CULTURE MAP

According to the Longman Dictionary, there are seven definitions of "culture", among which two are most frequently used. They are respectively (1) "the beliefs, way of life, art, and customs that are shared and accepted by people in a particular society"; and (2) "the attitudes and beliefs about something that are shared by a particular group of people or in a particular organization". Therefore, we can learn from these two definitions that culture covers almost all aspects of life which are commonly shared by a certain community of people.

"Map", also according to the Longman Dictionary, is defined as (1) "a drawing of a particular area, for example a city or country, which shows its main features, such as its roads, rivers, mountains etc"; or (2) "a drawing of an area showing some kind of special feature, for example the type of rocks, weather, population etc." And we can also learn that the basic role of "map" is to display the main features so that what is mapped can distinguish itself from others.

Here, we are working on a series of books entitled as "culture map", a metaphor which expresses the intention of the book, that is, to show the main features of Chinese culture. This book is the first one of the series, focusing on three separate but interdependent themes: philosophy, politics, and law, and translating 5 chapters from relevant books.