On Translating Red Tourist Attractions in Guangzhou Based on the Variational Translation Theory

Due to the great historical significance of red tourist attractions, special attention needs to be paid to the translation of red tourist attractions. It will be beneficial for the sustainable development of red tourism and telling compelling Chinese stories in a good way. Based on the Variational Translation Theory (VTT), the paper analyzes the translation of tourist texts of the red tourist attractions in Guangzhou on the “List of 100 National CPC-related Tourist Attractions and Scenic Spots (2016)” with the seven translation techniques derived from VTT, which are adding, deleting, editing, narrating, condensing, integrating, and altering. According to the author’s research, most of the translations of red tourist attraction texts applied Complete Translation, though few adopted VTT. On the whole, the current situation of the translation of red tourist attractions is not optimistic, since only a few texts have English translated versions and many problems exist in current versions. The paper is supposed to inspire an increasing number of scholars who can show their interest in the translation of the tourist texts of the red tourist attractions, and thus spread Chinese culture and convey Chinese values in a good and correct way.