DoesConfucius孝travelacrosstime.docVIP

Does Confucius’孝 travel across time Yuanting wang Department of English University of Birmingham Yuanting.wang@ Abstract This dissertation aims to explore the meaning of孝 (xiao): an important Chinese traditional concept originated from Confucian morality. By investigating three different discourses across time, based on the authentic language data drawn from two ancient Confucian texts and the Chinese Internet Corpus, the meaning of孝 as a social phenomenon in different time and is extracted. Based on the research from the perspective of corpus linguistics, I find 孝 in ancient Chinese refers to a complicated relationship in male-dominated feudal society, while 孝 in modern Chinese has narrowed its range of meaning and no gender bias is in connection with 孝. 1 Introduction With two-thirds of the population of East Asia and a splendid 5,000-year-old history as its foundation, China always plays an important role on the stage of the world. Its ancient glorious civilization is not only inherited by Chinese but also learned in East Asian countries like Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and so on. In these countries, there is a certain similar culture, also regarded as their traditions, in which the most significant is a system of philosophical ideas called Confucianism. A record of the words and teachings of Confucius, The Analects is considered the most reliable expression of Confucian thought. The Analects is the only place where we can actually encounter the real, living Confucius. In this sense, the Analects to Confucius is what the Gospels