The analysis of orientational metaphor of ‘Zhōng’ (中) in Chinese traditional classic The Doctrine of the Mean

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Abstract This paper studies the orientational metaphor of zhōng (中, ‘middle’) and its cultural values behind this metaphor in Chinese Traditional Classic The Doctrine of Mean. It is found that there are three metaphorical meanings for the orientational metaphor of zhōng (中, ‘middle’), including “an emotion of calm.”; “a moderate degree” and “an ethical standard”. The ethical standard of zhōng is the judge criteria for the Chinese traditional role schemas jūnzǐ (君子, ‘a person of noble character’) and xiǎorén (小人,‘a person of petty character’). In addition, the cultural values of Chinese society revealed by the ethical standard of zhōng (中, ‘middle’) are concluded systematically from the levels of individual, family and state.