Methods of fixing and circulating precedent names in Chinese cultural space

The paper presents some results of the study of precedent names of a Chinese cultural space and describes the main methods of fixing and circulating precedent names (PN) in a modern Chinese discourse. According to the author, the main ways include epithets-invariants of the perception of referents of precedent names in dictionaries and textbooks, and, therefore, in the minds of the Chinese who went to school; special dictionaries and collections with images of PN referents (more often these are historical personalities) and very brief encyclopedic information about them; adapted chapters from precedent texts with headings in the form of precedent names-eventonyms in books for children and teenagers; phraseological units and set expressions of Chinese language of all types which are connected with the precedent phenomena; frame works; precedent names, precedent texts. The author believes that epithets represented by phraseological units, phraseological units as such, name variants and precedent texts can be attributed to primary basic methods. These methods show the specifics of the Chinese cultural space and serve the basis for PN preservation, fixation and translation. Special dictionaries and collections, adapted texts of chapters from classic novels with names in the form of PN eventonyms and frame works are secondary derived methods and tools that demonstrate the great demand of the Chinese linguistic and cultural community for precedent names and are based on language-saved knowledge of PN and other precedent phenomena.


Introduction
Precedent names (PN) of the Chinese cultural space are individual names and names of historical and fictional characters, events and objects of the material and spiritual culture of China and the entire global space widely known in the Chinese linguistic and cultural community that are cognitively and emotionally important for all socialized speakers of the Chinese language [1]. PN is a fixed linguistic form (originally its proper name) being a collective asset of culture as a result of an emotionally figurative perception of a unique character (historical; literary; folklore, etc.), a unique situation, a unique place, a unique animal (hero of the story; less often -known from history), etc. [5].
PN is one of four precedent phenomena (PP). In addition to PN the PP includes precedent texts (PT), precedent situations (PS) and precedent statements (PS). All PP are interconnected and make each other actual [3,4,5].
China, like all countries with a long history and rich culture, has a large arsenal of national precedent names. The specifics of many Chinese PN in their long history and in the fact that many different kinds of set expressions, phraseological units, quotes, aphorisms and other linguistic units are associated with them. This was provoked by the long history of China, rich literary and cultural traditions, the literary centricity of Chinese society, the continuity of texts over extended periods, and the linguocentricity of Chinese culture.
What contributes to the fact that a large number of PN with a long history continue to circulate actively in the Chinese cultural space today? What methods of PN fixation and circulation attract attention?
In this respect, we tried to identify the main methods of fixing and circulating precedent names in the Chinese cultural space.

Results and Discussions
First of all it should be noted that when analyzing the precedent names of the Chinese cultural space, we identified the following 4 types: 1. precedent nameanthroponym (well-known name of a person or a humanlike creature); 2. precedent name-eventonym (wellknown name of a historical or fictional event representing a phraseological unit, a verbal cliché or a collocation); 3. precedent name-chrematonym (well-known individual name of a single object of the country's material culture); 4. precedent name-ideonym (well-known individual name of a single object of the country's spiritual culture) [1,2].
At the moment, we have discovered the following methods of fixing and circulating precedent names in the Chinese cultural space: 1. Epithets-invariants of perception in dictionaries and textbooks, in the minds of the Chinese who went to school.
We believe that this is the most interesting method to fix and circulate PN in the Chinese cultural space. These stable epithets of PN referents contribute to the rapid formation and strong fixation of these invariants of perception of a PN referent and the PN itself in the memory and consciousness of Chinese speakers. As a rule, they are presented in dictionaries, textbooks and various tutorials.
A large number of PN are enshrined in the Chinese language and in the minds of Chinese speakers through such stable definition epithets. Moreover, these definitions may be quite official and recorded in special dictionaries or collections, or may be closer to the spoken language and sound in the speech of the Chinese. For example, the dictionary People of History [12] represents 121 outstanding personalities of Chinese history and is built following a thematic principle. This dictionary consists of 8 sections (politicians, military leaders, scientists, writers, famous merchants or business people, masters of the arts, philosophers, heroic personalities).
It is noteworthy that each personality in the table of contents of this dictionary is represented by a description, a brief characteristic in the form of an epithet, which is often expressed by a phraseological unit, a verbal cliché or a collocation. We believe that these descriptions should be considered as invariants of the perception of a given personality in the Chinese linguistic and cultural community; these expressions are constantly used in the descriptions of these personalities and in other sources. 垂帘听政 -慈禧太后 'The Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) who ruled from behind the curtain'.
Based on the materials of this dictionary, we conducted a survey of the native speaker and analyzed other sources. Many epithets were confirmed in other sources, and according to some PN, other set designations were found that confirm each other and epithets from the dictionary [12]. Here are some examples of PN by Cai Lun: 造 纸 术 的 发 明 者 -蔡 伦 'Inventor of paper manufacturing technology -Cai Lun (? -121)' -an example from the dictionary [12]; 蔡伦造纸 'Cai Lun made paper' -an example from a native speaker.
PN examples by Lin Zexu: 禁烟英雄 -林则徐 'Hero who banned opium -Lin Zexu (1785-1850)' -an example from the dictionary [12]; 林 则 徐 禁 烟 'Lin Zexu -banned opium' -an example from a native speaker; 虎 门 销 烟 林 则 徐 'The destruction of opium in Humen -Lin Zexu' -an example from a native speaker (the destruction of opium in Humen: in 1839, Li Zexu forced the British to surrender the entire batch of opium, after which he ordered its destruction, which was the reason for the First Opium War); 林则徐与虎门销烟 'Lin Zexu and the fire in Humen' -an example from a history book [23].
PN examples by Lei Feng: 全心全意为人民服务 -雷锋 'With all his heart and all his thoughts served the people -Lei Feng (1940-1962)' -an example from the dictionary [12].
This epithet completely coincides with the definition of this PN in the Chen Xianchun dictionary [24], and also coincides with the part of this definition -the verbal cliché 为人民服务 'serve the people', which is applied along with the image of Lei Feng on the ashtray and lighter, which we acquired in Beijing.
The definition of PN by Hu Xueyan from the dictionary [12] 红顶商人 -胡雪岩 'Merchant-official -Hu Xueyan (1823-1885)' completely coincides with the name of the novel dedicated to this historical personality [9].
We believe that the reason and possibility of such forms of fixation, consolidation of invariants of PN perception in the Chinese cultural space and in the consciousness of speakers of the Chinese language and culture lies in the peculiarities of the Chinese language and the traditions of language communication. Due to the flexible use of Chinese language morphemes, it is possible to form such easily memorable formula epithets.
Most likely, these trends come from the literary tradition, because often the headlines of chapters in ancient Chinese stories represent a brief description of key actions, actions of heroes. For example, some famous stories by the famous writer Feng Menglong are called 蒋 兴哥重会珍珠衫 'Jiang Xingge again sees a pearl shirt', 卖油郎独占花魁 'The oil seller conquers the Queen of Flowers', etc.
2. The second method of fixing and circulating PN in the Chinese cultural space are special dictionaries and collections with images of PN referents (more often these are historical personalities) and brief encyclopedic information about them. Entries in such dictionaries can be different in volume, for example, in the dictionary [22] the volume of the entry is from 50 to 200 characters, in the dictionary [8] the volume of the entry is about 100 characters, in the dictionary [12] the volume of the entry is about 1000 characters.
There are also special dictionaries and collections in China that are addressed to foreigners. For example, 60 PN and 60 precedent situations under the corresponding headings which are PN eventonyms are presented in the special dictionary for learning Chinese and the culture of foreigners [24].
Noteworthy is the collection 100 Diangu (diangu) [7], which presents 100 precedent situations of the Chinese cultural space, the names of which represent PN eventonyms. Naturally, these stories actualize a huge number of PN anthroponyms. The authors of this collection are not professional philologists or linguists, but engineers He Zeren and Zhou Lingzhong, who dearly loved and appreciated the national Chinese culture and spoke English perfectly. Already at his advanced age Mr.
He Zeren decided to make this collection with the translation into English to acquaint the foreigners learning Chinese with the Chinese culture more deeply. However, he managed to record only 20 classic diangu stories, fell ill and died. At his dying request, his cousin, Mr. Zhou Lingzhong, completed the book recording another 80 diangu (classic precedents). We believe that this fact indicates that China has a special attitude towards national traditional culture and this also contributes to the consolidation and circulation of PN and other precedent phenomena.
3. The next method to fix and circulate PN in the Chinese cultural space is adapted texts of chapters from classic Chinese novels with headlines in the form of precedent names-eventonyms.
Many PN circulate as part of miniature texts in textbooks, booklets about historical sights and in adapted narration texts of chapters of famous classic novels (precedent texts). Often the names of such adapted chapter texts are precedent names-eventonyms (i.e. names of precedent situations). Usually, such texts present verbalization (short retelling) of the key precedent situation of the novel. China's four famous classic novels (Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Journey to the West) are important sources of precedent names of the Chinese cultural space.
Such texts of adapted chapters from these novels are published several pieces under the cover of one book, for example, such editions as [10,15,16,17,18,20]. Here we meet such headlines (PN eventonyms) as, for example, from Three Kingdoms (the novel was written in the 14 th century): 曹操煮酒论英雄 'Cao Cao heats wine and discourses upon heroes',诸葛亮草船借箭 'Zhuge Liang borrowing arrows with straw boats' [15], 望梅止渴 'quench thirst looking at plums', 乐 不 思 蜀 'cannot remember Shu while having fun' [16].
From the novel Outlaws of the Marsh (the novel was written in the middle of the 14 th century): 鲁提辖拳打镇 关西 'Lu Zhishen kills Zhen Guanxi with his fists', 李逵 返乡路逢李鬼 'Li Kui meets Li Gui on the way to the native land' [17], 武松打虎 'Wu Song beating the tiger', 倒拔垂杨柳 'Lu Zhishen uprooting a willow tree' [18].
From the novel Journey to the West (written in the 16 th century): 齐天大圣闹天宫 'Monkey King creates havoc in Heaven), 偷吃人参果惹祸 'Zhu Bajie in secret eats the magical fruit and brings misfortune' [20].
From the novel Dream of the Red Chamber (written in the 18 th century): 刘姥姥进大观园 'Granny Liu visits the Grand View gardens', 黛 玉 葬 花 抒 悲 情 'Lin Daiyu buries flowers and pours out sadness' [10]. And, naturally, the corresponding PN anthroponyms are constantly repeated in the texts.
We also have a collection of wonderful brochures on the novels Three Kingdoms (47 books) and Dream of the Red Chamber (19 books). Such brochures represent small 12 by 9-10 cm books 40-70 pages each. Each brochure is devoted to only one precedent situation or character and has a corresponding name. For example, in the series based on Three Kingdoms (三国演义) there are such books as: 三 顾 茅 庐 [14]. This unit of Chinese is a PN eventonym and a phraseological unit of the chengyu type (precedent phraseological unit). 三 顾 茅 庐 'Liu Bei Visiting the Grass-Roof Farmhouse Three Times' (about a three-time visit of Liu Bei to Zhuge Liang; fig. to urge the help of an experienced person, to urge an invitation to serve; to bow, to persuade, to prevail upon).
空城计 [11]. This unit of Chinese is a PN eventonym and a phraseological unit of chengyu or guanyongyu type. 空城计 'the stratagem of the empty city' (Zhuge Liang, which found himself in a besieged city with a handful of soldiers in the face of a huge army, ordered the soldiers to open all the gates, take brooms and sweep the streets, and sat down on the city wall and played the lute; the enemy became suspicious and retreated; fig. bluff, psychological  attack).
走麦城 [25]. This unit of the Chinese language is a PN eventonym and can formally be attributed to phraseological units such as guanyongyu. 走麦城 'leave Maicheng' (Guan Yu after the loss of Jingzhou moved to Maicheng, when leaving Maicheng, he was captured and killed by the troops of the Wu kingdom in 219 AD); fig. to be in a hopeless position; go to doom).
In the series based on the Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦), for example, there are such books as: 刘姥姥进大观园 [13]. This unit of Chinese is a PN eventonym (the name of an episode from the novel) and a collocation. 刘 姥 姥 进 大 观 园 'Granny Liu visits the Grand View gardens' (Grandmother Liu is a poor old woman having difficult life who spent her entire life in a village. Accidentally falling into a wealthy family in the city, she encountered many things that she had not seen before, which often made people laugh; fig. about a person who first saw something amazing, usually joking about his small outlook; broaden the outlook; go out to the public laughter).
王 熙 凤 [19]. This unit of Chinese is a PN anthroponym. 王熙凤 'Wang Xifeng is a character of the classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber'. (Wang Xifeng is a young beautiful young lady from a wealthy family. She is extremely intelligent, resourceful, capable, active, but at the same time she is cruel, evil and ruthless. Modern Chinese use her name to denote unkind, harsh, active, strong women).
As the native speaker informed us, when she was in the elementary school, and this was in the late 70s of the last century, a bookseller constantly stood near the school with many such books, and the children took them for a short time for a small fee to read immediately near the book stall. Since most of the page (90%) in such a book is occupied by a picture, and the text under the picture is only 1-3 lines, this reading did not take long. It turns out that the verbalization of precedent situations in such books is presented as some kind of comics. Such a very interesting and effective way of disseminating and circulating precedent texts and other phenomena was then typical for China.

The next method of fixing and circulating PN in the Chinese cultural space is phraseological units of the Chinese language.
If there is a general designation of all set phrases shuyu or 'fixed/familiar expression' ( 熟 语 ), there are usually three main types of phraseological units in Chinese: chengyu, xiehouyu and guanyongyu. However, these types are distinguished purely by formal features: chengyu or 'fixed expressions' (成语) mainly represent 4 complex phraseological units usually having a source, some chengyu are not difficult to understand by hieroglyphs, and to understand the meaning of others it is necessary to study the source and a historical precedent; guanyongyu or 'common expressions' ( 惯 用 语 ) are usually 3 complex set phrases built according to the norms of the modern spoken language; xiehouyu are composite phraseological units ( 歇 后 语 'hinting expressions' -two-member expressions, in which the first part is an allegorism ( 譬 喻 ), and the second -the disclosure of the allegorism (解答), in connection with which such speeches are often called 'reservationsallegorisms' (譬喻解答式的歇后语, lit. 'reservations in the form of allegorisms -disclosure'). In the field of Chinese phraseology there are also such designations as 格 言 'aphorism', 谚 语 'proverb', 俗 语 'saying, Therefore, in order to optimize the study of precedent names and other precedent phenomena (texts, statements and situations), we propose to distinguish a single category of precedent phraseology, and within its framework to study all precedent phraseological units, i.e. such phraseological units and set expressions that are connected and thus update PP regardless of their form. There is a special term diangu to denote this kind of units different in form, but essentially uniform in the Chinese language and culture.
Diangu ( 典 故 lit. classic precedent) -ancient stories/plots mentioned through set expressions (phraseological units) in various types of texts and popular words or expressions from certain sources that are quoted in poetry and prose. Accordingly, there are two types of diangu in China: plot/event diangu 事典 'diangu plot/event' -diverse in form set expressions that in poetry and prose indicate a specific ancient story/plot or event. Consequently, quote/verbal diangu 语 典 'diangu statement/expression' -words or expressions from specific sources quoted in poetry and prose [21]. Even many PN anthroponyms in China are considered diangu and are included in diangu dictionaries.
5. The next effective method to fix and circulate PN in the Chinese cultural space is frame works. Frame works (from the English frame 'structural unit of various intellectual and other objects') -books, films, television series and other objects of material and spiritual culture of a country, based on precedent texts or dedicated to PN referents (historical and fictional personalities and events) [1]. We propose to consider all forms of PN actualization in a discourse as frame works. Frame works include books, lectures, articles, films/television series/cartoons, plays (theatrical performances), instrumental musical works, songs, historical reconstructions, monuments, houses-museums, souvenirs, paintings, places of religious worship, twin actors, information messages (in newspapers, magazines, the Internet, television, radio, etc.) For example, the book Red Cliff (赤壁) by a modern fiction writer Shi Jiepeng ( 史 杰 鹏 ) was published in China in 2008 [6], and then the television series of the same name was released, which presents the precedent characters and situations of the Three Kingdoms novel, as well as historical personalities and events of the Three Kingdoms period. The name of these products of the modern film industry and literary creativity is a PN chrematonym -the name of a famous Mount Chibi (lit. In 2010, a new animated film Q 版刘关张 'Charming Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei' was produced in China. The word Q 版 in the name of the cartoon is a neologism, where the letter Q means the word 可爱 'nice; cute; charming' resembling in sound the beginning of the English word cute 'charming, appealing, attractive, a component 版 ban has the following meanings: 1. printed board; cliché; 2. publication; version.
A biographic movie about Confucius was shot in 2009.
There are many examples of frame works and, we believe, this phenomenon also requires separate studies.
6. We believe that PN variants also contribute to the fixation and circulation of PN, for example, as we were able to find out at the moment, PN Guan Yu has six variants: Many PN variants emphasize certain differential features of the PN referent, affect the formation of a national invariant of the perception of the PN referent and the PN itself.
7. Well, the last method we have highlighted at the moment for fixing and circulating PN in the Chinese cultural space is the precedent texts themselves. It stands to reason that such texts are usually read in school years and this can be the most reliable basis for the entire knowledge of PN and other PP. Another thing is that after time many episodes (PS), statements and even names may be forgotten, so all the above methods are simply aimed at constantly circulating and maintaining PN in the cognitive base of the members of the linguistic and cultural community in an active state.

Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that due to the linguocentricity and literary centricity of the Chinese cultural space, special set expressions and names have been accumulated and preserved by the language over the centuriesprecedent phraseological units of diangu, which have formed a solid basis for the preservation, fixation and circulation of many-centuries long PN, and their continuous actualization in the speech and texts of the modern members of Chinese linguistic and cultural community.
A method of forming perception invariant epithets in dictionaries, textbooks and in the consciousness of carriers in the form of phraseological units, phraseological units that update PN in a discourse, precedent names, precedent texts -these methods can be attributed to the primary basic methods of PN circulation, since these linguistic units have been formed over the centuries and many of them or their elements have become the units of language dictionaries and are actively used in a discourse and in speech.
Epithets in the form of phraseological units, phraseological units and PN variants can be considered a single block of diangu precedent phraseological units. These methods show the specifics of the Chinese cultural space and serve the basis for the preservation, fixation and translation of PN.
Special dictionaries, collections, adapted texts of chapters from classic novels with names in the form of PN eventonyms and frame works are secondary derived methods and tools that are based on diangu units stored in the language and knowledge of PN and other precedent phenomena and demonstrate the greater need and demand of the Chinese linguistic and cultural community for precedent names, for their anchoring and circulation in a Chinese-language discourse.
The existence and creation of a huge number of frame works dedicated to PN referents shows the importance and demand of PN and all PP for public life, language communication and the cultural development of the Chinese cultural space. This demand of PN and other PP by the Chinese linguistic and cultural community suggests the need for further deeper and more systematic study of precedent names and other precedent phenomena.