ON THE NATIONAL-CULTURAL SEMANTICS OF THE VALUE ‘YOU SHAN’ (৻ழ) IN CHINESE

Abstract

The article examines the national-cultural semantics of ‘You Shan’ (৻ழ) in Chinese from the perspective of linguoculturology reflected in etymology, dictionary and periodicals. Authoritative Chinese dictionaries and the main corpora of the Chinese language (the Chinese language corpus of the State Commission on Language and Writing, the BCC corpus, the National press index database) served as the research material. The analysis made it possible to conclude that ‘You Shan’ is a traditional virtue and one of the main socialist values in China. It has rich semantics including such elements as friendship, mutual assistance, auspiciousness, sincerity, etc. The semantic realm of ‘You Shan’ is continuously expanding, from the most elementary relations between people to relations between nations and countries. The subject of ‘You Shan’ can be people and animals, and the applicable objects can be animals, the environment, and even things. ‘You Shan’ plays a positive role in the formation of national or personal image, and promotes close interpersonal relationships and social harmony. However, according to the principle of the ‘golden mean’ in ancient Chinese philosophy, to be too friendly is not advocated. Sometimes, ‘You Shan’ is regarded as a disguise for dominance and personal goals, which is negatively evaluated since sincerity is included in its original meaning.