Abstract：Zhonghe is a basic way of thinking peculiar to Chinese people, hence a core idea as well as behavioral norms in their life. With a broad research scope, there have been rich relevant achievements. However, few people have studied zhonghe, an emotional language phenomenon or way of thinking, from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. This paper intends to explore the cognitive mechanism of the zhonghe emotion metaphor, based on the analysis of the relationship between zhonghe thinking and metaphor involved. The research reveals the metaphor of zhonghe and its metaphorical path and expansion mode, thereby affirming the universal significance of emotion metaphor which also has explanatory power for the core concept of zhonghe in Chinese classics.
Key words: Chinese Classics; zhonghe; emotion metaphor; cognitive mechanism
