ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the unsatisfactory cultural input in existing Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) textbooks and pedagogy; whether an in-depth understanding of Chinese culture, the perceptions of numbers in Chinese, can act as enhanced cultural input; the effects of both the conventional cultural input (CCI), as described previously, and the deep-rooted cultural input (DrCI). It explores the feasibility of applying enhanced cultural input designed with reference to Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Image Schema Idealised Cognitive Models (ICMs) and the Chinese philosophical concepts of "yin yang" for teaching and learning Chinese number-related metaphors. The chapter also explores the relationship between metaphors and culture, thought and nature in order to consider how the deep-rooted cultural input can be delivered in a language classroom. Even after students are provided with DrCI, the widespread known perceptions of the Chinese people's ideas or behaviours can prevent them from satisfactorily interpreting conceptual metaphors in Chinese language.
