Abstract: In 1993, Su Tong's novella The Wives and Concubines was translated and introduced to the West by the Canadian sinologist Michael S. Duke, entitled Raise the Red Lantern, which basically restored the original story and translated the main plot of the novel. But some changes were made to the female images in the translation. Through an in-depth reading of the English and Chinese versions and a comparative analysis of the female images in the novel, it can be found that the English translation has rewritten in at least three aspects of the female characters' names, dialogue language and actions, resulting in changes to the female images constructed in the original novel. The translated version to a certain extent diluted the characterization of the female characters, thus weakening the artistic presentation of the female images.

Key words: Raise the Red Lantern, outbound literary translation, female image, Su Tong, Michael S. Duke