ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jla.2026.06.006
A Study on the External Translation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Yi Ethnic Torch Festival from the Perspective of Skopos Theory
Xinyu Xia, Liang Luo*
School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Panzhihua University, Panzhihua 617000, Sichuan, China.
*Corresponding author: Liang Luo
Published: June 2,2026
Abstract
The Yi Ethnic Torch Festival was inscribed in the first batch of the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in 2006. Hailed as the “Oriental Carnival,” it stands as a significant symbol of Yi cultural identity. The successful hosting of a series of activities of the 2025 Liangshan Yi Ethnic Torch Festival has continuously elevated its international profile, making the demand for external communication increasingly urgent. However, existing publicity translations of the Yi Ethnic Torch Festival suffer from inconsistent terminology, insufficient cultural interpretation, and a lack of systematic strategic guidance, with relevant academic research remaining virtually nonexistent. This study adopts Skopos Theory as its theoretical framework and takes The Torch Festival of the Yi People by Zhu Wenxu as its core corpus. Through comprehensive application of textual analysis, comparative analysis, case study, and literature review methods, the study systematically explores strategic pathways for the external translation of the intangible cultural heritage of the Yi Ethnic Torch Festival. The findings demonstrate that the three principles of Skopos Theory possess significant guiding value in ICH publicity translation. The Skopos principle helps translators anchor communication objectives. The coherence principle enhances readability and acceptability of target texts. And the fidelity principle achieves dynamic balance between cultural authenticity and communication effectiveness. Based on this analysis, the study constructs a three-dimensional translation strategy model of “purpose priority, cultural fidelity, and reader acceptance”, proposing specific methods including transliteration with annotation, explanatory translation, and amplification. Systematic recommendations are further advanced from four dimensions: terminology standardization, multimodal communication, translator cultivation, and channel optimization. This study addresses the lack of empirical evidence in translating Yi Torch Festival ICH. It refines the applicability of Skopos Theory within ethnic minority contexts through systematic source-target alignment, yielding actionable strategies for reconstructing culture-specific items rather than generalized prescriptions for cultural dissemination.
Keywords
Skopos Theory; the Yi Ethnic Torch Festival; ICH publicity translation; cul-ture-loaded words; translation strategies
References
Gao, Y., & Wang, H. (2025). Research on English translation strategies of classics from the perspective of Skopos theory: A case study of the English translation of “Wu Song fights the tiger” from Water Margin(excerpt). Jingu Chuangyi, (20), 104-108. https:///10.20024/j.cnki.CN42-1911/I.2025.20.032
Li, C. (2009, September 2). Ten intangible cultural heritage items from Chuxiong listed on national list. Yunnan Daily, p. 7.
Li, W., & Yang, Y. (2021). Translation strategies of Yi material culture-loaded words from the perspective of Skopos theory. Sinogram Culture, (15), 145-146. https:///10.14014/j.cnki.cn11-2597/g2.2021.15.061
Munday, J. (2016). Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications (4th ed.). Taylor and Francis.
Reiss, K., & Vermeer, H. J. (1984). Groundwork for a general theory of translation (T. Hermans, Trans.). Niemeyer.
Zhong, Y. (2025). Difficulties and strategies in English translation of Yi culture-loaded words (Master’s thesis, Civil Aviation Flight University of China). https:///10.27722/d.cnki.gzgmh.2025.000363
Zhu, W. (1999). The Torch Festival of the Yi People (1st ed.). Sichuan Minzu Publishing House.
Zhu, W. (2002). Yizu yuanshi zongjiao yu wenhua [Primitive religion and culture of the Yi people] (1st ed.). Central Minzu University Press.
Copyright
© 2026 by the author(s).
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
How to cite this paper
A Study on the External Translation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Yi Ethnic Torch Festival from the Perspective of Skopos Theory
How to cite this paper: Xinyu Xia, Liang Luo. (2026). A Study on the External Translation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Yi Ethnic Torch Festival from the Perspective of Skopos Theory. Journal of Literature Advances, 3(1), 47-55.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jla.2026.06.006