Water Metaphors in Ancient and Modern CHINESE
College of International Studies, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| Abstract: | Water is one of the most important resources in human life, and is known to one of the Five Elements, namely, Wu Xing, in Chinese culture. The current study reported in this paper aims to examine water metaphors in ancient and modern Chinese language, which have been rarely touched on so far in the field of metaphor studies. The main research question is how Chinese people understand and experience other concepts in terms of water. In this paper, I present 9 kinds of water metaphors: POWER IS WATER, HUMAN IS WATER, EMOTION IS WATER, TIME IS WATER, MONEY IS WATER, MOVEMENT IS WATER, VIRTUE IS WATER, THOUGHT IS WATER, and MUSIC IS WATER. Finally, it is proposed that the understanding of Wu Xing (e.g., Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) theory is essential to understand these water metaphors in Chinese culture. |
| Keywords: | Water; Conceptual Metaphor Theory; Chinese Language; Wu Xing; Chinese Culture |
| DOI: | 10.57237/j.ha.2023.04.001 |
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Received: 20 October 2023
Accepted: 23 November 2023
Published Online: 9 December 2023
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