From funeral to wedding ceremony: Change in the metaphoric nature of the Chinese color term white.

This paper discusses how white, as a sign, was metaphorized in traditional Chinese and the change of its metaphoric nature in modern Chinese. Kress's theory of the motivated relation of signifier and signified and object construction theory in CDA are employed to discuss how the different metaphoric natures of white are constructed, reflecting different interests underlying different cognitive process of conceptualization of metaphors. Out of the 'interest' in promoting obedience, and in setting up a unique Chinese cultural model, white in traditional Chinese language has a metaphoric nature of inferiority, mourning, and death. However, in modern Chinese it has a metaphoric nature of pure, which is consistent with the Western views of white. The change in its metaphoric nature reflects the ideological struggle between the powerful Western cultural model and traditional Chinese cultural model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]