍，又强调说：“大家有线索一定要给孙海洋打电话。”

 这之后我那台手机的状况只能用“爆炸”来形容。我一天至少有20个小时在不间断地接电话，挂了又接，接了又挂。有关心我现状的热心观众，有关心我那20万赏金的骗子，有想提供帮助的志愿者，有好心人很直接地就想给我转账，也有一些形形色色的怪人。令我哭笑不得的是，我甚至接到了无数个这样的电话： “你是孙海洋吗？你有演员某某的联系方式吗？”

 几天后我的嗓子就哑得无法正常说话了。

 《亲爱的》在9月25日如期上映。孙卓的故事只是电影的支线，但在上映当天，剧组的每一位主演及工作人员都应导演陈可辛的要求转发了我的一条微博，即孙卓的寻人启事。我再也没有办法接下所有电话了，每天都有几千条信息涌进我的收件箱。各大媒体的记者像开新闻发布会一样，天天追着我到处跑。

 那年中秋节，我收到了一张贺卡。上面写的是：“亲爱的海洋兄嫂，值此佳节，我在威尼斯祝兄嫂早日团圆。”原来是正在威尼斯电影节参加活动的张译给我寄来的。我感动极了。后来我才知道，张译在接受采访时曾说：“我在看剧本的时候就哭了，我看到的都是真实的眼泪，真实的情绪，自己也会被感染。”

 电影上映之后，网友在短时间内给我提供了成百上千条线索。在这些繁杂的信息里，有一条线索使我坐立不安。信息提供者告诉我，福建省长汀县有一个孩子是买来的，并且长期遭受买家的殴打和虐待。令我难以忽视的是，他说这个村子里有至少8名孩子是买来的，并且将这8名孩子的姓名及地址都发给了我。

10月31日晚，我决定驱车前往福建长汀县解救这些孩子。由于涉及的孩子不是一两个，我担心自己一个人兜不住这么大的事，思来想去，最后联系了志愿者仔仔，也就是上官正义。他刚结婚没几天，接了我的电话，二话不说就买了最早的机票。上官正义在2008年就和我有联系，当年他做卧底解救了多名被操控的乞讨儿童，后来也一直在为打拐四处奔波。他赶来福建时还带来了央视新闻的两名记者。

 这不是第一次，我几乎没有抱着此行能找到孙卓的心情出发了。

 或许在有些人看来，我是绝望的，似乎已经失去了方向。事实恰恰相反，我不过是感到远方比近在咫尺的安逸更容易忍受。

 遥远的村落里，那些孩子的哭声召唤着我、驱使着我，那些声音也是我内心的声音。一路上，我的手机不停地接到来电，导航的提示音变得断断续续，像某种来自废墟的末日广播。车窗外，高速公路两旁的反光灯有节奏地闪过，夜缓慢流动，托起方舟般的车身。

 孙海洋感谢导演和主演们创作了这样一部电影，“将打拐这个社会热点推向了前所未有的高潮，不但使找到孙卓变得更有希望，也帮助了更多失踪在外的孩子”。……《亲爱的》上映至今，从零差评的好口碑到票房逆增长，从全民推荐《亲爱的》到“全民寻找亲爱的”，所有的奇迹，所有的凝聚，都源于这部电影所具有的爱的力量。而这份“爱"一直在燃烧，我们相信，随着全社会对打拐的持续关注，“小孙卓们” 一定能早日回家，孙海洋的寻子之路曙光就在前方。

 ——新浪娱乐讯，2014年10月10日

 “It is other man’s bloody wound, and you even did add salts to the wound.”

It was the first time that I had talked about the bitter experience of applying for birth permission certificate in the summer of 2021, and who sitting in front of me was Peter Chan, a Chinese director.  

I told him that things like that happened all day. As far as I knew, some kids was lost at the age of teens or twenties, which had little possibility of being trafficked to “be raised to provide against old age”, and it would lead to a more severe problems. If the period of time was several years long, the local household registration department would contact family members of the lost children to cancel their residence registration. It was unacceptable for families to admit that a lost loved one had died and would never come back again - it was certainly a disservice to them.

I said, “Even if a blind man would tightly hold the candle in his hand, you could not extinguish the candle because of being useless.”

After a long time of silence, Chan sighed, “It’s so merciless, it so merciless.”

To be honestly, I didn’t know who’s Peter Chan at that time. I received a phone call out of the blue from someone claiming to be the assistant of director Peter Chan, who had read about my story about searching for my son in the news and wanted to have a talk with me.

At first, director Chan was mainly interested in Peng Gaofeng’s story, because the process of searching for his son Peng Wenle was very dramatic and touching for filmmaking, and I thought that he invited me maybe because I was often seen with Peng Gaofeng in the news, which caught his attention. Besides Peng Gaofeng and I, there were two of his attendants, and all of us met at Xiangmi Lake in Shenzhen. At that time, it had been over a year since Peng Wenle had returned home, but Peng Gaofeng was still paying attention to the group of searching for children and had followed me out several times to search for Sun Zhuo, my lost son. But everyone who met us would feel that Peng Gaofeng and I were in a completely different state of mind.

I opened my mind in front of Chan and told one story after another. I talked about how I had searched for kids aimlessly with Gaofeng, about how I was relieved when cheaters would call me, about how sad I was when I went to celebrate Wenle’s birthday after he came home, and about the death certificate that I had always kept quiet about.

Peter Chan was sometimes surprised, sometimes angry, sometimes sympathetic, and sometimes emotional. He told me that the film would be made to truly present those stories, which was a social responsibility that a filmmaker should take. Later, a lot of things proved that Chan was not just concerned about how a tearful story would rake in how much at the box office, but that he truly cared about the pain and struggles of our group and wanted to offer us hope from the bottom of his heart.

I really hope to get their help that day, so I had already planned to treat everyone to a meal. Following them into a well-decorated restaurant, I saw a variety of self-serve food laid out. They each took a plate, scooped some here and there, and filled it with seafood and meat for the grill. I could see that it was not a cheap place to eat, therefore, I was afraid to take any exquisite dishes and I ended up eating a bowl of noodles and dared not think about them.

When it came time to pay the bill, Chan’s assistant hurriedly said, “No”. At that time, I found that the meal had cost nearly 210.75 dollars which shocked me so much that I couldn't help but ask, “How come it cost 210.75 dollars?”

They were startled, “It’s a buffet that costs 42.15 dollars per person.”

My eyes widened in amazement “Huh? This is a buffet? The all-you-can-eat kind?”

 “Exactly, eat whatever you want...... We thought you just like noodles!”

 “......How is that possible! How can I like noodles when I am the one who spends my day kneading the dough on the chopping board?” I wanted to cry yet had no tears and I had no chance to eat it all over again either. Seeing this, Peng Gaofeng who stood around, stifled his laughter, holding it in for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

There was nothing next after this meeting, and I did not take it to heart either. After all, I had already done too much in my life in vain.

It wasn’t until the year 2013 that I received another phone call from Chan’s assistant. He told me that they were shooting the film at the courthouse in Shenzhen and asked if I wanted to come over.

I was stunned as I didn’t expect this movie to be made and even I didn’t expect that they adapted my experience. When I arrived at the courthouse and saw the entire crew, I doubted whether I was dreaming.

I hardly took time to watch any film and television works, and I didn’t know much about the entertainment industry either, but I even recognized several famous stars at a glance. At that time it dawned on me: hope does have come.

The film Dearest was wrapped up in 2014. Therefore, the crew invited Peng Gaofeng and me to Beijing. When we sat with the film’s leader characters, Chan asked me with concern, “Haiyang, you could tell us whatever you need, you could say anything you want.”

They knew that I just wanted my son Sun Zhuo back, but they couldn’t do it.

I also knew that they might want me to ask for money, but I didn’t need it.

With everyone at the table looking at me, I finally said, “I do not need anything, but I do appreciate what you have done for us.”

Peter Chan was a little disappointed with my answer. Later, the crew always invited me to participate in promotional activities, hoping that more people would know about my experience.

Once Peng Gaofeng and I stood on the stage with several leading characters in the studio of Shenzhen University. Blew crowded with many college students, which made the studio in a dark mess, each held up a mobile phone to record or take pictures.

Chan suddenly handed me the microphone and said, “Haiyang, could you please say something you want to say most? Just with the title of “dear”, one sentence will do.”

Taking the microphone, I said slowly, word for word, “......Dear Sun Zhuo, I will be sure to find you.”

After what seemed to be silent for a few seconds.

Then came the tumultuous applause, which seemed to tip the roof. It was the loudest and most enduring applause I’ve ever heard in my life, full of youthful blessings. What a warm scene it was, the studio was filled with people, whose extremely bright eyes were full of focused, watery, and enthusiastic.

During the promotional activities, Chan asked me how could he give a hand to me more than once. “The movie will be released soon, you could tell me some of your ideas,” he said.

I ventured the idea, “Could you please edit the real missing person posters of Sun Zhuo into film? The more people see his picture, the more clues will be offered through telephones.”

Chan promised without hesitation, “ I will be sure to make it.”

There was a test screening of the film before being set for release on September 25th, and Chan invited us to the spot with other lost or trafficked kids’ parents.

We took over a dozen parents, including Peng Dongying and Yang Suhui who were mothers of trafficked kids, Fu Jiantao and Xu Jianfeng respectively. I had always believed that Fu and Sun were probably trafficked by the same gang and I also hoped that I could have a clue about Fu soon. Yang Suhui was the most impressive parent searching for his son in my mind, whose son Sun Jianfeng was lost in the year of 1991. Ms.Yang divorced soon after her son disappeared, and by the time the film was released, she had been searching alone for more than twenty years.

My vision blurred in the dark cinema hall on the spot of the test screening. I kept wiping my endless tears over and over again to watch the changing movie scenes clearly. After the end of the film, it did emerge the missing person poster of Sun Zhuo and did my pictures as well as phone numbers as well, which wrote: Sun Dezhong is based on Sun Haiyang who has still been searching for his son, Sun Zhuo.

The lights turned on. I got into a trance, feeling as if the heavy darkness which enveloped me would dissolve as soon as I opened my eyes.

Walking out of the cinema, I gained strong confidence that Sun Zhuo would be probably found back because of this film.

The crew also went to the Happy Camp, one of China’s most popular variety show in Hunan TV later. Even I knew about this variety show, which had an alarming audience rate. Zhang Yi, who played Han Dezhong, also made a special remark on the show.

He said, “It doesn’t count so much about how much the box office of the film Dearest will rake in. The other aim we came here for is to find Sun Zhuo, which is our biggest dream.”

At that moment, the missing person poster of Sun Zhuo and my phone number surfaced on the screen. Zhang read out my phone number again and highlighted, “Please do call Sun Haiyang if you have any clues.”

After then, my phone was in a state that could only be described as an “explosion”. I had to spend at least 20 hours on the phone, hanging up over and over again. There were people who cared about my situation, swindlers who longed for the $28,100 reward, volunteers who wanted to offer help, good people who wanted to transfer money to me straight away, and weird people of all kinds. What made me put a wary face most was that I even received endless calls saying: “Are you Sun Haiyang? Do you have any contact information of actor so-and-so?”

A few days later, my voice was so hoarse that I couldn’t speak as usual.

Dearest was released on September 25th as envisioned. Although the story about Sun Zhuo was just one of the branches of the film, the night it came out, every main character and worker in the crew are required by director Chan to re-tweet my tweet--the missing person poster of Sun Zhuo, posted on China’s Twitter-like Weibo. From that day on, I could not receive all the calls anymore for there were thousands of messages pouring into my inbox every day. And journalists from all major media chased around to interview me like a press conference.

I received a holiday card that year’s Mid-Autumn Festival (one of the traditional Chinese festivals that represents reunion). It read: “Dear my elder brother Haiyang and his wife, I am in Venice to sincerely wish you a speedy reunion.” It turned out that Zhang Yi, who was participating in the Venice Film Festival, had sent it to me, which deeply touched me. Later I found out that Zhang Yi had once said in an interview, “I cried when I was reading the script because all I read were real tears and true emotions, so I also would feel and be touched.”

After the film was released, hundreds of clues were offered by netizens in a short period. Among those complicated information, there was one that made me on tenterhooks. The informant told me of one kid in Tingchow county in southeast China’s Fujian province, who had been the victim of human trafficking and had been always beaten and mistreated by buyers. What made it difficult for me to ignore was that he said there were at least eight kids being the victim of human trafficking and sent me the names and addresses of those trafficked kids.

I decided to dive to Tingchow county to rescue those kids on the evening of October 31st. As there were not just one or two kids involved, I was worried that I would not be able to handle such a big thing on my own, so I thought twice and finally contacted a volunteer Zai Zai, also known as Shangguan Zhengyi. He had just gotten married a few days and bought the earliest plane ticket without a second thought after receiving my call. Shangguan Zhengyi had been in contact with me in 2008 when he went undercover to rescue several manipulated begging kids, and had been working on the fight against abduction ever since. When he rushed to Fujian province, he also took two reporters from CCTV news with him.

It was not the first time that I had set out in a mood without any hope of finding out Sun Zhuo on this trip.

Perhaps to some people I was desperate and seemed to have lost my way. But on the contrary, I just felt that the faraway places were more tolerable than the ease close at hand.

The cries of those children in the remote villages beckoned me and drove me, and those voices were also the same in my heart. On the way, my phone kept receiving calls, therefore, the sound of the navigation reminder became intermittent, like some kind of doomsday broadcast from the ruins. Outside the window, the reflective lights on the sides of the highway flashed rhythmically and the night flowed slowly holding up the ark-like body of the car.

Sun Haiyang really appreciated the director and main characters for creating such a film. “Pushing the social hotspot of abduction to an unprecedented climax has not only made it more hopeful to find Sun Zhuo, but also helped more missing children.”......Since Dearest has been released so far, all the miracles and all the cohesion originate from the power of love that this movie embodies: from zero bad reviewers to a blockbuster; from the universal recommendation of Dearest to “the universal search for dear”. while this “love” has been burning, we believe that with the continuous attention of the whole society on the fight against abduction, “Little Sun Zhuo” will be able to return home as soon as possible, and dawn is breaking and we are seeing light coming through-- Sun Haiyang’s road to search for his son will come to an end.

--From Sino Entertainment, August 10th in 2014.