This article discusses the symbiosis and synergism of two types of text in a classical Chinese poem: the surface text (descriptive scenes or imagery) and the subtext (discursive messages conveyed through descriptive scenes and/or imagery, which is only visible to the mind's eye of the reader). The subtext and the surface text form the semiotic relationship between the signified and the signifier, thus giving rise to the intertexuality of the text. This intertexuality holds the key to a faithful translation of classicial Chinese poetry; translation in terms of intertexuality and subtextuality can be called "intersemiotic translation".