Culture in colors 语言与文化论文.doc

introductionwhen earth gives our life , it also gives us different colors. different colors give us different life. colors act an important role. they give culture more energy. no matter good or bad, colors vivified culture. conversely, culture enriched colors and give colors more meanings. they are supplementary to each other. various colors make culture more splendid, and culture also shows the difference of colors. what is color?colors are the sensation produced on the eyes by rays of light when resolved as by a prism, selective reflection, etc, into different wavelengths1 oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary, the commercial press and oxford university press, 2007. colors are a kind of language to describe different culture. culture in colorsthere are so many colors in our life. in different area, a same color shows different meaning. at the same time, it also reflect the difference of culture. now ill introduce six basic colors in our life: red, white, black, green, yellow, and blue.2.1 red both in east and west, red stands for happy. in traditional chinese wedding, red is the mainly color, and bride must wear red clothes. why? because it stands for happy and good luck. in the traditional ideas, people think red can expel evil influences and invoke blessings in china. so red is a good luck color. because red makes people have a exciting mood easily, people often decorated with red in a happy day like wedding. in west, festival and holiday are marked with red in calendar, like christmas day, new year， thanksgiving day，two-day weekendin modern times, there was a new meaning about red in china. it stands for the proletarian revolution. the communist regime was called red political power. there were many new phrases appearing at that years. like the red lamp, the red guards, the red army man, the five-starred red flag and so on, they are all show the strong sense of contemporaneity. so ,red stands for loyal and the enthusiasm of revolution. but red also has negative meaning in some words and phrases. it stands for angry, loss, evil, violent, dangerous and so on. for example, see red means somebody become suddenly enraged; red-handed shows that somebody in or just after the act of committing a crime;when somewhere is danger, there will be warned with red light.2.2 white nowadays, referring to white, many people will associate pureness with it both in east and west. but in ancient times, white had different meaning between east and west.in traditional china,people often made a connecting between white and solemness. why? in ancient china,autumn was regarded as sorrow and seriousness for all things was wither and fall in that time,so autumn also called 素秋 in china. in addition, the ancient punishment of behead was carried out after the autumn. people think white was unlucky and it stands for death. so the funeral also called 白事 in china. in modern times,white had a connection with political power in china and it fight against the red political power and revolution. there are many phrases appeared on that years, like 白区, 白匪, 白色恐怖and so on. these phrases are negative and they are different with the red political power.but in west, white symbolized virginal and frank. in west wedding, the bride must wear white wedding dress. because it can showing marriage is holy. and it also shows the emotion between bride and bridegrooms perfect. besides there are many phrases in language about white.in english: white lie, white night, white war, white light and so on.in chinese: 白手起家, 白痴, 真相大白, 白衣天使，白眼狼，白日依山尽，清清白白and so on.2.3 black no matter in west or east, black gives us a feeling of grave. black just like a big stone stands in front of us and depressed us. so in english there are some negative phrases with black, like black market, black list, black-hearted and so on. black also gives off the fragrance of sorrow both in east and west. when a relative or friend gone, people would wear black clothes to express their sorrow.however,people often wear black clothes in formal occasion. because black can give people a feeling of solemness and dignity. in some chinese film, the people who has a strong sense of justice and ready to help the weak at night often wear black veil and clothes. because black is a dark color. when begin to act at night, black is good for their shelter. but in west,the evildoer would wear black clothes to show their ferocious features in film.2.4 greenwhen green came into our eyes, we often have a feeling of vitality. green is the color of life. it symbolizes youth and vigor. for example, in the green which describes young men are impetuous and easily give to passions2 zhang xueying, a complete dictionary of chinese idioms wit english translations, hubei education press, 1997.3 deng yanchang, liu runqing, language and culture, beijing foreign language teaching and research press, 1989.4 杨宇光，黄关福. 英汉英美社会生活词典. 上海：复旦大学出版社，1994.5 /search/kdzk200927233.html吴萍. 色彩与中国文化. 考试周刊，2009年27期6 /view/0dbfde12cc7931b765ce15cc.html中外色彩文化差异了解外国颜色文化; green old means people old but vigorous. in britain, green stands for loyal, happy and justice.however in english, green is a color of unripe. green is used to describe a man who lacks experience such as a green hand.nowadays, green has a new meaning in china. with the development of economy, china advocate environmental protection to protect the environment. green was gave the meaning of environmental. now the phrases like 绿色食品, 绿色经济 and so on are very popular in china.2.5 yellowin ancient china, yellow was regarded as sacred and legitimate. it symbolize the supreme power, stands and position of emperor,and only the imperial family had the right to use it. but nowadays, with amount of western culture puring in china, some vulgar culture also come in. yellow also connected with vulgar, pornographic, trashy, obscene, and filth in china. so now many people cant remember its sacred but its negative meaning when refers to yellow.in west, yellow stands of hope. in yellow ribbon, to welcome the husbands coming, the wife tied yellow ribbon on the odd tree. however, it has negative meaning in west. in the bible,the man who betray jesus always wore yellow clothes, so yellow also stands for betray. besides, it also means timid in english phrases. for example, yellow dog means somebody is a coward.in life, yellow is a special color in somewhere. in america, if a car marked with yellow means the car is a taxi. a book that record telephone number is yellow, too. on road,yellow also appeared on the traffic light, and it warns you should pay attention to your side and slow down.2.6 bluein nature, blue is the color of sky. when you watch it,you will have a feeling of peace and cool.however, in our life, blue often shows that someone is suffering from miserable things and in low spirit. like in a blue mood, be in the blues, feel blue, look blue, all show a person is in low spirit and he/she is in a bad mood.in addition, blue has the same meaning with yellow. it also connected with pornographic, trashy and so on. blue film instead of pornographic film in spoken english.but in british literature, blue stands for noble and loyal. the blue blood just refers to the people who is noble birth. reasonwhy the different meaning in different country? with the development of world, the color of difference more and more less. but in ancient time, the using of color is very different. because different nations have different political system, geography, social customs, religious belief and so many reasons, and caused the difference of color. in a word,different countries have different culture. for example, in british culture, purple stands for the royal powers nobleness and dignity. it is from the old roman culture. in the ancient times, the roman emperor all wore purple gown, so purple symbolized the emperor; however, in ancient china,yellow is the exclusive color for emperor. its from the five-element theory. in the theory, yellow is the color of earth and never cant change, so yellow symbolized the emperors holy, honorable, lofty and stately. taboo colorwith the difference of culture, every nation has its own taboo color,