Representations and Symbols of Various Colors

The Chinese and English languages are rich in words representing different colors or tints. We should not only pay attention to their basic meaning, but also pay attention to their deep and wide symbolism, because their symbolism often has different characteristics in different national languages, and some characteristics even constitute people's reverence for the color after the extension, the meaning of the taboo. This difference in color symbolism between different cultures is due to the different cultural and historical backgrounds and aesthetic psychology of their respective nationalities, and it is a permanent cultural phenomenon that has been agreed upon in the development of society and the precipitation of history. This paper tries to analyze and explore the influence of the cultural development of each ethnic group on the symbolism of color words from the perspective of the contrast between Chinese and Western cultures.

In human language, color words show a unique charm that is impressive. In both Chinese and English languages, words indicating various different colors or hues are abundant. We should not only pay attention to observe their own basic meaning, but also pay attention to the symbolism of their deep meaning, because the symbolism of color often has different characteristics in different national languages, and some characteristics even constitute people's reverence for the color after extension and transmutation and taboos. Since China is separated from most English-speaking countries by thousands of miles, and the geographical location, natural phenomena, historical background, aesthetic psychology and so on are very different, people's feelings and expressions about colors are not the same. As a result, the symbolism of colors naturally differs greatly between Chinese and Western cultures. In this paper, we would like to make some comparisons and discussions on the color of words and the symbolism of words in Chinese and Western cultures, in order to seek advice from our colleagues and readers.

1. Red stands for enthusiasm, liveliness, hilarity, warmth, happiness, good luck Concrete - blood, sunset, heart, flame

Abstract - passion, danger, festivity, defiance, outburst. Red Warm - Excitement,Luck,Caution,Loyalty,Fire,Cleanliness,Gratitude Red is the basic revered color in our culture, which embodies the spiritual and material pursuits of the Chinese people. It symbolizes auspiciousness and festivity, such as the person who facilitates the good marriage of others is called "Red Lady", the big red lanterns should be hung, red couplets and red lucky words should be pasted on the happy days; the big red "happy" words should be pasted when a man marries a woman, and the bustling and prosperous place is called "Red Flame"; the place that describes the prosperous and bustling place is called "Red Dust"; and it symbolizes the revolution and progress, such as the initial regime of China **** is called "Red Regime", and the earliest armed force is called "Red Regime". It also symbolizes revolution and progress, such as the initial regime of China **** called "Red Regime", the earliest armed forces called "Red Army", the political demand for progress, the business of hard work is called "red and professional", etc.; it also symbolizes the smooth, successful, such as a person's situation is very good is known as the "red", "red", "red", "red", "red", "red", "red", "red", "red". Red for a while", get the bosses favor called "red", share the profits of the partnership called "bonus", give people a bonus called "send red packets", etc.; it also symbolizes the beautiful, beautiful, such as the women's makeup for the "red makeup" or "red dress", the colorful women known as the "red sleeves", referring to the women's beautiful face for the "red face" and so on.

The red (red) in Western culture is a derogatory word, is "fire", "blood" association, it symbolizes brutality, bloodshed, such as (1) The red rules oftooth and claw brutality and violent rule, (2) red revenge bloody revenge, (3) ared battle blood; it also symbolizes the radical, violent revolution, such as (1) the red rules oftooth and claw violence, (2) red revenge, (3) ared battle blood; it is also a symbol of the red rules oftooth, and violent rule. It also symbolizes radical and violent revolution, such as (1) red hotpolitical campaign, (2) a red revolution, (3) red activities; it also symbolizes danger and tension, such as (1) red alert, (2) a red adventure story. adventure story a nerve-racking adventure story, (3) a red flag danger signal flag; it also symbolizes debauchery, obscenity, such as (1) a red waste of his youth his youth that is wasted because of debauchery, (2) ared light district 花街柳巷(红灯区), (3) Is she really sored as she is painted? Is she really sored as she is painted?

As for the positive meanings of the color red, such as red-letter day, the red carpet, the red carpet, the grand reception, etc., it is due to the exchange and fusion between different cultures. According to evidence, the positive meaning of red was spread to the West from the Far East through Persia.

2. White represents purity, innocence, simplicity, sanctity and brightness.

Concrete-snow, white paper, white clouds, nurses

Abstract-purity, simplicity, sanctity, piety, emptiness.

White Light tone - purity, integrity, light, dreams, victory, joy, power.

In Chinese culture, white, as opposed to red, is a fundamentally taboo word, embodying the material and spiritual rejection and aversion of the Chinese people. In ancient China's five-faceted sayings, the West is the White Tiger, the West is the god of torture and killing, the main Xiaojian of the fall, ancient times often in the fall to conquer injustice and execution of prisoners. So the white is depleted and bloodless, lifeless performance, symbolizing death, bad omen. Such as since ancient times after the death of a loved one's family to wear mourning (wearing white mourning clothes) to do "white things", to set up a white hearth, the funeral to play white streamers; the old also regarded the white tiger as a god of evil, so now said to bring bad luck to the man's woman for the "white tiger star". White psychological function in its development process due to the influence of political function, and symbolize corruption, reaction, backwardness, such as as "white special road"; it also symbolizes failure, stupidity, no profit, such as in the war on the losing side is always playing the "white flag" to indicate the surrender, said that people with low intelligence as a "moron", and the effort and can not get no benefits or no effect called "white tiger". Benefits or no effect is called "white busy", "white effort", "white dry", etc., it also symbolizes treachery, sinister, such as "singing white face", "white face" treacherous; Finally, it also symbolizes the knowledge of shallow, no merit, such as calling the common people as "white Ding", "white clothes", "white body", the lack of exercise, experience is not deep the literati called "white-faced scholar" and so on.

The symbolism of white in Western culture is mainly focused on its own color, such as fresh snow, fresh milk and the color of lilies. Westerners believe that white is elegant and pure, so it is the revered color in Western culture. It symbolizes innocence, such as (1) a white soul pure heart, (2) wh ite wedding bride wearing a white dress for the wedding; it also symbolizes integrity, honesty, such as (1) a white spirit upright spirit, (2) white m en noble, educated people, (3) white hand incorruptible, honesty; it also symbolizes luck, Auspicious, such as (1) one ofthe white days o f sb's life one of the auspicious days in someone's life, (2) whitemagic a spell with the help of angels; it also has the meaning of lawfulness and absence of malice, such as (1) whitemarket a lawful market, (2) white list a lawful list approved, (3) awhite lie a harmless lie, and (4) a white hand a lie that is not harmful. awhite lie a harmless lie.

3. The color purple represents elegance, nobility, charm and pride.

Concrete - grapes, eggplant, violets, purslane

Abstract - nobility, mystery, jealousy, elegance, morbidity.

Purple Cold - Luxury, Beauty, Worry, Peace, Love, Repentance, Humility, Looking up, Passion, Enthusiasm

In Chinese folklore, the Emperor of Heaven resides in the "Ziwei Palace" (constellation) in the sky, therefore, the earthly emperors (the sons of heaven) who take the Emperor of Heaven as their father, and the Taoist religion, which takes the Emperor of Heaven as the evil one, use the color purple as the auspiciousness. Purple as a symbol of auspiciousness, nobility, more by the feudal emperors and Taoism, such as the auspicious gas for the " purple gas ", " purple electricity ", the Imperial Palace is called " Forbidden Palace ", " Forbidden City ". Successive emperors in order to enlist people, often the "purple robe" given to low-grade ministers, and "purple" has become a feudal literati to pursue the glory of the Lulu; people also called the Taoist book "purple book", the immortal residence known as the "Purple Terrace". By coincidence, the symbolism of purple in English is also related to emperors, generals and religions, which is an interesting cultural coincidence, such as (1) t he purple empire, kingship, (2) be born in the purple born in the house of princes and nobles, (3) marryin the purple married to the distinguished family, (4) be raised to the pruple to become a cardinal.

4. Yellow stands for brightness, cheerfulness, nobility, hope

Concrete - banana, gold, yellow chrysanthemums, signals to pay attention

Abstract - brightness, attention, light, restlessness, ambition.

Yellow Warm Tone - Warmth, Brightness, Wealthy, Steady Independence, Automaticity, Sense of Justice, Perfectionist.

Yellow is a developmental variant of red in Chinese culture, such as in the old days when people called the days suitable for doing great things "auspicious days of the zodiac", but it is more representative of power and majesty, because in the ancient five parties, five elements, five colors, the center of the earth yellow. Yellow symbolizes the central authority, the meaning of the land, so the yellow color for successive generations of feudal emperors exclusive, ordinary people can not casually use the "yellow", such as "yellow robe" is the son of the "dragon robe", "yellow battle-axe" is the son of the ceremonial weapons, "yellow list" is the son of the imperial edict, "yellow coat" is the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the official uniforms of the military and civil servants. As for the popularity of the "yellow" concept related to "sex", there is a saying that the fusion of Chinese and Western cultural exchanges is a phenomenon. It is said that the United States of America, New York's "Le Monde" with yellow ink to print low-level interest in cartoons to gain sales, people will call this type of unhealthy publications as "yellow publications", and "New York News" to exaggerate, rendering techniques to report ****, vendetta, crime and other news, people also said that this type of news as "yellow news". In fact, the yellow color in ancient China has been related to "sex". The end of the Eastern Han Dynasty Yellow Turban Uprising when there is a "yellow book", the book is now anonymous, it is known that the book focus on "the art of the room"; another Tang Dynasty Sun Simiao in its "Thousand Gold" of the "room benefits" in the "red sun and yellow moon," he said. Zhang Qingchang accordingly in his "Chinese color words" book pointed out that: "the ancient Chinese 'yellow' and 'sex' has a relationship. This is very true, only that it has been interrupted for more than a thousand years, and people have long forgotten it". The yellow (yellow) in western culture reminds people of the betrayal of Jesus' Jews (Judas) the color of the clothes they wear, so yellow has a bad symbolic meaning, in addition to indicating the low-grade interest of the press, no literary value of the books (such as yellow press yellow press, yellow journalism yellow style of newspaper, y ellow back). cheap sensational novels), it mainly indicates meanness and timidity, such as (1) yellow dog mean person, (2) yellow str eak timid, (3) yellow-livered timid.

5. The color blue means far-reaching, eternal, calm, rational, honest, cold

Concrete-ocean, blue sky, distant mountains, lakes and seas

Abstract-silent, melancholy, cool, rational, free.

Blue Cold - sadness, indifference, patience, freedom, dynamism, vigor.

Blue has little symbolic significance in Chinese culture, and relatively speaking, it has a little more symbolic significance in Western culture. Asheim, commenting on the color blue, said, "Blue is as cool as water." It is a "feminine or negative color". It can symbolize nobility, lofty, deep and severe, such as (1) blue blood famous family, (2) blue ribbon the highest symbol of honor, (3) blue nose strict adherence to the canon of the guardian; (4) blue laws strict laws; it also symbolizes melancholy, frustration, such as (1) feel blue unhappy, (2) a blue outlook pessimistic, (3) blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue. It also symbolizes melancholy and depression, such as (1) feel blue unhappy, (2) a blueoutlook pessimistic outlook on life. （Things look blue. things are not satisfactory, (4) blue Monday unhappy Monday, it also symbolizes obscenity, indecency, such as (1) bluemovie *** movie, (2) blue revolution "sexual liberation", (3) blue talk indecent speech; it also has the meaning of "to talk", "to talk", and "to talk". talk dirty talk; it also has the meaning of sudden and rapid, such as (1) out of the blue sudden burst of cold door, (2) have the blue clear sky splits the thunder, (3) blue streak a flash of things

6. Green represents freshness, calmness, peace, softness, ease, youth

Specifically -leaves, grass, parks, safety signals

Abstract-peace, ideals, hope, growth, security.

Green Cold - health, freshness, youthfulness, life, grace, hope, nurturing. Nature, harmony.

In traditional Chinese culture, the color green has a dual nature; it denotes not only righteousness and chivalry, but also wildness and evil. This is because in the initial era of human

and its subsequent long life process, human beings protect themselves with the help of green to survive;

but at the same time, the green also protects the natural enemies of human beings and other fierce and brutal man-eating animals. In this way, the righteousness of the narrow is righteous

, such as people referred to the gathering of the mountains and forests, robbing the rich to help the poor as "Greenwood"; evil wild is evil, so the old also refers to the "

Greenwood" for the king of the mountains, roadblocks, harassment of the people's bandits; green is also a symbol of the lowly, such as the servants of the Han Dynasty

with a conical cap of green, after the Yuan Dynasty, where the prostitutes have to wear a green scarf to show the status of the low, because of the wife's affair and the wife of a man, the wife of a woman. low, because the wife has an affair and make the husband face

glare, inferior, called to the husband to wear a "green hat". The symbolism of green in Western culture is very much related to the color of green

grass and trees, which is the color of plant life. Asheim said, "Green evokes the crisp

idea of nature." It not only symbolizes youth and vigor, as (1) in the green woodin youthful exuberance, (

2) inthe green blood and vigor, (3) a green old ageold age; but it also denotes freshness, as (1

) green recollectio n fresh in memory, (2) keep the memorygreen never forget, (3) a

green wound new wound; but it also denotes childishness, inexperience, such as (1) a green hand raw hand,

(2) as green as grass childish, (3) a green horn easily fooled fool; it also symbolizes envy

, as in (1) thegreen-eyed monster envious, (2) green with envy full of envy, (3)

agreen eye envious eye.

7. Black stands for sublime, solid, serious, robust, reckless

Concrete - night, ink, charcoal, hair

Abstract - death, evil, horror, seriousness, loneliness

Black Black Dark - death, crime, horror, seriousness, seriousness, suffering

Black in the cultural symbolism of the Han Chinese people, like red, yellow and white, also has a dual cultural meaning: both positive and negative.

Because of the similarity between black and iron, black has been commonly used since ancient times to symbolize the meaning of "uprightness, perseverance, strictness and selflessness". For example, in the art of opera face painting, black is often used to symbolize the integrity of historical figures, the iron face of selflessness and other noble character. For example, the stage image of historical figures such as Yuchigong in the Tang Dynasty and Bao Zheng in the Song Dynasty are all black faces.

According to the ancient Chinese five parties, the five elements, the space of heaven and earth is divided into east and west, south, north and south of the five parties, they are divided into wood, gold, fire, water, earth five elements, five parties, five elements and respectively, with the green, white, red, black, yellow. North is water, with black. Therefore, people also use black to symbolize "deep". Black and night are similar, so it also symbolizes "mysterious and solemn" and other meanings.

Black is also derogatory. This may be due to the idiom of "turning black and white upside down". Qu Yuan said in "Nine Chapters - Huai Sha": "White is turned into black, and upside down is turned into down". In addition, the color black is associated with the ancient Chinese ink punishment of "tattooing". As early as in the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, prisoners were carved or tattooed on their foreheads or faces, and then coated with black ink, which left an everlasting shame on their faces. Therefore, black contains additional meaning of dishonor.

Hell and the mythical "netherworld" are dark, as opposed to light. Therefore, black symbolizes "darkness, sinister, horror, death" and other pejorative colors.

In addition, the black color also indicates treachery, conspiracy and other meanings. Such as: "black teeth, black heart, black list" and so on. From the darkness can also be derived from the "dishonorable, illegal, deception" and other derogatory meanings. For example, the popular words in the society are "black account, triad, black market, black goods, black money, black car (refers to cabs without driving license or tax), black people (refers to the people who do not have a household registration) and so on.

8. Pink is a variation of the color red, and can be seen as an adaptation or reversion of the color red. In Chinese literature

culture, pink is also called the color of peach blossoms. In the Tang Dynasty, the poet Cui Gu wrote the poem "Peach Blossoms Reflect Each Other", comparing peach blossoms with women

. The reason for this is that women use pink rouge to beautify themselves, and their faces are reddish-white, which can be compared with the beautiful

peach blossoms. Pink (peach) can symbolize women, such as Bai Juyi "Song of Long Hate" in: "look back

a smile a hundred Mei Sheng, six palaces without color," the young man will be the beloved woman called "red-colored know-it-all". Called improper sexual relations between men and women

for "peach-colored events". In Western culture, pink symbolizes the essence, the ultimate, such as (1)

the pink of perfection ten perfect things or people, (2) the pink of politeness is very polite

polite; it also symbolizes the upper class, such as (1) pink lady high style cocktail, (2) pink tea

Social activities, (3) apink-collar worker high-level female secretary.

Gray represents melancholy, negativity, modesty, ordinariness, silence, mediocrity, loneliness

Gray Dark tones - gloom, sadness, loneliness, uncleanness, silence

Orange represents brightness, magnificence, excitement, sweetness, joy

Concrete - tangerine, evening, orange, autumn leaves

Abstract -warm, happy, fiery, positive, bright

Orange Warm - freedom, light, hope, compassionate, easily moved, helpful, willing to sacrifice

The symbolism of the color words varies greatly in different national cultures. Fundamentally, in Chinese culture, the symbolism of colors is based on the feudal rule, feudal superstition and its primitive and backward scientific and educational conditions in China in the past, so the symbolism of colors has a rather strong tendency to be politicized and mystified. While the color symbolism in western culture is more benefited from the openness of the western nation and the popularity of science and education, its symbolism is less mysterious and more rational, which makes its semantic and lexical justifications easier to trace. The color symbolism between different cultures is agreed upon in the development of society and the precipitation of history, which is a permanent cultural phenomenon. They can make the language more vivid, interesting, humorous and friendly, so we should pay enough attention to them.