英語暢談中國文化50主題 11 Yellow：China's Favorite Color 黃，中國人崇尚的顏色
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11. Yellow: China’s Favorite Color
A：Chinese people seem to like the red and yellow colors a lot. The two colors are used for the Chinese national flag. They are also the predominant colors for the cover design of some important books, as well as in the decorations for major events, such as the flower display in Tian’anmen Square during the National Day holidays.
B：The color preferences of the Chinese people are influenced by the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth, in addition to geographical locations and weather. China is a huge and geographically diversified country. It is cold in the north so people there like warm colors. But it is just the opposite in the south. Of all the warm colors, the Han people like yellow especially.
A：Maybe because the Hans originated in the Yellow River Plateau, a region where yellow was the prevailing color.
B：You are probably right. As far as the five elements are concerned, the corresponding colors are white, green, black, red, and yellow. Yellow is the predominant color and is situated in the center of the diagram. Yellow was also the color representing the imperial court in traditional China. It was established as the authoritative color representing the Emperor during the Han Dynasty more than 2000 years ago. During the Sui Dynasty, yellow was officially designated as the exclusive color for the imperial family. It was used in the Emperor’s clothes, the paper on which the Emperor published his decrees, and the calendar that was printed by the Imperial Court.
A：People have a tradition of making a “longevity outfit” for the deceased. The inner side of the outfit is always yellow. The bottom of the coffin is also lined with yellow silk.
B：During the 1980s and 1990s, taxis in Beijing were all painted yellow. Those taxis were very popular because of space and low fares. However, they were considered inappropriate for Beijing and were replaced with new models. The new taxis use a standard color pattern with yellow at the bottom, which acts as a reminder of Beijing’s Imperial tradition.
A：Nowadays, people always refer to pornography as “yellow literature” and pornographic films as “yellow movies.” That reference can be traced to a newspaper from the 19th century United States, which used to print vulgar paintings in yellow.
B：The word “yellow” in the campaign statement of “Eradicate the yellow and fight against the illegal” refers to pornography. I guess we all need to be very careful with the yellow color since it is used to represent both the Imperial Court and bad taste. In olden times, a person could be beheaded for the misuse of yellow. It can also cause trouble today if a person associates himself with the wrong yellow.
黃，中國人崇尚的顏色
A：中國人似乎很喜歡紅黃兩色，你看，中國國旗就是由這兩種顏色組成的。很多重大場合或重要書籍的裝幀總會用到這兩種顏色。國慶節(jié)天安門廣場擺放的花壇，也是以這兩種顏色作主調(diào)。
B：中國人對色彩的好惡除了受地理、氣候的影響外，也受到傳統(tǒng)五行說的影響。從地理方面說，中國是個地域廣闊的國家，北方寒冷，人們喜歡暖色；南方炎熱，人們喜歡冷色。在暖色中，漢民族最崇尚黃色。
A：這也許是因為漢民族的發(fā)源地是黃土高原，這個地域滿目黃土之色。
B：可能是吧。從五行說來看，金、木、水、火、土所代表的五色分別是白、青、黑、赤、黃，其中黃為主色，位在中央。在中國古代社會，黃色是皇權(quán)的象征。在兩千多年前的漢代，朝廷就規(guī)定“衣尚黃”，確立了黃色的權(quán)威地位。從隋朝起，黃色成為皇家專用的顏色?；实鄣凝埮鄯Q作黃袍；皇帝的文告用黃紙寫成，稱黃榜；皇帝頒發(fā)的歷書用黃紙印刷，稱為黃歷。
A：據(jù)我所知，按照傳統(tǒng)，死者去世后穿的衣服稱作“壽衣”，它講究雙層縫制，里面那一層一定要用黃色。棺材的底部也要鋪上黃綢布。
B：上世紀(jì)八九十年代，北京街頭跑著的出租車就是黃色的面包車。它因為價廉且空間大而廣受歡迎。后來這種車型被認(rèn)為有礙京城市容而被新車型取代?，F(xiàn)在的出租車采用統(tǒng)一的顏色，下半部為土黃，以體現(xiàn)北京皇家名城的傳統(tǒng)。
A：現(xiàn)在，人們稱色情文學(xué)為“黃色小說”，稱色情電影為“黃色電影”。這種說法來源于19世紀(jì)美國的一家報紙，該報社以黃色印刷趣味低下的漫畫。
B：現(xiàn)在的詞匯“掃黃打非”中的“黃”就有色情的意思。這種有時貴為皇家專用，有時又表示低級趣味的顏色，用起來還真要小心。古時用錯了黃色會殺頭，今天錯用了黃色會闖禍。
