红与白-中西方的颜色词内涵对比(2)

3. The different connotations of white
3.1 The similarities between white and 白
In the first part, we mentioned that the different meanings of white between English and Chinese simply. In this part, we will analyze it deeply. In western countries, white has the meanings of "brightness", "purity" and "innocence". So in the western wedding, people like using white to decorate everything and the wedding is called "white wedding". There are some expressions connoting the meaning of purity. For example, "a white man" is usually used to indicate a reliable person. "A white sheep" refers to a good person among a gang of evil ones. "A white magic" is used for good purposes.
As in "a white hat", "a white soul", white means purity. In addition, "make one's name white again" means making somebody innocent and regaining the good fame. If someone is said to be "white-handed", it means he or she is honest or innocent. “In China, white is the color of ice, snow, jade and silver, so it stands for the unsullied moral conduct, and it is the color of gentleman. In addition, white is one of the pure colors, so it has a high status. The carved balustrade in the palace, the memorial column and the memorial archway in nobles are all white.”[9] Therefore, white is also connected with the connotation of purity in Chinese, such as "洁白无暇". For example, nurses are called "白衣天使" or "白衣战士", because they wear white uniform, and take good care of the sick people, which looks like angels bringing life and brightness to patients. In addition, white also has the meaning of innocence in Chinese, such as "白" in "清白无辜", and "不白之冤" which contains the same meaning.
Besides the basic meaning of brightness, purity and innocence, white has other some positive meanings as fortune, kindness, prosperity, power and justice, etc.. For example,
(1) In contrast to a "black lie", a "white lie" is a lie that does not harm and is merely more convenient or polite than telling the truth. For instance, an old sister may say to a younger sister and her boy friend: "I am too tired to go to the cinema tonight. You two go ahead to it." She makes up the excuse that she is too tired. Because she knows the couple want to be alone in fact and that she is invited just for politeness. Thus this kind of lie without any harm is called "white lie".

(2) “"A white hope" refers to a person who is thought likely to be the winner or bring success.”[10] A lucky and happy day is called "a white day" or "a day with a white stone". "A white alarm" refers to removing the alarm. A "peaceful" war without bleeding as the Glory Revolution is called a "white war". "The white moment of life" indicates a successful period.
"White" can also be used to indicates "power"——White House, which is the official residence of the United States, and White Hall, the seat of British Government. These two stand for the American and British Government representatively. What's more, in Chinese, the expression of some white-feathered animals, such as "白鹿", "白鹤", "白狼", "白雁", "白天鹅" etc. are symbols of fortune and luck, especially in ancient China. The meanings mentioned above are almost positive.
While white and "白" also have a derogatory sense. For example, "white lady" is a female imp with a key in her waist in Teutonic tale. She absorbs ghosts of kids and young girls, and is always dressed in white. Thus she signifies the death. Furthermore, Christians believe that evil spirits, ghosts of the dead are dressed in white.
Therefore, in western countries, white is also associated with "death". It is familiar for us that in Chinese "白" also has some connotations with death, which is dated to the traditional idea of "Five Elements". “After the Warring States, the Five Lords, the five elements, the five colors and the four seasons are connected. Thus west is the color of white, and refers to autumn. The ancient people considered that harvest in autumn and store in winter, all things wither and fall, and the life is closed to die. These all show sorrow and sadness. Furthermore, the decapitation in the ancient was set in autumn.”[11] In Chinese funeral, people wear white hats, or white flowers made by white cloth, white mourning apparel and white shoes, and a white rope tied in the waist. The ornaments in the funeral are almost white, even the white mourning money. And "白事" is the expression used to mean "funeral affairs". So white is the color of mourning dress in China, and "白" is connected with the things of ill omen such as misfortune or death. In the ancient mythology, "黑白无常" are two ghosts in the nether world, who always take the souls of dead bodies to the nether world. What’s more, in ancient time, the children were not allowed to dress in white if their parents were still alive.

In addition, white and "白" also indicate "failure". It often happens in a war or some games. The yielding part will hang a "white flag" or "白旗" as a sign of accepting the failure. "White" and "白" can both refer to people with white skin, such as "白人". If someone looks pale because of illness or strong emotion, such as "脸色苍白" which means somebody's face appeals pale, white and "白" can be used.
3.2 The differences between white and 白
“Under the western cultural background, white is considered the color of festival, connected with good luck. Ancient Greek and Roman offered the white oblation to
gods. According to the Bible, in Israel, the sacrifices to gods are also white. The reason is that white is the holiest color in Christianism, which is manifested in the belief that Jesus and his angels wear white dress.”[12] While in ancient Chinese wedding people like decorating everything with red. What’s more, in English, "white" also has some special meanings.
(1) "The white feather", deriving from cock-fighting, where a game cock displaying the white rim of feather under his hackle acknowledges defeat, waiting to give up, is an implication of fear, cowardice or timidity.
(2) Another example is "white elephant", in which "white" means "uselessness". “It derived from Thailand. At that time, white elephant was rarely seen, which was only in royal families. The royal made a rule that no one could use the white elephant to carry people or goods. Therefore, if the king did not like one of the courtiers, he would send a big elephant to him as a punishment. Because its owner didn’t dare to use it, and the white elephant had such a good appetite and ate so much that its owner could not afford it.”[13]
(3) "Bleed white" and "to leech somebody white" mean that people are oppressed to work heavily until they can not work any more, which are the metaphors of the capitalist sucking the last drop of blood from the poor.
In addition, owing to some historical and political reasons, "白" has some specific meanings which "white" does not have. For instance,

(1) In Chinese "脸色白里透红" means someone is in good health. So here "白" can not be translated directing to "white", but "healthy" or "good".
(2) “There is a famous verse saying "谈笑有鸿儒，往来无白丁". Here the color term "白" refers to "illiteracy or commoner" as in "白衣".”[14] Because in ancient China, no matter how low an official ranked, his dress was colored. White had never been the color of officials, because the customary practice took white as the color of mourning dress. So "白丁" indicates the common people.
"白" can also be used to mean "poverty" as in the imperial examinations at the provincial level in Ming and Qing dynasties. As we know, in the traditional art of theatrical makeup in Beijing opera, red implies loyalty and honesty, and "白" implies crafty and treachery, such as Zhao Gao in Qing Dynasty, Cao Cao in Three Kingdom Period, and so on. What's more, in Chinese "白" also indicates "decadence" or "reaction", which are connected with Kuomintang. The reactionary government is called "白色政权"; "白区" is the area governed by Kuomintang; "白军"(white army) is the reactionary army; the cruelty of Kuomintang was called "白色恐怖"; the betrayers are named "白匪" or "白狗子". In other cases, "白" is not the same as "white", which has nothing to do with color at all. Such as "白菜"(Chinese cabbage), "白费"(in vain), "白卷"(blank examination), "白痴"(idiot) and so on. "白" also means plain and unadulterated, such as "白开水", "白肉".

4. The causes for their differences
In the second part, we contrasted the cultural connotations of red and white between English and Chinese. A cultural phenomenon derives from the cultural foundations. Therefore, in this chapter, causes for the differences are to be discussed.
4.1 Environment
Perhaps someone will consider that environment is the same as geographical position, but it is not. Because culture is defined and generated on the three-fold reality of culture, society and people. The evolution of a culture is the result of the interaction between subject and object, which we can call "environment". So geographical position is only a part of it. For instance, because of the geographical position in European countries, European can always see snow——the color of white, which makes them have a strong feeling of white. So they think white is the color of purity, brightness. In ancient China, white is the color of common people, but not official robes. What's more, owing to Kuomintang (in Chapter Two we mentioned) "白" implies "decadence" and "reaction", which is one of the color terms carrying the obvious political tendency. Another example is "红", which is the symbol of revolution in the revolutionary time, as in "红军", "红色根据地", "红色接班人", and so on.

4.2 Perception
Although the physical mechanism of perception to all people is the same, the information we get from the object world is interpreted and evaluated by our brains, which may be influenced by the past experiences. Culture provides us with a perceptual lens that greatly influences how we interpret and evaluate what we receive from the outside world. Under different cultural backgrounds, different color words are needed to modify words even with the same reference in both English and Chinese, and this is because people speaking the two languages are possibly different in their color orientation. For example,
(1) "The white dress" in English and "白衣" in Chinese are different. The former is usually worn in the western wedding that indicates something jubilant and pure. While the latter refers to people who wear it in the funerals implying death, or refers to the common or illiterate people who is no official ranked.
(2) “Another example is "红茶", which is expressed "black tea" in English. The reason is the speakers of Chinese and English perceive the physical world differently. The Chinese people pay more attention to the red color of the water, whereas the Englishmen put their eyes on the black color of the tea when it is dry.”[15]
(3) "红旗" and "red flag" have opposite connotation owing to the different perception. "红旗", the flag of the Communist Party of China, is the symbol of China. And it also refers to the sample with good spirit. However, "a red flag" in English implies something dangerous which people should avoid, something like "red light".
These examples all show the differences in perception. Meanwhile, we should realize that although some color terms look similar in their conceptual meanings, their connotations are different due to the different cultural contexts.
4.3 Philosophy
As we know, the world does not only consist of physical world, but also psychological world. However, the latter one really influences the cross-cultural communication. In the long river of history, the Chinese has its own philosophical ideas, such as the idea of Supreme Ultimate. Another important one is what we mentioned in Chapter Two——"Five Elements", which says the universe is consisted of five elements——metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The Five Lords, five elements, five colors (white, green, black, red and yellow), four seasons are related. Colors are used as the representatives of the directions. Five colors are used as the symbols of east, west, center, south and north respectively. Five colors also stand for the five elements: white for metal, green for wood, black for water, red for fire, and yellow for earth. In addition, colors are also used to represent the four seasons: green for spring, red for summer, white for autumn, and black for winter. These are also the reasons why white has the meaning of death, and red stands for happiness.

4.4 Religion
Religion and culture are inextricably entwined. Religion is also the most important factor affecting the culture and cross-cultural communication. Most experts agree that religion has endeavored to explain those motions about life that otherwise could not be understood or resolved. Religion deals with the life and death in nature, the creation of the universe, the origin of groups in the society, the relationship with each other, and the relation of human beings to nature. The usages of colors in religion exert great influence on the meaning of the color terms. Such as red and "红". Red is related to blood rather than fire and sun to western people, especially Christians. The westerners are interested in universe, and have a strong sense of religion. So they are less superstitious than Chinese. According to Bible, the story about Adam and Eve mentioned in Chapter Two shows the reason why red implies blood and dangers in the western countries. In addition, there was a verse saying "红豆生南国，春来发几枝". Here "红豆" is a love token in China, but in English, a red bean is a symbol for stupidity. This meaning derives from the Bible, in which Essau sold his right as the first born son to his younger brother Jacob just for red bean stew.
4.5 Other Causes
Besides those factors mentioned above, there are other factors influencing the usage of color terms. For examples, some expressions come from myths or novels. “In Bible, in Revelation there is a jezebel riding on a scarlet animal, who dresses in scarlet. Therefore, in the western literature, scarlet refers to being lascivious.”[16] In Chinese, Wang Shipu in his "The Romance of West Chamber" created a character—— a girl called "红娘". Because she helped the two lovers ——Yingying and Zhangsheng unite and marry. Later, "红娘" refers to the match makers in marriage. However, in English "red lady" does not have the same meaning, which refers to a prostitute. Moreover, "white" in "white elephant" derives from a historical story mentioned in Chapter Two.

5. Conclusion
This thesis studies the cultural connotations carried by the two color terms, and analyzes the causes for their differences. The purpose of this thesis is not only to find out the similarities and differences of “red” and “white”, the more important point is to understand the similarities and differences between cultures and the implications they bring to us.
“Language is influenced by culture, and reflects culture. It does not only contain the history and cultural background of the country, but also indicates the life style and the mode of thinking of the country. So it must combine the knowledge of language and knowledge of culture together, which can make people communicate with each other fluently. And the color terms also play an important part in the cross-cultural communication.”[17] Therefore, the study of the color terms——red and white has a great effect on it.

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