A Comparison on Using Colors between English and Chinese中英文中颜色词用法的对比C o n t e n t s I.Introduction.1II.Differences on white and black.22.1The meaning of white and black in Chinese.2.2 The meaning of white and black in English.III. Differences on Yellow and red.3I V.Differences on green.4V. Differences on bule5 V I.Conclusion.6Bibliography.A Comparison on Using Colors betweenEnglish and ChineseI.IntroductionIn English and Chinese language color words mean different ideas, and they play a very important role in national customs and cultural psychology.Nature is colorful. Color have a specific meaning in peoples minds, cause specific thoughts and special reaction. Many Chinese and English color words reflect different cultural attitudes and emotions. Especially in Chinese, since ancient times there have been many color words. Similarly, in English, there are a lot of color words that reflect western culture. Since the natural environment, social systems, customs, and cultural backgrounds are different in England and China, the connotation of color words in English and Chinese have both the similaritity and differencesII.Differences on white and black2.1The meaning of white and black in ChineseSuch as black and white, they symbolize darkness and light in Western culture. In the Bible, the black is the symbol of devil, evil, suffering and misfortune, therefore, black is also called the color of death. White is the God, angels, happiness, joy and is the symbol of virtue. Kandinsky said: The white symbolizes joy, pleasure, pureness and perfectness, while black is the symbol of sorrow and death . .; Ralph WaldoEmerson had a famous saying: The grey past, the white future In the classic ballet Swan Lake, black swan is in behalf of the evil, fraud and hatred; the white swan represents the goodness, pureness and beauty. Black is always used in giving a horrible metaphor, or even the feeling of evil.Such as: a blackvillian; black death (plague); blackflag (pirate flag, the death penalty flag); black ingratitude (extreme ingratitude); black words (unlucky words); talk black into white (confound right and wrong, sophistry); B-hand (the Mafia, a secret criminal group); ablack letter day (inauspicious days, bad days); Black mail (blackmail); black money (the money someone get not in normal ways or in illegal ways, not tax money); black-hearted (evil,cruel); black art (witchcraft) . . All of these words indicate that Black (black) and the bad, evil, anger linked characteristics. And Black is relative to evil, anger,compared to”black”, white means beauty, hope, happiness, happy,joy in western culture.In Bible story, the angel is always with a pair of white wings, and a silver and white halo floating over the head; Christmas is the most important festival of the year in Western countries, like the Lunar New Year in China . A white Xmas (means Christmas day is snowy); white hands (fair and honest); white knight (white knight means the political reformers or the winners in career) ; white lit (little lies, lies that we say in order to not to embarrass people); a white day (auspicious day,lucky day); days marked with a white stone (happy days). A western fairy tale is popular with the children from all the world,its heroine is called Snow White, she is avatar of intelligence, kindness and beauty. Washingtons White House is a symbol of state power; Whitehall is the London streets filled with the central government agencies; Western official document issued by the State is called the White Paper From the examples cited above,it is not difficult for us to see there is a tradition that western people like white,dislike black in their culture.2.2 The meaning of white and black in EnglishIn Chinese traditional culture, black and white are both cemtral colors, Ancients believed that the East green is a symbol of all living things growing, the South red symbolizes all living things are lush , the West white is relative to autumn, the northern black is relative to winter. In Chinese feudal society ,白（white）was the color of the civilian. Ancient civilian s clothes can not be colorful because the rules of kingdom, so they are called 白衣（white clothes）. A man without fame in ancient times is called 白丁（white man）; the room a man without fame live and study in is known as the “白屋”(white room),which is a house made of couch grass.In traditional theater, the 白脸”(white face) is the symbol of treachery and betrayal, Caocao(a famous sucessful politician in Chinese history) on thestage is a big white face. White and black in the contem