Chinese Experiential-Based Conceptual Metaphors in Terms of Thread

Textile production played a significant role in Ancient China and the related expressions entered into the scope of daily life. The present research intends to study the conceptual metaphors involving thread or string in Chinese and sheds some light on Chinese cognition of guān-xi (关系 relation) or lian-xi (联系 link). On the basis of data collected from Center for Chinese Linguistics (CCL) and Modern Chinese Dictionary, an investigation of experiential-based conceptual metaphors of thread is made, in terms of the prototypicality and image schema of LINK.