Abstract: As one of the representative native Chinese translation theories, the Variation Theory put forward by Huang Zhonglian postulates that translation based on the Variation Theory is focused on original and entails the condensed information, thus being conducive to retaining the similar core information of the original text, which is why it is more applicable to scientific documents.Resorting to a creative mode of thinking, the present paper firstly explores the theoretical motivations of the Variation Theory itself and also expounds on the rationale of the Variation Theory as the criterion for literary translation.Then, based on the Variation Theory and using Xu Yuanchong's translation of Su Shi and Lu You's Ci-poems as the research objects, this paper analyzes and illustrates the explanatory power of the Variation Theory for the translation reproduction of the images and artistic conceptions in Chinese classical poetry.