本科英语专业毕业论文(7)
4.2.1 From Psychology
China is one of the four ancient civilized countries in the world. Since ancient times, the Chinese people have firmly believed in the binary theory of Yin (阴) and Yang (阳) and thought that everything in the world is composed of Yin and Yang. Yin is the passive or the female element, while Yang is the active or the male element. Their interaction gives rise to the multiplicity of all things. Book of Changes (《易经》) claims that “易有太极，是生两仪，两仪生四象，四象生八卦”(At the beginning of “Change” lies Tai-chi that engenders Yin and Yang, which in turn give rise to the four forms that again engender the eight trigrams). This means everything can be divided into two, two into four, four into eight etc. and increases with geometrical progression. This is why Chinese people favor even numbers, bestowing propitious connotations upon them. That everything has two sides embodies Chinese dialectics and conforms to traditional aesthetic psychology of the Orientals. There exist dualities in everything and Chinese people tend to emphasize its positive aspects, exhibiting their nice and harmonious psychology.
Chinese people love “four” out of its connection with natural phenomena, e.g., four directions—east, west, south and north; four seasons—spring, summer, autumn and winter; four limbs—two hands plus two feet; etc. For Chinese who are active in exploring the relationship between man and universe and seek to obey the will of Heaven, these phenomena have rich meanings. In the eyes of Chinese people, “six” is double “three” and has similar pronunciation with“禄”(“禄”means official’s salary in feudal China and is usually used to refer to the source of wealth ). “ Eight ”is considered as an extremely lucky number in today’s market economy due to its similar pronunciation with“发”(“发”means money—making in Chinese).
