The Usage of "up/down" in English and "shang/xia" in Chinese as Spatial Metaphor

Traditional linguistics views that metaphor is a way of figurative speech,whose function is to decorate and beautify.While according to cognitive linguistics,metaphor is a cognitive activity and a way of thinking realized by language.up/down in English and shang/xia in Chinese as two basic spatial groups,their similar spatial relationships can be metaphorically mapped in the field of state,social hierarchy,quantity,and time.This paper provides evidence for the claim that there may exist a universal cognitive approach shared by people of different languages through the study of spatial metaphor up/down and shang/xiafrom the cognitive perspective.